Alaska News

Race heats up as Mackey passes King

Update: Lance Mackey was the first musher to arrive in the coastal village of Unalakleet, pulling into the checkpoint at 3:32 a.m. Sunday. Jeff King arrived three hours later, at 6:29 a.m., followed by Hugh Neff at 7:17.

By mid-morning, the race had tightened considerably: Mackey pulled out of Unalakleet at 9:48 a.m., with King leaving less than a half-hour later, at 10:16. Next checkpoint: Shaktoolik.

Much more from Unalakleet on our Sled Blog.

KALTAG -- Lance Mackey came. Lance Mackey went.

And suddenly, the Iditarod had a new leader as two juggernauts of the Last Great Race maneuvered for position along a 90-mile stretch of trail leading from this Yukon River village across open spruce forest to the Norton Sound coast.

Four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King was in first place when he arrived here at 11:42 a.m. Saturday, followed 46 minutes later by Mackey, the three-time winner and defending champion from Fairbanks. But while King began an hours-long rest, Mackey lingered just seven minutes before rocketing onward to claim the lead.

Race volunteers said he stayed just long enough to pick up supplies and hear the Mackey family -- which includes three Iditarod champions -- just got bigger.

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"We gave him the announcement that he's a grandpa. Came via e-mail today," said checker N.J. Gates.

Tok musher Hugh Neff was third into Kaltag, just four minutes behind Mackey. The two mushers are friends and had been talking and traveling together, Neff said as he prepared for his own departure from the Athabascan village of 190.

Once he had the lead out of Kaltag, Mackey planned to mush for about three hours before resting, Neff said. That schedule could help Mackey spend less time resting in Unalakleet, Neff said.

"He wanted to do a little bit longer run," Neff said. "I think it took us only maybe a five-hour run there (from Nulato), and I think he wanted to break up that run 'til Unalakleet, so he's got a shorter run coming there and then he doesn't have to rest as long."

Or maybe Mackey -- whose specialty is mounting long runs on little rest -- would just keep blasting down the trail.

"Hard to say," Neff said. "Knowing Lance, he could go all the way. You never know that guy."

Hans Gatt was second out of Kaltag, striking out on the trail 2 hours and 10 minutes after Mackey.

The day began for the leaders in Nulato, where minus 35 temperatures settled onto the Yukon River overnight. King led the 59-racer field into the town of 300 at the confluence of the Yukon and Nulato rivers hours before dawn.

King, who is from Denali Park, won the Iditarod three times in the 1990s and again in 2006. He's said this may be the last time he competes in the 1,000-mile race from Anchorage to Nome, but had looked dominant this week -- leading Mackey by more than an hour when he reached Ruby, where veins of moose tracks cross the hillsides and the race moves on to the frozen Yukon.

King maintained his lead into Kaltag, where the race trail leaves the river and heads for the coast. By this point, dog teams are two-thirds of the way to Nome.

"With Jeff, he's got the best dogs. The guy's a genius when it comes to dog breeding," Neff said.

But Iditarod teams that ran the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest -- like members of Neff and Mackey's squads -- have their own advantages because the dogs' bodies have been "hardened" for the sport's premier event.

"This is the first time we've caught up to him," Neff said of King.

Mackey had expected Neff to push past the village checkpoint along with him, but Neff had other plans, he said.

"Realistically, I know they got good burgers here in Kaltag, and it was a heat-of-the-day situation," said Neff, who stayed 3 hours and 37 minutes. Mushers don't like to push their dogs at warm temperatures, and Neff is running a young team. "Half of them are 2-year-olds, and basically I just wanted to keep them happy."

At about 3:30 p.m., three hours after Mackey had left and about 45 minutes after Gatt too was gone, King strode to the back of his sled, boots squeaking in the snow. He checked his watch and pulled the tags off a new pair of gloves.

The dogs are tired. He's fine, he said. "You guys ready? Hike! Hup!"

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Both Mackey and King are chasing history -- Mackey to win an unprecedented four Iditarods in a row, and King looking to match Rick Swenson for the most victories overall, at five.

Now the real race has began, Neff said, and it hinges on a tired dog team's ability to rebound and keep running.

"It's all about recovery," Neff said. "Which dogs can do long runs and recover the fastest with some sort of speed."

Wait -- "Grandpa" Mackey?

As for the Mackey grandchild, Kaltag volunteers didn't know any details, but Mackey's friend and sometimes-spokeswoman Theresa Dailey updated fans on Facebook:

"Lance and Tonya's daughter Amanda, just gave birth to their newest grand baby today ... Momma and baby girl are doing well." Mackey also has a grandson, James, she said.

Daily News reporter Mike Campbell contributed to this story.

By KYLE HOPKINS

khopkins@adn.com

Kyle Hopkins

Kyle Hopkins is special projects editor of the Anchorage Daily News. He was the lead reporter on the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Lawless" project and is part of an ongoing collaboration between the ADN and ProPublica's Local Reporting Network. He joined the ADN in 2004 and was also an editor and investigative reporter at KTUU-TV. Email khopkins@adn.com

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