I thought I had a picture of JEFF KING coming into NOME, can't find it. He came in 9th. Got to give he and ALIY credit after their "touch with death". It really did effect them psychologically but through it all they placed in the top 10!!
I know there are some tired mushers and tired dogs in NOME tonight and a tired Iditarod followers sitting here ready for some sleep time as well. Till tomorrow.

Lot of excitement in NOME. DALLAS SEAVEY the winner --has won 3 in a row and 4 of the last 5 races. This time his Dad was only 5 miles behind him.
Its 10 degrees in Nome during the day today and 40 degrees in Anchorage!! Some difference.
It was so sad to hear LANCE MACKEY scratched in GALENA due to personal health concerns. LANCE was diagnosed with cancer in 2001 and had radiation etc. He was back on the trail not long after and won 4 Iditarods. This time, in GALENA, he just couldn't go on. We are all very sad to hear that. We wish him all the best. His Dad, DICK MACKEY (Hanks friend) was in the first Iditarod in 1978. In 1983 his brother won then LANCE four times after that. So, we have THE MACKEY FAMILY and the SEAVEY FAMILY!! Great mushing families.

Here are some signs the children in the villages wrote for ALIY and JEFF when they had the snowmobile tragic attacks.

THIRD in to NOME--ALIY ZIRKLE. Good going ALIY.

March 15, 2015

Told you......WE HAVE A WINNER!! Guess who....

DALLAS SEAVEY  8 days 11 hours 20 min and 16 sec. into NOME

THE WINNER with the real winners THE DOGS

Second, right after DALLAS, his Dad, MITCH SEAVEY  TOGETHER AGAIN!!!

Last picture tonight: ALIY ZIRKLE coming into WHITE MOUNTAIN. Putting up the Iditarod markers isn't so difficult in the snow but here on the ice a different story. They drill holes in the ice, put the sticks in and fill it with water that will freeze.

Its midnight in NY 8pm in Alaska. The leads remain the same: DALLAS, MITCH and BRENT.
They are in WHITE MOUNTAIN with a mandatory 8 hour layover. Its 77 miles to NOME. I'm sure these top runners will do it all at once. DALLAS and MITCH are 33 minutes apart. The reason for that is the checkpoint time for each. DALLAS is very quick in the checkpoints and MITCH is slower. It adds up, now to 33 minutes as they were neck 'n neck.
In WHITE MOUNTAIN there is also drug testing for the dogs.
There is a hall where it is wall to wall sleeping bags for the mushers to rest, dreaming of winning I'm sure.
After the 8 hour layover, with the push to NOME. Today, the 15th, may be the day for the winning arrival in NOME, barring any unforeseen circumstances.
Let's get some rest and check in the morning for progress.

Getting down on the Bering Sea with the winds howling, the mushers have different clothes to protect them. They are light but windbreakers. You'll see the white pants on everyone and like MITCH SEAVEY,  he has a lightweight long parka. When Mitch sits on his sled the long parka can even cover his feet--cozy!! BUT when he got to the KOYUK checkpoint he needed help getting out of it.
The volunteers can help the mushers when they help ALL of them, not just one or two.

ALIY ZIRKLE with her wind breaker clothes on

 ALIY with fans at ELIM

ALIY at ELIM checkpoint

Hey guys look, guess we're in ELIM