Alaska News

Lance Mackey arrested for driving without valid license, insurance

Four-time Iditarod champion Lance Mackey was arrested near Fairbanks on Saturday for violating conditions of release in a pending 2013 DUI case by driving without a valid license, the Alaska State Troopers said.

Mackey, 43, was stopped for speeding on the Richardson Highway near the Badger Road exit, northwest of North Pole, in a Ford truck at 8:45 a.m. on Saturday, according to a trooper dispatch.

"He didn't have a valid driver's license or proof of vehicle insurance, which is part of his conditions of release for a still open 2013 case charging him with DUI and Refusal to Submit to a Chemical Test," AST spokeswoman Beth Ipsen wrote in an e-mail Sunday.

His license was expired, she said.

Mackey was arrested for violating conditions of release and taken to the Fairbanks Correctional Center, where his bail was set at $1,000.

An online database shows that he was released the same day.

In the June 2013 incident, Mackey was pulled over for speeding, failed field sobriety tests and later refused a chemical breath test at a Fairbanks police station, the Fairbanks News-Miner reported at the time.

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Mackey, a cancer survivor who is known for having won both the Yukon Quest and Iditarod sled dog races four times apiece, did not run this year's Iditarod because of concerns over his health and ability to fund a team, the Daily News reported in March.

Reach Michelle Theriault Boots at mtheriault@adn.com or 257-4344.

By MICHELLE THERIAULT BOOTS

mtheriault@adn.com

Michelle Theriault Boots

Michelle Theriault Boots is a longtime reporter for the Anchorage Daily News. She focuses on in-depth stories about the intersection of public policy and Alaskans' lives. Before joining the ADN in 2012, she worked at daily newspapers up and down the West Coast and earned a master's degree from the University of Oregon.

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