 |
… a big ‘ditto’ to this post, and the next one, from Bruce Lee. King, Gatt, Anderson, Mackey and the others put out heroic efforts in this race, showing not only incredible dog handling skills but inhuman grace under fire. Great job…
Eye on the Trail » A Little Insight on 4 Time Iditarod Champ Jeff King
It is no less exciting seeing the 47th place team finish the Iditarod than it was to see the first few teams. In some ways, it is more inspiring, knowing that the race for these mushers — three days off the winning pace — had just as much, if not more, to overcome in order to reach their goals.
Read the rest of this entry »
I was curious about the purse break-down this year, sent the word out and got a reply back from the Anchorage Daily News, I think. This is the PDF file I downloaded…
As the teams stream into Nome, I want to pass along a congratulations to the organizers, all the dog drivers — and especially the dogs — for an outstanding Iditarod. It’s not over yet. There’s still plenty of teams on the way in. But it is obvious there’s a high level of dog care going on.
Read the rest of this entry »
Hans Gatt closed the gap to an hour behind Lance Mackey, but as he said at the finish line, close isn’t the same as winning. Still, Gatt has to be pretty satisfied with a decisive, record-setting victory over Mackey in the Yukon Quest this year, followed by a second place finish to Mackey in one of the fastest, most competitive Iditarods ever.
Hans Gatt defeated Lance Mackey to win this year’s 1,000-mile Yukon Quest, and Mackey bested Gatt to claim the 2010 Iditarod. The two are dominant this year. Is there any doubt that the two 1,000-mile races attract the best mushers in the world?
Lance Mackey is about to pull out a remarkable fourth-consecutive title, and if there’s anything left to prove, it would be simply that Mackey is the most dominant distance musher of his time. He has a natural gift with the dogs, raw determination and a toughness born from a life of hard knocks.
While Lance Mackey began his mandatory eight-hour layover at White Mountain, dozens of more dog drivers jockeyed for position for their highest possible Iditarod finish.
Hans Gatt and Jeff King would arrive roughly two hours after Mackey, all but assuring the reigning three-time champion would earn a record-setting fourth victory in a row. Expect a 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday finish in Nome for Lance Mackey. I’m not sure how they figure the length of the race, but it seems like his finish will be very close to that of Martin Buser’s record pace of 2002, which was 8 days and 22 hours.
One of my favorite places to be when I’m covering the Iditarod is at White Mountain when the leaders arrive. The community, nestled in a curve of Fish River and at the base of a it’s name-sake hill, is a welcoming sight after miles and miles of traveling over sea ice. The blog linked below does a nice job of conveying the mood and atmosphere…
Mackey arrives in White Mountain
It’s an old cliché, and I don’t like it because it is stated in the negative, but it fits: This race is Lance Mackey’s to lose at this point.
With a two hour lead over Jeff King, faster run times than King and a willingness to take off after shorter rests than King, Mackey has worked himself into an enviable position. Nobody can knock him out of first place at this point, unless he lets them. His mission from Elim to White Mountain to Nome is merely to perform a flawless and efficient pace with a minimum of mistakes.
