71-year-old Jim Lanier won the gold in Cripple this year for the first time in his 14 runnings of the Iditarod.

Asked what he would do with the halfway purse, he said, “I’d like to get a really nice lead dog,” although, he continued, “But I know what’s more likely to happen. It’ll wind up hanging from my wife’s neck.”

Lanier scooped up the roughly $3,000 booty by forgoing the mandatory 24 hour layover. He is only one of 5 that hasn’t done so yet. Although at the time of this article, it seems that he has chosen to take it at Cripple, he has been at that spot since arriving there at 1:55 pm yesterday.

Currently, it looks like Aliy Zinkle has taken over the top spot. She pulled out of Cripple at 6:32 pm yesterday after only six minutes in the checkpoint. She was followed out by Mitch Seavey, who left 23 minutes behind her after a four and a half hour break. John Baker, after a little over three hours in Cripple, left two hours later.

Who’s in the back end of the pack? It looks like it’s a toss-up between Jan Steves and Bob Chlupach, who are still in McGrath, the two are apparently on their mandatory 24, as they arrived almost half past 11 yesterday morning within a minute of each other and both remain at that checkpoint as of last update this morning.