Musher Hans Gatt of Whitehorse scratches from Iditarod

Seven mushers with 14 championships among them are among the early leaders in this year's Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, but Yukon's Hans Gatt is not one of them. 

Eighty-five mushers began the nearly 1,600-kilometre race to Alaska's western coast on Sunday in Willow, just north of Anchorage. Since then, four mushers have scratched, including Gatt of Whitehorse. He cited concern for his dog team when scratching Wednesday at the Nikolai checkpoint. 

Leading the pack is 29-year-old Dallas Seavey, the first musher to leave the checkpoint in Ophir, Alaska, early Wednesday morning. Seavey is the two-time defending champion who has won the race a total of three times.

The second musher to leave Ophir on the 117-km trek to the next checkpoint in Cripple was Noah Burmeister. He is trying to become the first musher from Nome to win the race. The race will end sometime early next week in Nome, along the Bering Sea Coast.

Others out of Ophir are Kelly Maixner, 2011 champion John Baker, two-time winner Robert Sorlie of Norway and a pair of four-time champions, Jeff King and Lance Mackey. 

Two Yukon mushers remain in the race: Michelle Phillips of Tagish is currently in 25th place and Rob Cooke of Whitehorse is 59th. 

Wednesday is the fourth day of the race to Nome. The winner is expected to reach the finish line about nine days after the start of the race.