OPHIR ALASKA
The most current information I find this morning is some teams have passed the Ophir checkpoint. The teams have traveled 352 miles with 623 left to go. There will be a 73 mile trek till the next check point in Cripple. After that there's another long journey between check points, 70 miles. Two long runs in a row. There's fresh snow and the powder means it's more tiring on the dogs. Most teams are running with fewer dogs now. One team, Silvia Furtwangler, scratched from the race at Nikolai checkpoint. During the race there is one mandatory 24 hour stop. Several of the mushers have already taken this rest.
Ophir was named by miners after the wealthy land of Ophir mentioned in the Old Testament. The area was the site of a gold rush in 1906. Ophir reached a peak population of 122 in 1910. It is now abandoned but serves as a checkpoint in the Iditarod. (Thank you Wikipedia for the information)
An error I made earlier. I thought the longest distance between checkpoints was the 75 miles from Rohn to Nikolai. It's not. There's a 85 mile stretch up ahead.
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