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!

After riding a rocket sled to win the Yukon Quest in record time a week or so ago, Lance Mackey was the first to reach the ghost town of Iditarod today, the halfway point of the 1,150 mile dog sled race to Nome.

Mackey picked up $3,000 in gold nuggets for setting the pace so far in the Iditarod dog sled race, not a bad haul I’d say. (Though I bet after five day son the trail he’d rather have a hot bath and a steak dinner.)

But who’s hot on Mackey’s heels? Paul Gebhardt got to the checkpoint in Iditarod just six minutes after the Mackey rocket sled, so maybe we do have a race, assuming Gebhardt and his team can keep up this pace for another four days or so. Bringing up third place is the 2004 Iditarod champioin Ed Iten, who’s almost six and a half hours behind the two leaders. Of course there’s a whole lotta race left, so no one is totally out of it yet.

But while King is the first to reach the finish line, the race is still going strong. Doug Swingley was the second musher out of Safety, followed a couple hours later by Paul Gebhardt. DeeDee Jonrowe, John Baker, and Bjørnar Andersen all left White Mountain within a span of an hour and a half, so the remaining places in the top five are still very much up for grabs. Ben Valks of Holland, meanwhile, is still struggling along in last place, having reached the checkpoint at Galena, a little more than halfway along the trail.

We’ll continue to keep you posted as mushers reach Nome, but we can’t help but feel a little sad because the end of another Iditarod has come and it’ll be a long 350 some odd days until The Last Great Race starts again.

Unfortunately for the former Minnesotan, he has fallen back to sixth place, while Jeff King has jumped back into the lead. King was the first one in and out of the checkpoint at Kaltag, almost 800 miles from the starting line in Anchorage. Doug Swingley was about 11 minutes behind the three-time Iditarod champion coming into Kaltag, with DeeDee Jonrowe following a couple hours later. The next checkpoint for the mushers is Unalakleet on Norton Sound. The official guide warns, “from here on the mushers can expect sudden storms and an ample supply of wind.” And we’re guessing a less than ample supply of gourmet meals.

According to the current standings, Paul Gebhardt leads the race as he is the first to reach Ruby, population 187 and 646 miles from the start of the race. His lead, though, is tenuous as he has not made his 24-hour layover yet. The second- and third-place teams of Jeff King and Melanie Gould have left Cripple, both of whom have already taken their 24. Ben Valks is still your Red Lantern holder. God speed to all.