Kjetil Backen of Norway tried to snatch the lead from Mitch Seavey in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race with both racers leaving the Koyuk checkpoint seconds apart.
While it appeared that Backen got a few seconds' jump on Seavey, race officials had both teams leaving at 2:18pm Monday. Backen, third coming into Koyuk, spent only three hours in the checkpoint resting his team. Seavey rested his team for five hours.
Three-time Iditarod winner Jeff King, second into Koyuk at 11:07am, remained in the checkpoint, resting.
A couple of hours earlier, King, looking relaxed, ate lasagna and wild blueberries and ice cream from vacuum-sealed food packs, while assessing his chances of getting first to Nome in one of the closest Iditarods in years.
In King's way was Seavey, who has never won the 1,770km race from Anchorage to Nome.
Seavey, of Seward, looked about as stressed as King did relaxed at this checkpoint, just 198km from the finish line.
"He is very impressive," King said of Seavey. "He is going faster ... If you've got speed and the lead, it will be tough to beat."
Seavey is running in his 11th Iditarod. His best finish was fourth in 1998. He arrived first into Koyuk at 9:17am.
"I'm just so impressed with my dog team," Seavey told KNOM radio Sunday in Unalakleet. "I can hardly believe it. The things that I've asked them to do here, they just keep performing and performing."
King followed Seavey into Kaltag about 90 minutes later.
From Shaktoolik, the 77km of trail bears north, covering several kilometers of land before touching on Norton Bay. The terrain here is mostly gentle swells. Closer to Koyuk, the ice is often rough.
From Koyuk, teams head along the coast and sea ice to Elim 77km away and just 152km from Nome.
Backen had been leading until one of his dogs collapsed and died Sunday near the Unalakleet checkpoint. He arrived in Koyuk about a half-hour after King. Charlie Boulding, a favorite with people in Koyuk, arrived 20 minutes after Backen.
King said Backen might not be able to bounce back.
"I think his heart is broke," King said.
Backen is running nearly the same team as the one fellow Norwegian Robert Sorlie used to win the 2003 Iditarod. The dog that died, called "Takk," which means thank you in Norwegian, helped lead Sorlie across the finish line last year.
"I race, but I'm not quite same. My feelings go up and down," Backen said while repacking his sled. "We have to keep living. We have to go on. ... It's hard."
Preliminary findings of a necropsy indicate the 7-year-old male died of blood loss associated with gastric ulcers.
About a dozen adults and children crowded around Boulding's sled after he arrived in Koyuk at 11:59am Boulding often visits with people in this village of about 300 when he's doing his training runs.
"Hey Charlie, you're doing very good," said Lola Hannoy while giving him a big hug.
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