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 in his second consecutive Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race victory Wednesday.
Mackey arrived at the Elim check-point three minutes ahead of his rival Tuesday, 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 of his opponent.
“I just beat the best musher in the world,” the 37-year-old throat cancer survivor said after he crossed the finish line under Nome’s burled arch. Fans mobbed Mackey along the final 10 blocks, whooping and cheering and slapping his hand while chanting his name. Mackey earned $69,000 and a new truck.
“He baited me to sleep, was waiting until I closed my eyes,” said King, who won in 2006. “I didn’t open them until after he got out the door.”
Three dogs died in this year’s race. A 7-year-old male, who showed signs of pneumonia, died Saturday. A 3-year-old female was struck by a snowmobile, and a 4-year-old male died Tuesday.
