The trail is in better shape after the Burn, so mushers can get off the brake pad and let their teams run. Everyone has been doing their best to keep speeds down to prevent injuries to the dogs and themselves.

At Takotna
1 Aliy Zirkle (10)
Beyond McGrath
2 Nicolas Petit (29)
3 Aaron Burmeister (23)
4 Robert Sørlie (22)
At McGrath
5 Sonny Lindner (70)
6 Jeff King (17)
7 Hugh Neff (61)
Beyond Nikolai
8 Paul Gebhardt (35)
9 Mitch Seavey (6)
10 Dallas Seavey (14)
11 Hans Gatt (58)
12 John Baker (53)
13 Joar Leifseth Ulsom (47)
14 Cim Smyth (28)
15 Ray Redington Jr (51)
16 Jessie Royer (27)
17 Katherine Keith (63)^R
18 Richie Diehl (11)
19 Michelle Phillips (15)
20 Abbie West (69)^Q

Both DeeDee Jonrowe and Linwood Fielder got mugged by the Dalzell Gorge and scratched at Rohn. The Burn is worse than ever, so they are well out of it.

So far people and equipment are suffering the damage. The current leader, Martin Buser has a badly sprained ankle, Aaron Burmeister has a dislocated knee, Jim Lanier thinks he pulled his Achilles tendon, etc.

Jim Lanier decided to scratch at Rainy Pass, while Gus Guenther & Mike Santos made the same decision at Rohn. Jan Steves made it to Rainy Pass and scratched.

Jake Berkowitz is currently stranded in the Burn with his sled smashed and unrepairable. He punched the emergency button on his GPS, as there is no way of taking care of his team without the supplies on the sled, and no way of bringing them along if he tried to walk out with the team.

The Mushers in bold are former winners of the Iditarod, while italics indicates Yukon Quest winners. The numbers in parentheses are their Bib numbers. The small “R” indicates a total rookie, while the small “Q” indicates an Iditarod rookie who has completed a Yukon Quest.

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.

This post will be updated during the day, and the map changed on all posts to reflect the current situation.
All posts on the Iditarod can be seen by selecting “Iditarod” from the Category box on the right sidebar.

The last day before the beginning of Lent on the Gulf Coast that once belonged to France, it is Mardi Gras, “Fat Tuesday”: Laissez les bon temps rouler!

It was first celebrated in Mobile, Alabama, but the big show these days is in New Orleans, and it is a holiday in the state of Louisiana, because people wouldn’t show up for work anyway, so why fight it.

The tradition is to serve King cake, which is a circle of cinnamon bun dough with a white frosting on top sprinkled with sugar colored purple, gold, and green. If that weren’t bad enough, they put the figurine of a baby in the dough, and whoever finds it in their piece is supposed to be lucky. Actually if you find it and don’t choke on it, I guess you are lucky. You should use a small ceramic figurine, as some of the cheap plastic versions melt in the oven [yummy].