Defending
Alaska Iditarod champ leads pack in home stretch
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[March 17, 2015]
By Steve Quinn
JUNEAU, Alaska (Reuters) - The defending
Iditarod Sled Dog Race champion led the pack on the home stretch of the
near 1,000 mile (1,600 km) race across the Alaskan wilderness on Monday
night, but a veteran in search of his first title was close on his tail.
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Dallas Seavey, aiming for his third victory in four years, vied with
Aaron Burmeister, who has three top-10 finishes and was the first to
reach the race's halfway point late on Thursday.
Not far behind were Seavey's father, Mitch, Jessie Royer of Darby,
Montana, and three-time runner-up Aliy Zirkle.
The race commemorates a 1925 rescue mission that delivered
diphtheria serum by sled-dog relay to the western coastal community
of Nome.
All five mushers took their last rest in the small coastal city of
Koyuk, about 170 miles northeast of the finish line at Nome, after
staggered arrivals.
"You know I was thinking about it coming into here (Koyuk): holy cow
we actually stand a good chance of winning the Iditarod," Dallas
Seavey said in an interview posted on the Iditarod website as he
prepared to leave the city.
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"We'll see where we are when the dust settles. I'm not trying to get
all giddy just yet," he added.
The winner of the 43rd annual race takes $70,000 and a pickup truck.
Analyst and retired musher Sebastian Schnuelle reminded fans of last
year's wild home stretch finish along the Bering Sea coast, in a
posting on the Iditarod website.
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Strong winds knocked leader Jeff King and his dog team off the trail
and out of the race lat year, then forced new leader Zirkle to pull
over, leaving Seavey to forge ahead to the finish line.
"A lot can still happen," said Schnuelle as he watched each leading
musher leave Koyuk. "170 miles of being the first team over the
trail is a tough task, even for a Dallas Seavey."
(Editing by Curtis Skinner and Andrew Heavens)
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