2005 Iditarod - March 14

March 14

Shaktoolik: Sørlie was the first to arrive on March 14 at 7 am, followed by Brooks an hour and a half later. Sørlie remained in the lead as he left Shaktoolik on March 14 at 12:05 pm (UTC 21:05), but his lead diminished to less than an hour as he was followed by Mitch Seavey, then Buser, and a strong pack including Brooks, Lance Mackey, King, Ed, Jonrowe, and Baker, who are consistently averaging 1 to 1.5 mi/hr (1.5 to 2.5 km/h) faster between checkpoints. The top 10 departed within 5 1⁄₂ hours, and the top 30 in about 29 hours. Sørlie's teammate Andersen is now trailing Swingley by 26 minutes and has slipped from the top 10, but he is still more than a checkpoint ahead of Louis Nelson, Sr., the next rookie.

The teams are getting smaller as fatigued and poorly performing dogs are left behind. The top 10 are running with between 9 to 12 dogs, down from 16, and the majority have either 10 or 11. A fair number of dogs have been dropped with fatigue or sprains caused by the poor conditions of the trail. Teams with less than 9 dogs lack power. There has been a fair amount of rain, which helps keep the dogs cool in the high temperatures. The winds as the teams cross the exposed ice of the Norton Sound on the way to Koyuk may reach 40 mi/h (65 km/h). This is the stretched covered by Leonhard Seppala and his lead dog Togo during the 1925 serum run. Teams may press through to Koyuk to catch Sørlie.

Koyuk: Sørlie arrived first on March 14 at 5:57 pm, and was the first to depart three minutes later. The top 10 departed within 8 1⁄₂ hours, and the top 30 spread out 38 hours.