50th Iditarod: Day 7

Leaders take final rest, head for the Bering Sea coast

March 12 - 10:04 a.m.

Marathon becomes sprint after Sass, Seavey finish layovers

Brent Sass maintained the Iditarod he’s held since the Cripple checkpoint and was the first musher to arrive in Kaltag at 2:36 a.m. Saturday morning. Sass won the First Fish Award of $2,000 and 25 pounds of salmon from the Bristol Bay Native Corporation as the first musher in Kaltag.

Sass appears to be taking his 8-hour break in Kaltag, the last mandatory layover he has yet to complete. Second-place musher Dallas Seavey arrived in Nulato at 12:32 a.m. and took his 8-hour break, according to the Iditarod standings.

Sass was among the last mushers to take their 8-hour break. Mushers in places 3-8 have completed both their 8-hour and 24-hour mandatory layovers, and all of the top 20 mushers have completed their breaks except Sass, Chad Stoddard in 9th place and Matt Hall in 15th.

Sass maintains a 32-mile lead on Seavey and Seavey has a 15-mile lead on Jessie Holmes and Richie Diehl, both of whom have arrived in Nulato according to the Iditarod GPS tracker. The top 13 mushers are positioned between Galena and Kaltag, separated by just 84 miles.

Once Sass has finished his 8-hour layover at 10:36 a.m., he will then lead his dogs toward the Bering Sea Coast on the longest leg between checkpoints on the Iditarod Trail, an 85 mile trek from Kaltag to Unalakleet. Sass and Seavey are the only two mushers to have led their teams out of Nulato. Holmes and Diehl — currently resting in Nulato — are closely followed by Aaron Burmeister and Ryan Redington.

If Sass can beat Seavey and the rest of the chase pack to the Bering Sea coast, he will win the Ryan Air Gold Coast Award of $1,000 in gold nuggets and a carved ivory sled dog team.

The top six mushers all have less than 400 miles between their dog teams and the burled arch in Nome.