Iditarod race has new leader in 2004 champion Mitch Seavey

The 2013 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race has a new leader in the event’s 2004 champion, Mitch Seavey, who overtook Aliy Zirkle as lead musher Sunday.

The 1,000-mile race through Alaska is now in its final 240-mile stretch, which will follow the Bering Sea’s frozen coastline to the finish in Nome.

Seavey leads Aaron Burmeister, who pulled into the latest checkpoint in Unalakleet in second place.

Zirkle, who is trying to become the third woman to win the endurance contest, is third while four-time champion Martin Buser, who led much of the race since the start last Sunday, is fourth. Buser won his first Iditarod title in 1992.

The latest updates on the Iditarod website shows that Seavey and Buser, who is trying to become the second five-time champion in race history, are mushing with 11 dogs while Zirkle and Burmeister each are traveling with 13.

Libby Riddles was the first woman to win the Iditarod in 1985. Susan Butcher then won four of the next five races.

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