Leifseth Ulsom back in Iditarod lead while Petit rests in McGrath

UPDATE, 6 p.m.:

Now it’s time to play Iditarod leapfrog.

Joar Leifseth Ulsom seized the lead from Nic Petit on Tuesday evening when he zipped through McGrath while Petit lingered at the checkpoint 311 miles into the Iditarod

Earlier in the day, it was Petit who stole the lead from Leifseth Ulsom in Nikolai. Leifseth Ulsom was the first to reach Nikolai, but while he was napping Petit came through, checked in, and kept on running.

Regardless of which team is leading, they are on record pace.

In 2011, the year John Baker set the southern-route record, Martin Buser was the first to reach McGrath at 5:55 p.m. Tuesday. In 2016, when Dallas Seavey set the northern-route record, Seavey reached McGrath at 6:34 po.m. Tuesday.

This year, Petit reached the village at 3:17 p.m. Leifseth Ulsom arrived at 4:45 p.m. and paused for only four minutes before beginning the 18-mile run to Takotna. According to the race’s GPS tracker, at 6 p.m. Petit was still resting in McGrath and Leifseth Ulsom was still running, 10 miles closer to Nome.

No one else had reached McGrath by 6 p.m.

ORIGINAL STORY:

NIKOLAI — The chase is on.

Girdwood musher Nicolas Petit, last year’s runner-up, slipped past a resting Joar Leifseth Ulsom in the village of Nikolai this morning to re-take the Iditarod lead. At 3:17 p.m. Tuesday, Petit became the first musher to reach McGrath — about 311 miles into the race — arriving with 14 dogs.

Leifseth Ulsom, last year’s champion, was about 5 miles behind him, according to the Iditarod GPS tracker.

As the first racer to arrive in McGrath, Petit wins the Alaska Air Transit Spirit of Iditarod Award, which comes with a pair of beaver mitts and a musher hat handmade by local residents Loretta Maillelle and Rosalie Egrass.

Earlier, Leifseth Ulsom was the first musher into the checkpoint at Nikolai, reaching the checkpoint at 6:36 a.m. with 13 dogs. Jaeger, 3, and Olive, 4, led the team in, he said.

About an hour later, Leifseth Ulsom ate a pancake, eggs, sausage and potatoes in the multipurpose room at the local school. He knew he must have passed Petit on the trail, he said, but he didn’t see him.

[Photos: Iditarod teams climb into the Alaska Range]

Leifseth Ulsom described the 75-mile stretch of trail between the checkpoints of Rohn and Nikolai as “interesting.” There was open water and stretches of gravel and dirt, he said. A strong wind almost knocked him off the trail a few times.

"We would have gone sailing," Leifseth Ulsom said.

Daryl Petruska, first chief of the Nikolai Edzeno’ Tribal Council, presented Leifseth Ulsom with mittens made from beaver fur and moose hide. Petruska’s grandmother made the mitts for the first and last musher to the village.

"Wow, they're beautiful," Leifseth Ulsom told him.

Petruska also gave Leifseth Ulsom a thick blanket from Alaska Air Transit. The mitts and blanket will be shipped to Leifseth Ulsom’s home in Willow.

Leifseth Ulsom, who said he hasn’t gotten much sleep since the race started, then went into a small room to rest. On a large dry-erase board, he wrote his wake-up time as 9:15 a.m.

Petit arrived at the checkpoint at 9:04 a.m. and left at 9:08 a.m. — seven minutes before Leifseth Ulsom was set to wake up.

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About 70 people live in Nikolai, Petruska said. He described the community as tight-knit. He said he has watched the Iditarod mushers come through the village ever since he was young.

"When there's an event like this, everybody comes together," he said.

Pete Kaiser and his 14 dogs pulled into Nikolai at 7:54 a.m. Tuesday, the second team to reach the checkpoint. Behind him, Jessie Royer and her 14-dog team arrived at 8:10 a.m. in 20-degree weather. Nearly an hour later, Aliy Zirkle, Matt Hall and Ryan Redington arrived at the checkpoint — each with 14 dogs — within a 12-minute span. Then Petit dashed through.

At 10:37 a.m., Leifseth Ulsom joined Petit on the trail to McGrath, later followed by the others above.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Related:

Photos: Iditarod teams climb into the Alaska Range

12 questions with 2018 Iditarod champion Joar Leifseth Ulsom before this year’s race to Nome