It looks like rookie Chad Lindner will be the first rookie across the finish line. He's currently in 30th place, and departed the White Mountain checkpoint at 1:05 PM, EDT, which should (barring any more extreme weather conditions) put him in Nome around 8:30 PM, EDT tonight. Here's some biographical information from the ITC.
Chad Lindner, 30, was born in Fairbanks, Alaska. He is a graduate of Reed College and the University of Michigan Law School, where he was the Editor in Chief of the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform. Chad returned to Alaska to run the 2009 Iditarod with his father, long-time musher and Iditarod veteran, Sonny Lindner. (Sonny Lindner, by the way, was the Rookie Musher of the Year 31 years ago.) Chad says he started mushing as a child and in 2003, he completed the Copper Basin. Chad's mother and stepfather, Sharon and Jerry Story, live in Wasilla. After the race, Chad will return to Boston, Massachusetts, where he will begin his legal career as an associate at the law firm of Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge. His girlfriend of eight years, Lindsay Kanter, is currently clerking for the Alaska Supreme Court in Anchorage.
___________________________________
The University of Michigan has long been noted for its excellent football, basketball and hockey teams, but who knew it could also produce promising mushers? Go Blue!
___________________________________
Update, 3/21: Chad arrived in Nome last night at 10:21:50 PM, EDT, in 30th place, with 13 dogs. He is the Rookie of the Year. Must be something in the genes.
