Day 7: Racers To Sprint To Finish

"We've got a race," said race marshal Chris Graeber. "I'm tired of pushing snow."

Apparently Team 10 had a "little accident," but in the words of the race marshal, if they're still moving, they're doing fine. Everyone here pretty much agrees that something happened and that's how they got passed.

(2:03 p.m.) Team 11 Palin/Quam is through Manley. Checkers say they haven't seen Team 10 Huntington/Olds yet. It's a race!

(1:39 p.m.) Team 7 Davis/Davis are also out on the trail now.

(1:27 p.m.) The race marshal is on the phone with the company that runs the race software to figure out some discrepancies. It sounds like overall course time isn't correct for everyone.

(1:22 p.m.) According to the GPS. Teams 20 and Palin are about a mile apart.

(1:14 p.m.) The leadigng teams are out of Tanana. Team 10 Huntington/Olds and 11 Palin/Quam are out on it.

Team 4 Albert/Malemute has scratched for mechanical problems. That's a big bummer that they made it all the way through that ridiculous storm.

(12:54 p.m.) Team 4 Albert/Malemute is having mechanical problems. But it sounds like they just made it into Tanana.

(12:41 p.m.) Team 25 Watson/Price has been in Tanana for a bit. GPS shows that 12 Goodell/Willard are in, leaving just two teams on the trail and one still working in Ruby.

(12:09 p.m.) We just arrived at race headquarters and things are kindof crazy. There's a National Geographic camera crew, race directors are trying to figure out the standings -- the computer program sseems to be doing things differently than they thought it would when it comes to accounting for the time between Nome and Unalakleet.

Most of the teams are now in Tanana, where they will be released starting at 1 p.m.

Team 14 McKenna/Van Meter just arrived in Tanana. I guess they had to go retrieve a sled. What I've heard -- not from race officials -- is that one of them went in the drink last night on the river and they left the sled there, not sure whether it was because one of them was too wet to wait and get it out or it was too heavy to pull out.

It looks like Team 4 Albert/Malamute, 25 Price/Watson and 12 Goodell/Willard are on their way. Team 17 Price/Watson are still in Ruby, one race official said he heard they were working on a motor.