“Stunt” wins the 36th Iditarod
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Sometimes, victory is achieved through a little deception. The Associated Press reports from Nome, Alaska:
Lance Mackey couldn’t shake four-time champion Jeff King and his faster team. So Mackey pulled off a stunt at the Elim checkpoint — 123 miles from the Nome finish line — that proved to be the turning point en route to winning his second consecutive Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Wednesday. Mackey arrived at the Elim check point Tuesday three minutes ahead of his rival, drank coffee and made a show of settling in for a nap. He told checkpoint volunteers to wake him in an hour and — with King snoring — sneaked out of the checkpoint 70 minutes ahead his opponent. In its 36th running, the Iditarod commemorates a run by sled dogs in 1925 to deliver lifesaving diphtheria serum to Nome. The modern-day Iditarod trail crosses frozen rivers, dense woods and two mountain ranges, then goes along the dangerous sea ice up the Bering Sea shore. Mackey’s win was a repeat of his 2007 feat, when he became the first musher to win back-to-back runs in the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race and the Iditarod. Last month, he won his fourth straight Yukon Quest and headed into the Iditarod, aiming for another double win.