Defending champion Lance Mackey has taken the lead in the Iditarod. He left the Nikolai checkpoint at 4:17 this afternoon. Norweigan Kjetil Backen was the first into Nikolai, and is still resting there. Gerry Willomitzer is currently in third place followed closely by Paul Gebhardt, Jeff King, Hans Gatt and Huff Neff. They are all at Nikolai.
David Shurtleff, APRN and Libby Casey, KUAC – McGrath
