It looks like it's over, and a little too late for any musher who had been entertaining the thought of catching Lance Mackey. He's five miles out of Elim checkpoint, and it does not appear that his two closest pursuers (Sebastian Schnuelle and John Baker) have yet reached that checkpoint. Here's a little information on Elim from the Insider GPS Tracker:
Elim
Course Distance 825 Mi
Latitude N 64°37'
Longitude W 162°15'
Population 281 -- The checkpoint is usually at the fire hall. From here the trail heads over the hills of the Kwiktalik Mountains inland a little way to the next checkpoint on Golovin Bay.
Mackey is showing on the GPS Tracker at 830 miles from the start (Elim is 825), but he's moving at less than 4 mph; he was rolling along on his way to Elim at an 8-10 mph clip. According to the National Weather Service, the weather along the coast is brutal (what's new?), with temperatures of -15 degrees to -20 degrees and winds gusting to 40 mph in the faces of the mushers. The wind chill is -55 degrees. Think they're having fun yet?
Since Golovin is no longer an official checkpoint (most mushers will probably stop anyway), Mackey has only two checkpoints left before heading in to Nome: White Lake and Safety. Check the route maps on previous posts to locate those points. I'll have more on the former challengers, most of whom appear to be sitting in Shaktoolik at the moment, in a later post. Above are are some pretty neat photos courtesy of the Anchorage Daily News (remember to click on them to make them larger).
(1) Mitch Seavey and Aaron Burmeister mushing across Norton Bay
(2) Jeff King following John Baker out of Shaktoolik
(3) Sebastian Schnuelle coming off Norton Bay
(4) Sebastian Schnuelle alone on Norton Bay
(5) Jeff King leading his team out of Shaktoolik after one got tripped up in the lines
