By Gwen Holdman

Ramey Smith, Ken Anderson  and Martin Buser just went through the very last 'checkpoint' of Saftey 15 minutes ago.  Ramey was first, which is not too much of a surprise, but Martin was actually the second team in.  Ken was immediately behind Martin, and then took a couple of minutes to drop a bag.

I wonder if he had been carrying this dog in his bag and whether that might have slowed him down.  In any case, Martin did not drop a dog but did something interestingly strategically.  He waited until Ken left so he could follow him out and 'draft' off of him.  That was probably a smart move, as dogs like to follow and Ken may have real trouble pulling away from Martin.  Martin's dogs (or at least leaders) will be slightly rested relative to Ken's, and then he can at some point re-pass Ken coming into Nome.  It puts Ken in a tough position of actually needing to run significantly faster than Martin to pull away, which is not easy at this stage in the race and if anything, Martin has shown he is the slightly faster team of the two. 

In any case, it will be an interesting final stretch, and I am headed down to the finish line now to get things set up.  Also, Hans seems to be trailing, but it is hard to know for sure.  They do not have him posted as through Saftey yet.

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