Jake Berkowitz: How the Yukon River is shaping up to be a big game-changer in the 2018 Iditarod

Less than 24 hours ago, the Iditarod had a clear leader – Nic Petit. But with conditions and weather constantly changing on the Yukon River and the loss of Eagle Island as a checkpoint, the top three are all on top of one another once again and Petit's big move to push to Anvik and build a lead has been wiped away.

Not only has the dynamic of the front three (Petit, Mitch Seavey and Joar Leifseth Ulsom) been shaken up, but the top 10 has been infiltrated by Travis Beals, who took advantage of his team's still-present speed, combined with the extra rest that teams ahead of him were taking. While teams are just now tackling the heart of the Yukon River, it is becoming clear that the Yukon will be a major game-changer in the 2018 Iditarod.

THE TOP THREE

In true Petit fashion, he has adjusted on the fly. What seemed like a pretty clear-cut race strategy of three runs from Iditarod to Kaltag changed after his big push to Anvik and the First to the Yukon Award. We may never know what caused the change, but without all the musher's supplies and straw in Eagle Island, combined with slower trail conditions, the extra 100-plus pounds of gear that teams will be forced to carry surely was an adding factor to Petit's earlier-than-planned rest just 15 miles outside of Grayling overnight.

Petit rested a solid five hours on the Yukon River and allowed Seavey and Ulsom to catch back up to him and pass him before pulling the hook. Seavey's lead was short-lived and Petit quickly got his team back up and moving Saturday, overtaking Ulsom and Seavey and leading the front three into Eagle Island. While Petit elected to bypass the hospitality stop of Eagle Island, Seavey and Ulsom have both stopped, and Petit pushed another 6 miles down the Yukon River for before resting his team once again.

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Without many creature comforts at Eagle Island on the best of years and even less this year, there wasn't much reason to mandate a stop there. Petit's push just 6 miles farther will allow him to stay out of sight of Seavey and Ulsom and with Eagle Island's limited connection to the rest of the world, Petit could start moving toward Kaltag without giving his competitors any indication or could force Seavey and Ulsom to rest shorter than they wanted while guessing what Petit's next move will be.

While Petit and Seavey have both rested a similar 13 hours since leaving Iditarod, Ulsom has cut his rest significantly by only resting 11 hours. His speed has stayed consistent and similar to his competitors. Ulsom's success so far on less rest could be attributed to his push to Iditarod for his 24 and after losing two hours to Petit and Seavey on the way to Iditarod he quickly made it back up on the other side.

The top three, who in McGrath only boasted a separation of less than one hour from the chase pack, have continued to strengthen and now have over seven hours of separation.

THE CHASE PACK

With no one in the chase pack wanting to make a move early Saturday morning out of Grayling, it was the veteran Ray Redington who ended up being forced to lead everyone out of Grayling after an unprecedented six-plus-hour rest. Kaiser and Diehl followed Redington out 15 minutes later and have since caught him and are all traveling together toward Eagle Island. Aaron Burmeister, Travis Beals (who was 13th leaving Iditarod and is now in a solid sixth with the fastest team in the Top 10), Wade Marrs and Jessie Royer round out the top 10.

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While it seems very unlikely that anyone will catch the top 3, the bottleneck at Grayling this morning has opened up the door to many well-rested teams to challenge the field and push out mushers who have been solidly in the top 10 for the first 500 miles.

Keep a close eye on Beals, Ramey Smyth (currently in 12th) and Matt Failor, who has hands-down the fastest team in the top 20 (currently in 13th), posting a run time of 2 hours and 29 minutes into Grayling. Yukon Quest champion Matt Hall, who is currently in control of this year's Iditarod Rookie of the Year award, is also in the mix, especially with a solid trail-hardened team from the Yukon Quest ready to tackle the long runs on the Yukon and the extra weight being carried this year.

Stay tuned – the leaderboard is shifting by the minute and the race to the coast is just beginning to heat up!

Find full race coverage at adn.com/iditarod.