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GRAND MARAIS -- Marquette native David Gill is currently leading the 2012 UP 200. He came into the Grand Marais checkpoint at 8:01 a.m. Saturday morning.

Frank Moe is in second, and last year's winner, Ryan Anderson, is in third.

Three leaders have been named, but seasoned mushers say the competition is far from over. Race Marshal and former winner of Alaska's Iditarod, Joe Runyan, says anything can happen in the second half of the race.

"This is a fragile strategy; the musher generally that has the patience to keep the dogs below the speed they want to go, generally comes out on top in the longer distance races," said Runyan.

Race directors say feedback of the revised trail system has been positive. The new track consists of about the same mileage as the traditional track, and it's focused on safety.

"That was our No. 1 objective when we started," said race director Ron Hewson. "We certainly pulled that off. We've got a lot of positive comments from mushers."

Mushers bedded down their dogs early Saturday morning in Grand Marais--16 hours of rest time throughout the 240 mile race is required.

Vets say overall, the dogs look good. They've seen a few sore shoulders, and one team choose to scratch to prevent over exertion.

But, the weather is a concern. Temperatures rose to 25 degrees Saturday afternoon. Dogs run the best and healthiest around zero degrees. The warm weather could cause them to overheat.

"Could be colder; the dogs will run better when it's closer to zero degrees," Hewson said. "The rest may be extended because they want to run at night."

Organizers expect the mushers to cross the finish line in Grand Marais around 9 a.m. Sunday morning. Click here for current race standings.