Aaron Burmeister was the first Iditarod musher into the snowy village of Nikolai Tuesday morning, his 13-dog team pulling in at 7:38 a.m.
Nikolai is 263 miles into the nearly 1,000-mile race.
Burmeister told race officials he planned to stay and rest.
He was followed into the checkpoint about 30 minutes later by Ryan Redington. Then came Richie Diehl at 8:29 a.m., Brent Sass at 9:12 a.m., defending champion Dallas Seavey at 9:24 a.m. and Michelle Phillips at 9:25 a.m.
By 11 a.m., Travis Beals, Jessie Holmes, Mitch Seavey, Hugh Neff and Paige Drobny had also made their way to Nikolai.
Nearly all of them were resting at the checkpoint, except for Sass and Dallas Seavey.
Sass spent just eight minutes at Nikolai before racing out at 9:20 a.m. Seavey gave chase eight minutes later. They’re headed to McGrath, about 48 miles away.
The race started Sunday in Willow. The winner is expected sometime early next week in Nome, on Alaska’s western coast.
The Associated Press contributed reporting to this story.
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