2020 Iditarod: Eureka musher first to leave Galena

Brent Sass continued his lead in the 2020 Iditarod Friday night.

The Eureka musher was the first out of Galena, leaving the checkpoint at 7:32 p.m. Jessie Royer was the first into Galena at 6:17 p.m. But Sass spent only 14 minutes there. Royer, of Fairbanks, was in Galena for more than four hours.

Richie Diehl and Wade Marrs also reached Galena and left. As of 1 a.m. Saturday morning, 14 mushers reached Galena and the top four left.

Four mushers had scratched as of Friday night. Nils Hahn and Alan Eichens, of Wasilla, both scratched in McGrath Friday.

Sass was the first musher into Cripple Wednesday night and Royer was the first to leave the checkpoint Thursday afternoon in the 2020 Iditarod.

Royer departed Cripple at 4:07 p.m., 11 minutes after she checked in. Sass, of Eureka, earned the GCI Dorthy G. Page Halfway Award for arriving in Cripple first. He hit the checkpoint, the halfway point of the 2020 race, at 9:54 p.m. Wednesday. With the award, Sass gets the choice of a Samsung Galaxy 620 with a year of service, or $3,000 in gold nuggets.

Sass was still in Cripple, as of 10:30 p.m. Thursday.

Aaron Burmeister and Thomas Waerner also left Cripple. Thirteen mushers had also arrived in Cripple Thursday.

A second musher scratched on Thursday. Jeremy Keller ended his run to Nome Thursday afternoon in Nikolai.

“Due to current events, Keller has made the difficult decision to scratch as he wants to be home with his friends and family during this stressful time,” according to a press release issued Thursday.

Keller, of Knik, is mushing his team back to Willow, according to the Iditarod. Chugiak musher Jim Lanier scratched March 9 in Rainy Pass.

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