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Photos: Iron Dog restart in Big Lake

Driving into sloppy, wet snow and temperatures pushing 40 degrees, the lead racers in the world's longest and toughest snowmachine race faced strong winds Sunday as the sun set on the first day of racing, and the early race leaders headed across the Farewell Burn for Nikolai and McGrath.

A pair of Willow 20-somethings — Brett Lapham, 23, and Cody Barber, 22 — left Rohn at 6:48 p.m., followed less than a minute later by Fairbanks riders Ryan Folsom and Troy Conlon. Those aren't the familiar names of past champions that typically run at the front of the Iron Dog pack, but many top teams elected to take a six-hour layover in Puntilla, about 50 miles back on the trail, high in the Alaska Range. Once those rests end and the frontrunners pause to take their own layovers, expect the standings to flip flop.

Scattered snow showers are expected overnight with temperatures forecast to dip into the teens, so any precipitation should come down as snow. Blowing snow. Earlier Sunday, the National Weather Service issued an advisory for winds up to 30 mph, gusting to 45 mph, for McGrath, Nikolai and Takotna until midday Monday. Strong winds at the Big Lake start earlier Sunday forced race organizers to take down some of the inflatable arches adorned with sponsor names that are in the start chute.

Read more: Out of the Alaska Range, Iron Dog leaders head across windy Farewell Burn

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