Lance Mackey: Doer of the impossible

Meet your 2007 Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race champion Lance Mackey, who crossed the finish line in Nome at 8:08 local time last night, a full two hours ahead of second-place finisher Paul Gebhardt. The Mackey rocket sled finished the grueling 1,150-mile race in just nine days, five hours, eight minutes, and 41 seconds. For his effort, the veteran musher won $69,000 in cash and a brand new pickup truck.

Mackey becomes the first musher in history to win back-to-back major dog sled races in the same year, having just won the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest a few weeks ago. How tough of a feat is that? Imagine winning the Tour de France and then turning right around and winning it again, or maybe winning the Stanley Cup by playing two best-of-seven series against two different teams. Or for you Americans out there, think of finishing the Crab Feast at Red Lobster then going straight to the Olive Garden for all-you-can-eat past bowls. Yeah, it’s that tough.

Mackey also becomes the third in his family to win the Last Great Race; both his father and his brother are previous Iditarod champions. (Now maybe they’ll get off his back about what a slacker he is!) Strangely, though, all three won the race wearing bib #13. (Cue creepy music.)

As for Gebhardt, he takes home $64,300 in prize money and can add yet another chip to his shoulder; the musher from Kasilof, Alaska, has played bride’s maid once before in the Iditarod and placed third last year.

Meanwhile, there are 58 teams still out on the trail. Young Zack Steer and Martin Buser both left Safety within two minutes of each other and are sprinting for third place; Jeff King held a two-hour lead over Ed Iten when they left White Mountain in the race for fifth place.

Three mushers, though, were still back at Anvik about 500 miles from the finish at Nome. Ellen Halverson, a rookie from Wasila, Alaska (but a native North Dakotan), is currently the top contender for the Red Lantern Award.

Okay, everybody over to the Polaris Bar for the wet t-shirt contest. Yeah!

Ed Iten, Jeff King, Lance Mackey, Martin Buser, Paul Gebhardt Lance Mackey: Doer of the impossible and related information can be found in Iditarod