After giving up the lead position Friday morning, Aliy Zirkle was back in the lead position in the Iditarod by early Friday afternoon. She recaptured her lead by giving her team a rest 30 miles south of Ruby. She reached the Ruby checkpoint after the morning leader, Mitch Seavey, but she spent only a few minutes there. She dropped one dog in Ruby and is now racing with 14 dogs westward along the Yukon River.
There were nine mushers in Ruby as 1:45 pm according to the Iditarod race tracker, including Seavey, Dallas Seavey and last year’s champion John Baker. Aaron Burmeister, Jeff King, DeeDee Jonrowe, Ray Redington, Jr., Sonny Lindner and Jake Berkowitz also were in Ruby.
Brent Sass maintained his lead among rookies.
