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2009 Prognostication Quiz: Post 5 of 14, Mushing

Lance Mackey finished in plenty of time to beat the pack in the Iditarod. (He's pictured above crossing the finish line with his 15 dogs.) That means he has now won the prestigious sled dog race an amazing three times in a row. The top five mushers are now at the finish in Nome (the rest of the pack is still on the trail) and are listed below with their finish time:

Top Finishers
1 Lance Mackey 03/18 11:38
2 Sebastian Schnuelle 03/18 19:05
3 John Baker 03/18 20:18
4 Mitch Seavey 03/19 04:18
5 Cim Smyth 03/19 04:27

Lance beat the second-place finisher by 7.5 hours. Wow! That means that the answer to Question 5 on the 2009 Prognostication Quiz is A. The dozen Mackey-a-roons who correctly predicted this:

Tina
Pete C.
Ted
Kevin
Jan
Zoe
Katie
Gloria
Michael
Adrian
Marcus
Ekrem

That means Tina remains in charge of her own destiny. The current leaderboard (Tina has 4 points, the rest have 3):

Tina
Pete C.
Ted
Kevin
Stephanie
Jan
Zoe

On the other end of the list, Marcus finally managed to get a question right! That turned the nefarious nine into the egregious eight who remain with zero points:

Rachel H.
Eric
Janet
Russell
Greg
Jeff C.
Janette
Cameron

Sadly, Cameron has also been mathematically eliminated. Even if he finishes the quiz 9-for-9, he will still be nipped by Kevin, who would finish with 10. The others can still win overall with a long winning streak, however. And even though Cameron has been mathematically eliminated from finishing first, it does not mean that he will necessarily be the goat! He can certainly beat his egregious compatriots to avoid finishing last.

Question 6 update:

Most people picked the New York Times (23) or the Washington Post (11) to win the Pulitzer Prize question. A handful picked the Wall Street Journal (5) or none of the above (3). Missy alone was pro-California and picked the Los Angeles Times. If the New York Times wins then Ted, Zoe, Stephanie, and Pete C. will join Tina in first place with 4 points. If the Post pulls it out then Tina will be alone with 5 points while Kevin and Jan climb to 4 points. If the Journal wins, Grant will climb onto the leaderboard with 3 points.

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