We took the day to fly out to the village of Nikolai and meet the front-runners as they were coming in. It was a beautiful day for flying - nearly unlimited visibility, sunny skies and weather in the upper 30's. We got to see Ramy and spend an hour talking with him about his race

Paul Gebhardt was the first one into Nikolai at 11:30 a.m. Jeff King and Doug Swingley were about two hours behind Paul, and Mitch Seavey, John Barron were within 10 minutes of each other an hour behind King and Swingley. Ramy has been taking significantly longer rests than any of the other leaders and his dogs are looking good!

There has been a bit of excitement on the trail. Between Rainy Pass and Nikolai, John Barron was leaning over to pick up a trailing rope when he was struck in the head with a stick protruding from the snow. The blow knocked him from his sled and left him with a little cut. Luckily for him, Ramy was close behind and gave him a ride to meet up with his team. It looked like John's injuries were slight and he is continuing with no problems.

At Nikolai it was reported that Dee Dee Jonrowe had broken up her sled pretty badly and was carrying two dogs. It sounds like she is having some trouble again...

Ramy is still real positive about his team and his chances. At this point, it is too early to tell - but any of these mushers could win it. We like to think it's going to be Ramy!!

(Click on the pictures for a close-up)