March 11, 2018 - 4:13 PM
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The Latest on the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race (all times local):
3:12 p.m.
Nic Petit is heading toward the Bering Sea coast with the lead in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
Petit was the first musher to arrive in the checkpoint at Unalakleet on Sunday afternoon.
He said he's "got good boys in lead right now," according to a video of his arrival posted on the Iditarod website.
Petit indicated he would rest a couple of hours and then take off for Shaktoolik, the next checkpoint 40 miles up the trail.
The native of France who calls Girdwood home left Kaltag early Sunday morning for the 85-mile drive to Unalakleet.
From Unalakleet, the trail ahead leads to the wind-swept Bering Sea coast, which mushers will follow to Nome.
Seventeen other mushers have also left Kaltag and are chasing Petit.
The winner of the nearly thousand-mile race is expected in Nome early this week.
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8:36 a.m.
Alaska musher Nic Petit continues to lead the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
He was the first musher to leave the checkpoint in Kaltag early Sunday morning.
Petit is a native of France now living in a ski resort town just south of Anchorage. Petit had about a 90-minute lead on the second and third place mushers, Norwegian Joar Ulsom and defending champion Mitch Seavey.
Other mushers who have left Kaltag for the 85-mile trip to the next checkpoint in Unalakleet include Richie Diehl, Peter Kaiser and Ray Redington Jr.
The winner of the nearly thousand-mile race is expected early this week in Nome.
News from © The Associated Press, 2018