After playing a little shake-and-bake head fake on Iditarod veteran Jeff King at the Elim Checkpoint(Mackey sneaks out of Elim, gains edge), Lance Mackey picked up a 57 minute lead as he pulled into White Mountain where both he and King will have a mandatory 8 hour rest before making the final 77 mile dash to Nome.
Mackey will hit the trail around 4:53 PM and King at 5:50 PM Alaska time. They are expected into Nome between 2 and 6 AM Alaska time. (Let’s see, on the east coast that would be around…oh, add 4 hours to the AKDT times and we get…6 AM and 10 AM EDT. In fact, Mackey should be hitting the trail about 8:53 PM EDT.) The only checkpoint between White Mountain and Nome is at Safety which is 55 miles down the trail. If Mackey can maintain a healthy 45 minute to an hour lead to that point, he should be able to stave off any charge King can make. If the lead is between 20 and 40 minutes, King may still have a slim chance in the final 22 miles. A lead of less than 20 minutes and Mackey better be looking over his shoulder for the final 10 miles into Nome.
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