This one from Danny Seavey yesterday (note, he mentioned in today's update that Dallas has put his dogs back on their harnesses, instead of just on their necklines):
"Can Jessie Holmes Catch the Front Mushers?
Brent Sass is still leading Iditarod 2022. He's completing his 8 hour mandatory in Kaltag, and can leave at 10:36am. He'll likely go from there to a remote camp about 3/4 of the way to Unalakleet, then skip UNK and go to Shaktoolik*.
Dallas is firmly in second, and likes his position. He just left Nulato with 10 dogs, mandatory rests completed. He'll go through Kaltag, camp at Tripod Flats, then on to Unalakleet. He'll be half a jump behind Sass the whole way to White Mountain. If this sounds familiar, we've been here before in 2016. Brent's lead was slightly smaller then, but Dallas liked the results. He's set himself up to run the same schedule**.
If you're watching his GPS, don't read too much into it, it's not working properly. He and Sass have been running nearly identical speeds since Nikolai, but the GPS keeps showing one or the other gaining wildly. It may be time for Iditarod to admit their expensive GPS overlay program doesn't work.
The interesting one is Jessie Holmes. He's running significantly faster than anyone else out there, but as he admitted in Galena, he may need to slow down. Dallas and Brent aren't trying to go fast, they recognize the danger of running fast, and are intentionally going slower. Dallas had 4 dogs off their tuglines at Galena, and was carrying 50lbs of food. Jessie absolutely can catch up, but the trick is how to gain 3 hours on Dallas and 6 on Brent without slowing down. He'll have to run faster, while resting the same or less, which will work for a while, but he'll slow down in the process. It's going to be fun to watch.
Sorry, my phone keeps ringing and I can't stay on track here, I'll hit post for now and try again later, Danny
* Brent is on his 2020 schedule: you can see it here:
https://iditarod.com/race/2020/mushers/327-Brent-Sass/** Dallas is on his 2016 schedule:
https://iditarod.com/race/2016/mushers/ ... as-Seavey/"