Headed for the homestretch, Eureka musher Brent Sass left Eagle on Thursday night with a healthy lead in the Yukon Quest.
Sass reached the first checkpoint in Alaska at 3:10 p.m. AST and left six hours later with 12 refreshed dogs in harness. When Sass departed at 9:10 p.m., two-time defending champion Allen Moore of Two Rivers was in second place and still 15 miles -- or about two hours -- away from Eagle, according to the race's Facebook page.
Whether Moore will need to make up eight or more hours in the final 375 miles of the 1,000-mile race depends on whether he rested his team along the trail on his run from Dawson City to Eagle. If he did, he may not need to spend much time resting in Eagle.
Following Moore out of Dawson were third-place Hugh Neff and fourth-place Joar Leifseth Ulsom. Ray Redington Jr., the fifth musher to reach the race's halfway point, scratched Thursday morning in Dawson.
The brutal cold in Canada that forced former champion Jeff King out of the race earlier this week did not follow Sass into Alaska. While mushers faced temperatures that plummeted to minus 40 and worse in Canada, it was above zero Thursday night in Eagle.
According to Facebook, Sass ate a bowl of moose stew while in Eagle and was "(c)ool, calm and collected" when he took off for his run to Circle, the next checkpoint in the 1,000-mile race that began Saturday in Whitehorse.
As he spoke to his dogs while getting ready to leave Eagle, Sass noted that because of the milder temperatures, there was no need for them to wear coats.
"You guys like that, don't you?" he said.