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King leads Zirkle by one minute out of Koyuk

UPDATE 7 p.m. Sunday

Jeff King is leading the Iditarod. The four-time champion left Koyuk one minute ahead of Aliy Zirkle on Sunday evening.

Driving a team of 12, King departed at 5:50 p.m. Zirkle was right behind him, leaving at 5:51 p.m.

Zirkle, who said she thinks she pulled a hamstring earlier Sunday, led the fast-charging King by one minute coming into the checkpoint.

As the leaders continued their duel, five teams had reached Koyuk, including a swift-moving Dallas Seavey, the 2012 champion who has made big gains in the last 24 hours.

Martin Buser, who led for part of Saturday before yielding the lead to Zirkle, reached Koyuk at 4:20, more than two hours after Zirkle and King got there.

Seavey arrived at 4:33 and Sonny Lindner at 4:47. Then came defending champion Mitch Seavey at 5:23 p.m. and Aaron Burmeister at 5:58.

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UPDATE 3:30 p.m. Sunday

From Kevin Klott --

And down the stretch they come with 170 miles to go.

One minute separated Aliy Zirkle and Jeff King as the Iditarod leaders pulled into Koyuk just after 2 p.m. Sunday.

Zirkle owns the narrow lead, but King made the trip from Shaktoolik with a faster time. King left Shaktoolik 48 minutes after Zirkle.

King made the run in 6 hours, 8 minutes. Zirkle did it in 6:55. Two-time runner-up Zirkle pulled in at 2:07 p.m. and four-time champion King arrived at 2:08 to maintain their record-breaking pace.

According to their GPS trackers, the two ran closely together — with Zirkle out in front — for most of the 46 miles from Shaktoolik. But King eventually caught the Two Rivers musher along the windswept sea ice.

King, 58, is chasing a fifth Iditarod championship. If he gets it, he would tie Rick Swenson for the most wins in race history. Zirkle, 44, is seeking her first Iditarod victory and the first for a woman since 1990.

The leaders are expected to reach White Mountain late Sunday night. Mushers must stay there for eight hours before heading to Nome. The unprecedented pace could put a winner into Nome as early as Monday night.

Front Street has never greeted a winner that soon.

"Some people are so concerned with winning from Day 1, they don't have patience," said Mitch Seavey about this year's record-setting pace.

The Sterling musher left Shaktoolik in seventh place at 8:11 a.m. Sunday. Despite trailing Zirkle by four hours, he still has his sights set on defending his title.

"I've got tunnel vision," he said Saturday in Unalakleet while eating a plate full of eggs and bacon. "I'm going to get to Nome as fast as I can. And some people are going to get run over."

Asked if he still has time to catch the leaders, Seavey expressed his concern over his aching body. He thinks he tore both of his pectoral muscles, which makes it difficult for the 54-year-old to hold onto his sled. He's been doing a lot of sitting.

"My team is outstanding — we're doing all this stuff we're not used to doing, all this loping and speed," he said. "I'm concerned about these hills because I can't run."

The two-time Iditarod winner was referring to the Blueberry Hills, which peak at about 1,000 feet above sea level, roughly 18 miles outside of Unalakleet.

The trail from Unalakleet to Shaktoolik is nasty, said Unalakleet teacher and ski coach Nancy Persons. She said it's nothing but miles of gravel and glare ice.

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"It was dirty," she said. "There's no snow on the tundra."

Iditarod Insider's Sebastian Schnuelle, who is following the race on a snowmachine, wrote that he "couldn't believe" Aaron Burmeister had made it up and over the Blueberry Hills. The Nenana musher, who left Shaktoolik in fifth place, is driving on a busted knee that he shredded five days ago on the snowless Farewell Burn.

"Tough, very tough," Schnuelle wrote.

How did Seavey respond to rumors of rough trail conditions ahead?

"The more obstacles, the better," he said.

UPDATE 9 a.m. Sunday

From Kevin Klott --

Riding on less than four hours of rest, Aliy Zirkle has decided to grab a head start on Jeff King and head north toward Koyuk.

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The Two Rivers musher in search of her first Iditarod victory left Shaktoolik at 7:12 this morning with 11 dogs and a 48-minute lead over King, a four-time champion looking to capture his first Iditarod since 2006.

When Zirkle reached Shaktoolik earlier this morning, she was almost 12 hours ahead of the pace John Baker set during his record run in 2011. In Unalakleet, Zirkle didn't get the opportunity to check the run times of her competition.

"Ignorance is bliss," she told Iditarod Insider.

Zirkle and others could face tough trail conditions along the sea ice on Norton Sound. The National Weather Service is calling for sunny skies today with 20-plus-mph winds and gusts up to 35 mph.

Sebastian Schnuelle, who is following the race on a snowmachine for Iditarod Insider, reported a challenging trail from Unalakleet over to Shaktoolik. He faced a constant 15 to 20 mph headwind.

"That wind will push the sled sideways over the ice," he wrote.

When King left Shaktoolik at 8 a.m., he left behind three mushers parked in the dog lot: Martin Buser, Sonny Lindner and Dallas Seavey. Arriving next was Seavey's dad and reigning Iditarod champion, Mitch Seavey, who checked into Shaktoolik at 8:11 a.m.

Among that pack of six, Dallas Seavey posted the fastest run from Unalakleet at five hours and nine minutes. Mitch Seavey was second with a run-time of 5:32.

UPDATE 6:30 a.m. Sunday

From Kevin Klott --

Iditarod leader Aliy Zirkle is taking a breather this morning in Shaktoolik before continuing the push onto the sea ice. If she takes a nap inside Shaktoolik's warm checkpoint, she may consider sleeping with one eye open.

The Two Rivers musher and her 11 dogs were all alone when they pulled into Shaktoolik at 3:51 a.m., but less than an hour later, a four-time Iditarod champion showed up — and it wasn't Martin Buser.

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Jeff King rumbled up the Bering Sea coastline in a late-night pursuit of Zirkle, who has been trading the lead on and off with Buser for the last 260 miles. King's 12-dog team ran the 40-mile trail from Unalakleet 14 minutes faster than Zirkle's team.

"I feel really, really great," King told Iditarod Insider in Unalakleet. "I feel like I'm as loose as a cucumber right now."

On Saturday evening, King was the fourth musher to arrive in Unalakleet. He pulled in behind Zirkle, Buser and Sonny Lindner. But the 58-year-old King rested for just two and a half hours before taking off a minute ahead of the 55-year-old Buser, who logged more than four hours of rest.

Lindner, who has never won the Iditarod, left Unalakleet in fourth place and arrived in Shakloolik in the same position. He gained just two minutes on Buser, who arrived in third place and 1:36 behind Zirkle.

Earlier in the race, some current and former mushers following the trail questioned King and Lindner's decision to take their mandatory 24-hour layover in the village of Ruby. So far King is proving his critics wrong.

"Clearly the dogs didn't wait too long to take their 24," the Denali Park musher said. "I'm convinced that they're rolling better because they've just come off a long rest."

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Now the question will be who makes the first move out of Shaktoolik, where the course veers onto the sea ice as it heads toward Koyuk.

Anchorage Daily News / adn.com

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