Alaskan musher John Baker is on track to break the race record in the world's most famous sled dog event, the Iditarod, the Alaska Dispatch reported Monday.
Baker — who has 11 top-10 finishes but no wins in the 1,150 mile (1,850km) race between Willow and Nome in Alaska — moved ahead of record pace with a strategic shortened rest.
Four-time champion Martin Buser set the record in 2002 of eight days, 22 hours, 46 minutes and two seconds.
Baker arrived at Unalakleet on the Bering Sea coast almost two hours behind Buser's 2002 time, but left five minutes ahead after resting for only four hours and eight minutes compared to Buser's six hours and five minutes.
Baker's dogs are not renowned for their speed but rather their ability to run for longer periods of time with shorter breaks.
Going into the final leg, it now appears to be a race between Baker and Ramey Smyth, a veteran of 17 Iditarods.
Smyth checked in to the White Mountain Checkpoint, 77 miles from the finish line in Nome, about 51 minutes behind Baker on Monday afternoon, both having traveled the 46 miles from the previous checkpoint in Elim in identical times of seven hours, 12 minutes.
All teams are required to take a mandatory eight-hour rest at White Mountain before the final push.
