Iditarod: Lead team should cross finish line today

Several native Minnesotans are hanging in there on the Iditarod trail as the leader closes in on the finish line this morning in Nome, more than 1,110 miles from the starting point in Anchorage.

Two-time defending champion Lance Mackey of Fairbanks, Alaska, is looking for his third consecutive win. He was leading as of daybreak today. If all goes as planned, he should be driving his team down Front Street in Nome at around noon local time today.

The winner receives $69,000 and a new pickup truck.

As for the former Minnesotans:

Mitch Seavey, who was born in Brainerd, was sixth as of 6:35 a.m. Alaska time. He won the Iditarod in 2004.

Ed Iten, who was raised in Browerville and returned to Alaska for college, was 10th.

Paul Gebhardt, who grew up near Glencoe and moved to Alaska in the 1970s, was 12th.

Rick Swenson, who was born in Willmar and moved from Minnesota to Alaska in 1973 to mush dogs, was 24th. He is the only five-time Iditarod winner (1977, 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1991).

Jake Berkowitz, who grew up in St. Paul and now lives in Anchorage, was 36th.

David Sawatzky, a native of Mountain Lake, was 43rd.

Cindy Gallea, formerly of Grand Marais and in her ninth Iditarod, was 45th.