Iron Dog Day 5: Racers take on the Kotzebue loop

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - After leaving the garage in Nome, there is about 1,600 miles left in the race. The top teams are now attacking the Kotzebue loop, a 375-mile route that debuted in the 2020 race. Racers leave Nome, and upon reaching Koyuk, they will veer north, traveling through Buckland, Selawik, Kiana, Noorvik, Kotzebue and back through Buckland and Koyuk, before backtracking to Big Lake.

Zach Weisz, who is half of Team 5, and is currently in second place said, “Can’t get caught up in the moment because you can get caught up racing another team that is when mistakes happen they could be pushing one section and then have issues the next section and make all that time back up, stay relevant stay clean and make it back to Big Lake.”

Last year, this stretch of the trail met the racers with severe winter weather and ground blizzards that slowed the top teams down quite a bit. However, this year the weather is looking to be clear, sunny and cold.

Team 6 was the first team to reach Kotzebue, but only one minute behind them is Team 5. The gap between 1st and 4th place while in the garage in Nome was about 10 minutes, however, now that gap has been widened to about 30.

For more details watch the attached video above.

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