UNALAKLEET -- A friendly and welcoming crowd turned out before sunrise to welcome John Baker of Kotzebue as he pulled in here Sunday morning after what he described as a "troubled run" in from Kaltag. The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race leader said his dogs set a slower pace than he’d hoped for, while he himself had problems with his sled and kept falling asleep. Once, he reported, he woke up to find the sled at a dead stop. Another time, falling off became his wake-up call.

"I thought it was a real slow run," he said, noting that misfortune, however minor, seems to visit him more than other racers.

Yet despite the mishaps, he remains in the race lead and in a good position. He's tired, but no more so than would be expected, and his team is in good shape.

"I know the dogs are really tough right now," he said as he prepared them a meal while huddling with the media for an interview.

Getting to the Bering Sea coast on the edge of Norton Sound coast has its rewards, too. The trails lack the soft snow that makes the going harder for the dogs, something Baker noted right away. Sometimes, he said, the trails were so solid he could hear the echoing patter of the dogs' feet as they ran.

For the lead musher in the Iditarod, the coast has other rewards, too: the first one to arrive receives a trophy along with $2,500 worth of gold nuggets.

"Oh, my" Baker said as he was presented the prizes amidst a flash of camera lights.

Sheldon Katchatag, the chairman of United Tribes of Alaska, was on hand to offer Baker a heartfelt message, thanking him "on behalf of our Native village of Unalakleet and all Inupiaq along the Northern coast and all the way to Greenland" for having such a good run.

Baker, who lives just a ways up the coast, is one of the few Alaska Native mushers in this year’s race. He is much admired in the region and respected by everyone in the mushing community.

He got a pat on the back from former Iditarod champ Mitch Seavey from Sterling, who started this race but was forced out after nearly severing his finger.

"I came to see you, John," Seavey said once he got through the crowd surrounding his friend. "You’re doing a good job. I wish I was pushing you."

Only days ago, Seavey was pulled from the race and flown to Anchorage for emergency surgery to save his finger, which was described as nearly severed at the first joint. The surgery went well and doctors were "guardedly optimistic" that he would regain some use. It's now pinned in a fixed position to allow bone and cartilage damaged by the injury to grow back, Seavey said.

By the morning after surgery Seavey was on the phone with race officials asking if there was anything he might do to help with the race.

Outside the checkpoint here, Seavey kept the injured hand buried in a mitten to stay warm as he stood alongside the trail's checkpoint chute to watch Baker pull in.

"He looks good," Seavey said. "He looks real good, but I think Ramey (Smyth) may turn up the speed."

A musher from Willow, Smyth has earned a reputation among competitors for his fitness, along with his capacity to summon speed from his dog teams along the Bering Sea coast and across Norton Bay's sea ice. Seavey called Smyth, who is trailing Baker by 15 or 20 miles, "a good closer."

"Many of us have been passed by Ramey at the end of a race," Seavey said.

As for the other mushers who are giving chase -- Hugh Neff from Tok and the Yukon Territory's Sebastian Schnuelle and Hans Gatt -- Seavey believes they may be too far back to close the gap.

"None are moving fast enough," he said, explaining that if a musher is three hours behind in travel time, he or she is actually behind by nearly twice that amount in reality.

The dogs need rest time close to the same amount of time they run," Seavey said. So two or three hours in rest time must be added to the three hours in travel time along the trail.

Still, for a race that has been dominated by Lance Mackey four years straight, Seavey said it's exciting to see a bunch of contenders on the front each with a real shot at a first-time win.

If anyone can overtake Baker at this point, Seavey believes it's Smyth. However, he said doesn't expect a side-by-side battle to play out until the teams get closer to Koyuk up the coast.