Aliy Zirkle took the lead in the 2014 Iditarod early Friday morning leaving Ruby almost two hours ahead of Martin Buser who also took off from Ruby Friday. Both mushers dropped dogs at the layover and were racing with 14 dogs.
Arron Burmeister was about two hours behind Buser and out of Ruby. His team was down to 12 dogs.
Buser has taken both of his mandatory layovers. Neither Zirkle nor Burmeister has taken an 8-hour layover.
Jeff King and Sonny Lindner led the pack much of Thursday but were still in Ruby early Friday morning.
Last year’s winner – Mitch Seavey – was in Ruby early Friday morning and in 10th place.
Two Rivers’ Abbie West led the rookies. She was out of Cripple and racing towards Ruby Friday morning.
