Lance Mackey pulls back into Iditarod lead

Defending Iditarod champion Lance Mackey pulled back into the lead today by being the first musher into Ruby, about 2 1/2 hours ahead of 2nd place Jeff King. As the first musher to arrive at the Yukon River, Mackey was treated to a 6 course meal this morning at the Ruby checkpoint.

Even while Mackey was enjoying his victory feast, he was humble as usual:

I’m first here by some kind of luck, because my team isn’t 100 percent.

All of the lead mushers have taken their mandatory 24 layover at this point, but their 8 hour layovers are yet to come, so there is still plenty of time for someone to mix things up in this race.

Photo from the Anchorage Daily News