Today may be a school day, but you won’t find Ketchum school teacher Trent Herbst in the classroom. The 45-year-old Idahoan is barrelling down the Iditarod Trail for the ninth time.
Herbst and his 16 sled dogs are among the 70-odd teams making their way across Alaska on the Iditarod Trail.
The grueling thousand-mile dogsled race started Monday amid a cold snap. Overnight temperatures slipped into the negative thirties.
Herbst pulled into the first checkpoint at Nenana after nearly six hours on the trail. He spent almost as much time at the checkpoint as he did getting there. This is in line with a six-hours-run, six-hours-rest strategy he had going into the race, according to his race blog.
The next checkpoint is 90 miles away in Manley Hot Springs.
Of eight Iditarods, Herbst’s best finish is 25th in 2011. He is the only musher from Idaho in this year’s race.
You can follow the progress of Trent Herbst and other Iditarod racers online here.
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