Waiting In Nome
10:p.m.
March 13, 2006

by Tyrell Seavey

Ultimate Iditarod's coverage of the 2006 Iditarod sponsored by:

I am in Nome at last! The weather here is a mild +17 F with no wind and the moon is full which makes it a perfect night for racing. The teams are moving steadily towards Nome although they are falling behind they record pace. The trail is soft in places and this means the run times are slower. Because of this most of the front teams are opting to rest in more checkpoints then they have in the recent past. Jeff King is closing on Elim fast. Typically it takes almost exactly 24 hours from the time the lead team leaves Elim until they reach the finish line in Nome.

Jeff seems to have a near lock on the front of the race. No one behind him appears to be in the position to catch him, but Gebhardt is gaining. Because of Jeff’s short rest in Koyuk it appears that he is going to be resting in Elim as well. This will give Gebhardt an opportunity to catch up to him, but I think that Jeff’s team will remain faster and out pace Paul in the long run. Paul will quite possibly pass Doug, which would be an interesting twist. I’ll update again once I know more.