Jonrowe Holds Lead, But Buser Not Far Behind

Musher Dee Dee Jonrowe, holding onto her lead in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, was the first musher into Galena Friday evening. She arrived in Galena at 6:15 p.m. after leaving the midday hubbub of this Yukon River village a bit after noon.

Running her 16th Iditarod, Jonrowe hit Ruby 2 hours before three-time champion Martin Buser. She departed at 12:38 p.m., with Buser following her a minute under 2 hours later.

Jonrowe and most of the other frontrunners spent some time in Ruby, a small village perched on a bluff above the river.

The mushers are required to take an 8-hour rest at some point on the Yukon and many of the mushers chose to take that break in Ruby, the first checkpoint on the river. They rested their teams in temperatures that climbed to near 30.

A light breeze out of the northeast picked up at midday and was expected to make for cool conditions as the mushers headed up the Yukon to Galena, 52 miles from Ruby. From Galena, the mushers would have about 450 miles to the finish line in Nome.

Jonrowe, of Willow, Alaska, was cautiously optimistic that she could stay ahead. But she was keeping an eye on the past champions trying to catch her. Jonrowe was down to 11 dogs, while Buser had 14.

“Two hours here is a nice lead. But you can only run your own dog team. They’ll do what they need to do and I’ll do what I need to do,” she said.

Buser told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner he was focusing on keeping his dogs happy at this point in the race and catching up with Jonrowe farther up the trail.

“My plan was not to lead. The only time it really matters is when you cross Front Street,” he said.

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