Jim Finnel
Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
Lance Mackey pulled into Nome at 2:59 p.m. Tuesday, becoming the first musher in race history to win four Iditarods in a row and just barely missing Martin Buser's 2002 record time. Mackey finished in 8 days, 23 hours and 59 minutes, the second fastest finish in race history.
But the day had more records in store. Second place finisher Hans Gatt managed to pull off the third fastest run in history. And one of the race's most celebrated mushers, Jeff King, used this year's finish to bring an end to his 21-year career of annual hard-driving dog runs to Nome.
"It's a great day to quit," King said as he pulled beneath a burled archway, Nome's trademark finish for the grueling, long distance dog race.
A four-time champ in his own right, King is among the best mushers around, fiercely competitive and passionate about dogs. This year's pack was stacked deep with experienced mushers and strong teams, something that awed participants and spectators alike. For King, it's a signal of how the race is changing over time.
"Instead of four good dogs," he said while sipping from a paper coffee cup, you're seeing teams "with 14 great dogs."
The men who beat King to the finish line made sure they were there to greet him when he came through. Lance Mackey and Hans Gatt stood on the trail behind the final chute as King pulled in, and he congratulated both men with a handshake as loyal fans shouted across the fence line "Jeff, I love you!"
But three and a half hours earlier on the same patch of snow, it was Mackey who stole the show.
As Mackey's team came into the chute, a deafening chorus of screams and cheers spread up Front Street toward the burled arch.
"All right, Lance!"
"All right, Mackey!"
Mackey passed under the burled arch, got off the sled, hugged his wife and knelt to hug his lead dogs, then turned to hug his dad. Mackey then turned and kissed the Dodge truck that is part of his prize.
Before the celebration continued, Mackey walked his gangline, handing out salmon treats to his dogs as a race veterinarian arrived to check the team. Members of Mackey's family knelt to help him remove booties, which his father then tossed into the crowd.
Well-wishers and race fans crowded Front Street in the hours before Mackey arrived, lining up behind orange webbing and on balconies on either side of the chute. Red, blue, green and yellow light bulbs sparkled in a zigzagged canopy over the street. A stand of Iditarod hospitality volunteers from a local Baptist church poured cocoa as small planes swooped by.
The announcer whose voice echoed up and down the street told onlookers Mackey seemed to be on course for an eight-day finish. It was also, he added, an historic moment: "No one has ever won the Iditarod four consecutive times, and that's what we're about to witness here." On the edge of the chute, fans held up signs: "No slackey Mackey." "Wag more, bark less."
Addressing the crowd after his arrival in Nome, Mackey said he had an "amazing team with a lot of young stars and a bright future." As to whether he'll go for a fifth win, Mackey was noncommittal, although he hinted at the physical toll the distance race has taken.
"I've got to think about myself pretty soon," Mackey said. "I can only be so tough for so long. I've got a son who wants to run this race; I'd be equally proud of him winning it."
After putting down the microphone, Mackey walked over to the crowd, smiling and shaking hands. Last week at the Willow Lake starting line, Mackey said while he was gunning for another victory, "there are a lot of other teams out here that are trying to take me down." Early in the race, Sebastian Schnuelle led a fluid, shifting pack of frontrunners -- John Baker, Paul Gebhardt, Mitch Seavey, Gatt and King. Mackey hung back until the race reached the Yukon River. His early race hadn't gone smoothly, and the musher dropped to 13 dogs from 16 earlier than he might have liked, finally dropping to 11 at Elim. It was at Kaltag, the last checkpoint on the Yukon, that Mackey pulled ahead of the field. He'd been trailing King, but after a brisk seven-minute stop in Kaltag, Mackey got back on the trail with 12 dogs and left King resting behind.
Mackey was followed into Nome at 4:04 p.m. by Gatt, who moved into second place at Elim, and at 5:22 p.m. by King. Gatt and Mackey were on hand at the finish line to greet King as he finished.
"Congratulations, gentlemen," King, who was leading the race before Mackey started his big run, told the first and second place finishers.
Lance Mackey is the son of contemporary Iditarod pioneer Dick Mackey -- who has the distinction of having won the race in the closest finish ever, beating reigning champ Rick Swenson by a nose in 1978 -- and brother of 1983 champion Rick Mackey. Lance won his first Iditarod in 2007. All three Mackey champions won the race on the sixth attempt while wearing bib number 13.
Mackey became something of a target this year after some other mushers complained that his use of marijuana gave him a competitive edge on the trail. A cancer survivor who suffers from chronic pain, Mackey has been open about his use of physician-prescribed medical marijuana and the pharmaceutical Marinol, a synthetic form of the drug. Responding to a complaint from the Iditarod Official Finishers Club, the Iditarod Trail Committee this year required all mushers to submit to a random drug test along the trail. Mackey announced his intent to comply with race rules before the start, and was the first musher to submit to urinalysis in White Mountain. The results of that drug test have not yet been made available.
"It didn't change the outcome of the race," Mackey said from the finish line, where he sat with an arm around each of his leaders while the crowd continued to cheer. "I did feel that it was a little bit of finger-pointing."
Mackey's win puts him in a small group of four-time champions, along with King, Doug Swingley, Buser, and the late Susan Butcher. Swenson remains the race's winningest champion, with five victories under his belt between 1977 and 1991.
The win comes with a bonus victory for Mackey, who made a pre-race bet with Schnuelle: Whichever of them won the race gets to cut the other's hair.
Mackey said he plans to collect.
