Lance Mackey has won the 2009 Iditarod, arriving in Nome this afternoon, and claiming his third straight victory in "The Last Great Race".
Behind Mackey, the race is on for second and third place. Both Sebastian Schnuelle and John Baker are through the White Mountain checkpoint and are on their way to Safety, the last stop before the reach Nome as well. Aaron Burmeister and Mitch Seavey, both of whom are into White Mountain, round out the top five. Mitch's son Dallas, an up-and-coming star in the world of dog sled racing, is on his dad's heals in sixth place.
Major congratulations to Lance on an impressive run. He seemed to bide his time early on in the race, while guys like Schnueele and Hugh Neff set the pace early on. But once Lance made his move, he was clearly the strongest racer in the field, and only the inclement weather kept him from crossing the finish line sooner.
For his part, Schuelle has run a very impressive race, especially coming off his Yukon Quest win. And although my track record for predictions this year hasn't been all that great (Jeff King is now in 18h place!), I'm still going to predict that Sebastian will claim second place when it's all said and done.
Keep watching the Iditablog for updates and information as other mushers reach Nome.
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