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Two over Rosebud stopping at the cabins on Steese Highway before heading up Eagle. Teams use 14 puppies on the Quest and the check points are few and far between, so the sleds are carrying more food weight than the Iditarod.

The Current

Standings at 10:00PM CST ( 7:00PM AKST):

Beyond Central
1 Brent Sass (15)
2 Michelle Phillips (11)
3 Allen Moore (4)
4 Jason Campeau (3)
5 Nora Själin (6)^R
At Central
6 Cody Strathe (2)
7 Torsten Kohnert (9)
8 Ryne Olson (8)
Beyond Mile 101
9 Denis Tremblay (5)
10 Richie Beattie (1)
11 Pat Noddin (13)^R
12 Dave Dalton (10)
13 Rob Cooke (12)
14 Chase Tingle (14)
At Mile 101
15 Olivia Webster (7)^R

These are the official standings. That means they are official, not that they are correct. Things jump around a lot as people decide to update the standings. This problem is especially bad in the back of the pack, as no one bothers to update those standings when the lead is changing.

The Mushers in bold are former winners of the Yukon Quest, the numbers in parentheses are their Bib numbers, and the small “R” indicates a rookie.

Note: This post will be updated during the day, and the map changed on all posts to reflect the current situation.

All posts on the Yukon Quest can be seen by clicking on the sled dog or selecting “Yukon Quest” from the Category box on the right sidebar.

Why? Why not…

It’s Groundhog Day and some of the militant marmots object to being disturbed.

FYI: this is approximately the midpoint between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal Equinox. It is called Imbolc among the Celts, which is why people are interested.

Update: In Pennsylvania Punxsutawney Phil emerged from his burrow around 7:25 a.m. and did not see his shadow, predicting an early spring for us all., but in Nova Scotia 6 more weeks of winter, says Shubenacadie Sam. On average groundhogs are right 40% of the time. Flipping a coin has a better average for accuracy.