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No sleep for sled dogs

Even before Hugh Neff received a two-hour time penalty for not following the Quest trail into Central, Jon Little saw second place as a possibility. "I might catch second, but I also don't want to let Sebastian (Schnuelle)...
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EAGLE, CIRCLE AND CENTRAL, AK

Even before Hugh Neff received a two-hour time penalty for not following the Quest trail into Central, Jon Little saw second place as a possibility.

“I might catch second, but I also don’t want to let Sebastian (Schnuelle) get third,” said the Quest veteran.

Little rolled into Central three hours after the two frontrunners on Sunday night.

His team has been struggling with severe diarrhea since Dawson.

It’s like “chocolate milk shakes,” he said. As a result, Little’s been taking more rest. And he’s considering a push to the finish.

“I think I have a little in the bank,” he said.

Rolling through Circle on Sunday afternoon, Brent Sass was in the same position he finished in last year - fifth.

Schnuelle is reachable, said Sass, eating burgers at the Circle checkpoint.

“I could put on some long runs and catch up.

“And you never know what’s going to happen on Eagle Summit.”

Sass is a day faster than he was last year, but the whole race is faster.

“So I’m still in the same position,” he said. “I’m bummed a bit, but it shows my dogs have improved a lot from last year.

“Last year the winner was 24 hours in front of me, this year they’re under 10; I’m pushing, but we’re keeping pace,” said Sass.

In Eagle, earlier the same day, Jason Mackey was also talking about cutting rest.

“I need to do something drastic,” he said.

“I need a paycheque.”

In 20th place, the Iditarod musher wants to finish in the top 15.

“I see people here I want to beat,” he said. (Genesee Keevil)