ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Robert Sorlie of Norway was the first musher to arrive Thursday at the halfway point in the 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Sorlie, a 47-year-old firefighter from Hurdal and winner of the 2003 Iditarod, arrived in the race's namesake town at 1:41 a.m., followed about an hour later by Ramy Brooks of Healy and four-time Iditarod winner Martin Buser of Big Lake soon after.

For getting to the halfway point first, Sorlie received $4,000 in gold nuggets. Sorlie also was the first musher to reach Iditarod - now a gold-mining ghost town but once a bustling community of more than 10,000 - when he won the race in 2003 in 9 days, 15 hours and 47 minutes.

DeeDee Jonrowe of Willow, 2004 winner Mitch Seavey of Seward and three-time winner Jeff King of Denali Park also had arrived in Iditarod by 7 a.m.

Over the next day, a shakeup is expected to take place in the standings as many of the mushers choose to satisfy a required 24-hour rest.

Several of the top mushers, including five-time winner Rick Swenson of Two Rivers and Yukon Quest winner Aliy Zirkle, also of Two Rivers, have already satisfied the 24-hour requirement.

None of the top teams that were in Iditarod early Thursday had completed the 24-hour requirement.

From Iditarod, it is a 524-mile trek to the finish line in Nome.

Sorlie also commanded an early lead in the 2003 race, only his second Iditarod run. As it was that year, Sorlie's run is hampered in the current race by insomnia, he said this week.

Parts of the race so far has been marked by unseasonably warm weather - high temperatures above freezing - filling the trail with sloshy pools of water in some areas.

Zack Steer of Sheep Mountain was the fifth musher to scratch, citing personal reasons. He was competing in his third Iditarod and was in eighth position when he decided to withdraw.

Judy Merritt, a three-time Iditarod rookie from Moose Pass, withdrew from the race Wednesday morning after numerous crashes along an especially dismal stretch between the checkpoints of Finger Lake and Rainy Pass.

Merritt also scratched in two previous race attempts.

Other mushers who dropped out of the running this week are G.B. Jones of Wasilla, Jacques Philip of Nenana and Sonny Lindner of Two Rivers.

Near the end of the pack was Rachael Scdoris, a legally blind musher from Bend, Ore., who is trying to make history by completing the race.

Scdoris, 20, was in 72nd place Thursday morning, a minute behind Paul Ellering of Grey Eagle, Minn. Ellering is a former professional wrestler and 2000 Iditarod competitor who is serving as Scdoris' "visual interpreter" on the trail.

The total purse of the 33rd running of the Iditarod is $750,107. The winner receives $72,066.67.

On the Net:

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