A new player emerged Thursday that may have as much influence on who wins the Iron Dog as any of the 22 teams remaining in the world's longest and toughest snowmachine race.
Call it winter.
The southern Seward Peninsula was under a winter storm warning expected to usher in blizzard conditions and deliver up to a foot of snow to White Mountain and Golovin, with less-severe conditions farther east, according to the National Weather Service. South gusting winds may hit 40 mph.
"Blowing snow with poor visibility will continue tonight," warned the National Weather Service. "Travel and outdoor activities will be difficult. Locally, whiteout conditions may develop for short periods."
Of course, travel and outdoor activities are what the 2,000-mile race from Big Lake to Nome and back to Fairbanks is all about.
"Sometimes when the wind blows like this, five minutes and the trail is gone," 55-year-old Scott Davis, a seven-time champion, told KTUU. "If we can get off the coast and out of the snow and get back down to racing and not worrying so much about Mother Nature (we'll be better off)."
Perhaps hoping to get a jump on the weather, two teams of racers on Polaris machines blew through Unalakleet on Thursday afternoon to seize an illusory lead.
That's because real leaders were parked in Unalakleet, waiting out 10-hour layovers that all drivers must take as the trail turns east toward the Fairbanks finish line.
Young rookie gunslingers Cody Barber, 21, and Brett Lapham, 22, were on the trail from Unalakleet to Kaltag at 3:22 p.m. Thursday. Wherever this duo winds up by the race's end, the sight of such young drivers toward the front of the pack this late in the race is impressive.
Fifty-three minutes later, Cody's dad, Shane, and partner Ryan Sottosanti gave chase. Sottosanti's participation in this year's Iron Dog was in doubt until surgery relieved intense pain triggered by carpal-tunnel syndrome in his left wrist.
The two Polaris teams may be hoping the storm is severe enough to significantly slow the racers behind them.
The fastest of that group is former champion Eric Quam and partner Scott Faeo, heir to the Faeo dynasty established by his father John's seven Iron Dog titles. They reached Unalakleet with a 24-minute lead over graybeard Davis and his young partner, Aaron Bartel.
"We're going to keep pushing," the younger Faeo told KTUU. "We're going to get off the (Norton Sound) coast and see how the weather looks out of Unalakleet."
But a come-from-behind victory by Bartel and Davis would allow the latter to stand alone as the winningest driver in Iron Dog history. He and John Faeo are tied atop the championship list with seven apiece.