FL-500: Still first

De fem første spannene er på vei fra Levajok til Karasjok, og det begynner å bli tydelig hvem som vil henge med i teten.

In minutes only peanuts divides the competitors at the top of the list. Ole Sigleif Johansen raced the fastest to Levajok, but two of the mushers breathing down his neck have fresh World Championship-medals, and he still has a tough race ahead. 

Johansen was the first to leave at 8.45, with a time differnce of 25 minutes to the 5 next who left between 09.10 - 09.43. Edland and Skjøthaug have gold and silver from the World Championship and Ronny Wingren has a second place from FL-500 in -09. The two others are less renowned but still fighting among the top. Walseth's goal is to end among the top 20, while Helmich has finished FL twice at 7th position.

The obligatory rest-time and the nulling of time difference from the start make a big impact on who will head out of Karasjok first. Wingren has rested more than Johansen, and has 20 minutes less obligatory rest left than him. Bernd Helmich and Kristian Walseth have 24 and 22 minutes more rest left compared to Johansen, while Elisabeth Edland has 7 minutes less rest time left.

Marianne Skjøthaug started almost an hour after Johansen from Levajok, but has, on the other hand, 41 minutes less rest time left. At the same time, Skjøthaug started 20 minutter after Johansen from Alta, so in the end after nulling of the time difference the distance between the two mushers will be practically nothing.

It is even and the competition for the podium will be hard. Most likely the six who are on top of the list now will be fighting for the three top places, but their order is not yet given. Some teams might have used a lot of power alerady, while others might have saved energy so that they can speed on towards Alta.