Ten teams had checked out of Cripple and were on the 112-mile trail to Ruby, the first checkpoint on the Yukon River, by late Thursday night.

Following leaders Jeff King and Lance Mackey were Hugh Neff (out of Cripple at 6:15 p.m.), Mitch Seavey (7:09 p.m.), Aliy Zirkle (8:11 p.m.), Sebastian Schnuelle (8:13 p.m.), Sonny Lindner (9 p.m.), Sven Haltmann (9:15 p.m.), Hans Gatt (9:15 p.m.) and Ken Anderson (9:33 p.m.).

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Former champion Jeff King led reigning champion Lance Mackey out of Cripple Thursday night to grab a dramatic lead for the second half of the Iditarod. The two dominant mushers left the halfway point of the deserted mining camp at dusk, heading for the Yukon River village of Ruby.

King left the checkpoint at 5:21 p.m., Mackey followed soon after, hitting the trail at 6:03 p.m.

Fresh off their 24-hour layovers, a multitude of mushers streamed into the abandoned mining town of Cripple. By 3 p.m., nine mushers were in town -- with 24 en route from the previous checkpoint of Ophir.

Young Dallas Seavey was the first to arrive not long after midnight to begin his 24-hour rest.

He won't be the first to leave.

Among a group of mushers who've completed their 24-hour layovers, four-time champion King was the first to arrive at 12:10 p.m. after his 15 dogs made a speedy march from Ophir in 9 hours, 10 minutes. So far, nobody has made it any faster. Some took considerably longer.

Kotzebue's John Baker, for instance, needed 16:48 to complete the same run -- though he may have stopped to rest en route.

Behind King were two other front-runners fresh off their 24-hour rests. Hugh Neff of Tok arrived at 1:29 p.m. and traveling partner Mitch Seavey was two minutes back. Both still had 14 dogs in harness.

Earlier Thursday, Linwood Fiedler of Willow became the first former top-10 musher to scratch. He bowed out in McGrath with just 11 dogs remaining in his team. Fiedler owns four top-10 finishes, including runner-up to Montana champion Doug Swingley in 2001.