Iron Dog Day 5: Race heads south through storms

Despite major storms hitting the west coast of Alaska, 16 pro class teams left Nome Thursday morning.

Team 10, Mike Morgan and Chris Olds were the first out at 8:00 a.m., and headed southbound to the finish line in Fairbanks.

KTUU spoke with Morgan at the Nome garage on Wednesday. He said he felt confident navigating the unpredictable weather on the coast, since he’s from Nome.

Just a couple hours after leaving the race's halfway point, Team 8, Tyson Johnson and Tyler Aklestad took a layover in White Mountain before getting towed back to Nome, according to the team's Facebook page. Aklestad and Johnson were the fifth team to leave Nome Thursday.

Teams have a total of 28 hours of mandatory layovers left in the race. Two 10-hour layovers are required, plus a flexible eight-hour layover. Team 20, Robby Schachle and Scott Faeo were the first team to declare a layover, taking a 10-hour layover at the Koyuk checkpoint.

The Iron Dog expects teams to finish in Fairbanks on Saturday morning.