TAKOTNA, Alaska (AP) -Four-time winner Doug Swingley kept his lead Thursday halfway through the Iditarod, a trek of more than 1,100 miles from Anchorage to Nome.

The Montana musher was the first to arrive in Cripple as of early morning. Five teams were chasing him, having left the abandoned gold mining town of Ophir for the 60-mile journey to Cripple, an unpopulated tent checkpoint on the Innoko River. Competitors in the world’s longest sled dog race pass through 24 checkpoints en route to the old gold mining town of Nome, where top finishers usually arrive in nine to 10 days.

DeeDee Jonrowe of Willow, who twice has finished second, was in second place, followed closely by Cim Smyth of Big Lake. John Baker of Kotzebue, who has finished in the top 10 every year since 2001.

, was fourth.

Paul Gebhardt of Kasilof, who was leading Tuesday until his sled slammed into a tree and he temporarily lost his dog team, moved into fifth place.

Swingley, who likes to get out in front and stay there, is looking to join Rick Swenson of Two Rivers as a five-time winner. Swenson last won in 1991.

Other top contenders remained at the 50-person village of Takotna, where they feasted on steak and lobster.

Takotna residents greeted arriving mushers in the 79-team field and shoveled dog waste and straw as dog sleds came and went in near zero-degree temperatures.

“It’s our checkpoint and it’s grown and grown,” said organizer Jan Newton, who’s lived in Takotna for 27 years. “We just try to make everybody feel at home.”

Several mushers on Wednesday napped between pews in a log chapel or in a darkened library, as their dogs lay curled in straw nests on the gently sloped hill. Others chatted and downed free pie and burgers in the community center, whose walls were covered with posters and photos from Iditarods past.

“It’s by far the most hospitable up to here for sure,” said a bleary-eyed Baker as he sipped a cup of free coffee.

Four mushers were scratched from the race, according to the Iditarod Trail Committee.

The Iditarod commemorates a dogsled relay in 1925 that carried serum 674 miles from Nenana to Nome to stop a diphtheria outbreak.

The winner will receive $69,000 and a new truck. The top 30 finishers will split $795,000, and other finishers will split $40,000.

AP-ES-03-09-06 1119EST