Jeff King first into Unalakleet

Just as predicted yesterday, Lance Mackey was passed on the trail from Kaltag to Unalakleet by 4-time champion Jeff King.  King has been running at a faster pace than Mackey for the last few days, but because of rest schedules Mackey was pulled over this morning when King flew by.  This is the third year in a row that Jeff King has been the first musher to the Bering Sea coast, even though he went on to win in 2006, it wasn’t the case last year and it was the ultimate winner Lance Mackey who came into Unalakleet just an hour behind him.

The situation isn’t quite the same however this year, in 2007 Lance was the one doing the passing coming into Unalakleet, he had been working his way up the standings over the previous days and passed Martin Buser on the way from Kaltag, he wasn’t leading the race like he was this year.  King also was running a team of only 12 dogs, this year he has managed to keep all 16 that he started with, and continues to look very strong.  Last year Mackey ended up cutting his rest short in Unalakleet and left earlier than Jeff King did, and King never caught up, Lance ended up leading the race all the way to Nome.

Its not to late however for some of the other contenders, as they fight for first, second or third place. Paul Gebhardt left Kaltag just two hours after Jeff King did, Ramey Smyth, Zach Steer, Hans Gatt, Martin Buser, Rick Swenson and a ton of others still have plenty to fight for as some positions in the top 5 are up for the taking.