Crossing The Finish Line
NewsHawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Alaska Dispatch
Copyright: 2010 Alaska Dispatch Publishing LLC
Contact: Contact Us
Website: Mackey makes Iditarod history
• Thanks to MedicalNeed for submitting this article
But the day had more records in store. Second place finisher Hans Gatt managed to pull off the third fastest run in history. And one of the race's most celebrated mushers, Jeff King, used this year's finish to bring an end to his 21-year career of annual hard-driving dog runs to Nome.
"It's a great day to quit," King said as he pulled beneath a burled archway, Nome's trademark finish for the grueling, long distance dog race.
A four-time champ in his own right, King is among the best mushers around, fiercely competitive and passionate about dogs. This year's pack was stacked deep with experienced mushers and strong teams, something that awed participants and spectators alike. For King, it's a signal of how the race is changing over time.
"Instead of four good dogs," he said while sipping from a paper coffee cup, you're seeing teams "with 14 great dogs."
The men who beat King to the finish line made sure they were there to greet him when he came through. Lance Mackey and Hans Gatt stood on the trail behind the final chute as King pulled in, and he congratulated both men with a handshake as loyal fans shouted across the fence line "Jeff, I love you!"
But three and a half hours earlier on the same patch of snow, it was Mackey who stole the show.
As Mackey's team came into the chute, a deafening chorus of screams and cheers spread up Front Street toward the burled arch.
"All right, Lance!"
"All right, Mackey!"
Mackey passed under the burled arch, got off the sled, hugged his wife and knelt to hug his lead dogs, then turned to hug his dad. Mackey then turned and kissed the Dodge truck that is part of his prize.
Before the celebration continued, Mackey walked his gangline, handing out salmon treats to his dogs as a race veterinarian arrived to check the team. Members of Mackey's family knelt to help him remove booties, which his father then tossed into the crowd.
Well-wishers and race fans crowded Front Street in the hours before Mackey arrived, lining up behind orange webbing and on balconies on either side of the chute. Red, blue, green and yellow light bulbs sparkled in a zigzagged canopy over the street. A stand of Iditarod hospitality volunteers from a local Baptist church poured cocoa as small planes swooped by.
The announcer whose voice echoed up and down the street told onlookers Mackey seemed to be on course for an eight-day finish. It was also, he added, an historic moment: "No one has ever won the Iditarod four consecutive times, and that's what we're about to witness here." On the edge of the chute, fans held up signs: "No slackey Mackey." "Wag more, bark less."
Addressing the crowd after his arrival in Nome, Mackey said he had an "amazing team with a lot of young stars and a bright future." As to whether he'll go for a fifth win, Mackey was noncommittal, although he hinted at the physical toll the distance race has taken.
"I've got to think about myself pretty soon," Mackey said. "I can only be so tough for so long. I've got a son who wants to run this race; I'd be equally proud of him winning it."
After putting down the microphone, Mackey walked over to the crowd, smiling and shaking hands. Last week at the Willow Lake starting line, Mackey said while he was gunning for another victory, "there are a lot of other teams out here that are trying to take me down." Early in the race, Sebastian Schnuelle led a fluid, shifting pack of frontrunners -- John Baker, Paul Gebhardt, Mitch Seavey, Gatt and King. Mackey hung back until the race reached the Yukon River. His early race hadn't gone smoothly, and the musher dropped to 13 dogs from 16 earlier than he might have liked, finally dropping to 11 at Elim. It was at Kaltag, the last checkpoint on the Yukon, that Mackey pulled ahead of the field. He'd been trailing King, but after a brisk seven-minute stop in Kaltag, Mackey got back on the trail with 12 dogs and left King resting behind.
Mackey was followed into Nome at 4:04 p.m. by Gatt, who moved into second place at Elim, and at 5:22 p.m. by King. Gatt and Mackey were on hand at the finish line to greet King as he finished.
"Congratulations, gentlemen," King, who was leading the race before Mackey started his big run, told the first and second place finishers.
Lance Mackey is the son of contemporary Iditarod pioneer Dick Mackey -- who has the distinction of having won the race in the closest finish ever, beating reigning champ Rick Swenson by a nose in 1978 -- and brother of 1983 champion Rick Mackey. Lance won his first Iditarod in 2007. All three Mackey champions won the race on the sixth attempt while wearing bib number 13.
Mackey became something of a target this year after some other mushers complained that his use of marijuana gave him a competitive edge on the trail. A cancer survivor who suffers from chronic pain, Mackey has been open about his use of physician-prescribed medical marijuana and the pharmaceutical Marinol, a synthetic form of the drug. Responding to a complaint from the Iditarod Official Finishers Club, the Iditarod Trail Committee this year required all mushers to submit to a random drug test along the trail. Mackey announced his intent to comply with race rules before the start, and was the first musher to submit to urinalysis in White Mountain. The results of that drug test have not yet been made available.
"It didn't change the outcome of the race," Mackey said from the finish line, where he sat with an arm around each of his leaders while the crowd continued to cheer. "I did feel that it was a little bit of finger-pointing."
Mackey's win puts him in a small group of four-time champions, along with King, Doug Swingley, Buser, and the late Susan Butcher. Swenson remains the race's winningest champion, with five victories under his belt between 1977 and 1991.
The win comes with a bonus victory for Mackey, who made a pre-race bet with Schnuelle: Whichever of them won the race gets to cut the other's hair.
Mackey said he plans to collect.
Crossing The Finish Line
NewsHawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Alaska Dispatch
Copyright: 2010 Alaska Dispatch Publishing LLC
Contact: Contact Us
Website: Mackey makes Iditarod history
• Thanks to MedicalNeed for submitting this article
