Alaska’s annual Iditarod ended with a victory for the ages: One of the biggest names in the sport came from behind after a moose attack to win the grueling, days-long contest for an unprecedented sixth time.
However, Dallas Seavey’s record-setting win late on Tuesday was overshadowed by the deaths of three dogs in this year’s storied endurance race across the Alaska wilderness. A fourth dog, one of Seavey’s, was severely injured by a moose on the trail.
Seavey, 37, finished the 52nd Iditarod in 9 days, 2 hours, 16 minutes and 8 seconds, winning more than US$55,000 for first place.
Photo: Reuters
As he neared the finish line, he jumped off his sled and ran with his dogs, pumping his fists.
After winning, he hugged each dog on his team — and they gave him sloppy kisses as they sat on the winner’s podium.
The rest of the field would continue the race until the last person crosses the finish line, winning the “red lantern” award for demonstrating perseverance.
“This one was supposed to be hard,” Seavey told the crowd. “It had to be special, it had to be more than just a normal Iditarod, and for me, it was.”
Seavey overcame not only the brutal Alaska elements, but just two days into the race, on Monday last week, a moose severely injured one of his dogs in an attack on the trail.
Seavey shot and killed the moose with a handgun and gutted it.
Race rules require any big game animal killed in defense of life or property to be gutted before the musher moves on, but because he spent only 10 minutes gutting the moose, race officials gave Seavey a two-hour time penalty.
The moose meat was salvaged and distributed to people to eat.
Seavey and his team battled back, and by Tuesday morning they had a three-hour lead over their nearest competitor before sweeping to victory later in the day.
“Dallas has proven his ability to overcome adversity on multiple occasions and this historic win is the embodiment of his professionalism, strength and full exemplary dog care,” Rob Urbach, the chief executive of the Iditarod, said in a written statement.
The Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race takes human-and-dog teams across 1,609km of wilderness on a trail that traverses two mountain ranges, the Yukon River and a slice of the frozen Bering Sea before ending in the Gold Rush town of Nome just south of the Arctic Circle.
“When you look back at 1,000 miles of what these dogs just covered, the challenges they faced, you can’t swallow that in one bite, but we can have one good step at a time,” he said of his dogs. “And if you can keep doing that, it leads to something.”
Seavey’s name is found throughout the Iditarod record book. In 2005, he became the youngest musher to run in the race, and in 2012, its youngest champion.
Seavey also won Iditarod championships in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2021. He had previously been tied with now-retired musher Rick Swenson with five titles apiece. Swenson won the Iditarod in 1977, 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1991.
The deaths of the dogs on three separate teams, two led by rookie mushers and a third in his second Iditarod, cast a pall over the race as the Iditarod ended a five-year streak without a dog death. Five dogs also died and eight were injured in collisions with snow machines during training before the race on shared-use trails.
The number of competitors this year, 38, was one of the smallest fields going back to the first year of the race in 1973, when 34 signed up.
Last year was the smallest roster, with just 33 entries. In its heyday, the race featured 70 to 80 entrants.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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