How Close Is It? Let's Do The Math!

I'm pretty groggy, but I think I've got the math right:

Aliy is 13 minutes behind Mitch… 13 minutes is 780 seconds.
The distance from White Mountain to Nome is 77 miles.
Aliy must gain 780 seconds over 77 miles… Almost exactly 10 seconds per mile.

Mitch's pace from Elim to White Mountain was 6 mph, or 10 minutes per mile.
At that pace, Aliy must gain 10 seconds every 10 minutes, or 1 second per minute!

Is that close enough for you?

If you don't like math, here's another way to look at it:
Aliy gained 35 minutes on Mitch over the 46 miles from Elim to White Mountain.
Racing to Nome, she will have almost twice as far to make up less than half the time.

Either way you look at it, Aliy, Quito and the fantastic dogs of the SP Kennel Red Team are in great shape to chase down the leader and be the first to cross under the burled arch in Nome! Yikes!