Seavey Takes Lead In Iditarod

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — There's a familiar name atop the standings of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Tuesday evening.

Two-time winner Mitch Seavey was the first musher to leave the checkpoint in McGrath, Alaska. He spent no time there whatsoever to get back onto the trail with his team of 15 dogs.

In second place is his son, three-time winner and defending champion Dallas Seavey, who had yet to leave McGrath.

The only other musher into this checkpoint is Wade Marrs.

Brent Sass was in fourth place, and Noah Burmeister was in fifth. Both are en route to McGrath.

Lead changes are common during the early part of the nearly 1,000-mile race. Eighty-five mushers started the Iditarod on Sunday in Willow, Alaska. Three have since scratched.

The winner is expected in the old Gold Rush town of Nome, on the Bering Sea coast, sometime early next week.