Iditarod | Mackey finishes tough double

NOME, Alaska -- Lance Mackey won the 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Tuesday, becoming the first musher to take the famed event and the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest International in the same year.

Mackey crossed under the burled arch in downtown Nome in the early evening, completing the Iditarod in 9 days, 5 hours, 8 minutes, 41 seconds.

The 36-year-old from Fairbanks, Alaska, celebrated as he came down Nome's Front Street, alternately waving a fist in the air, then high-fiving some of the estimated 1,000 fans who lined the street. His family mobbed him at the finish line.

"This is a dream I've been dreaming about since I was a little boy," Mackey said.

Mackey's father, Dick, won in 1978. Lance's older brother, Rick, triumphed in 1983. Both won in their sixth Iditarod, wearing bib No. 13. Lance wore No. 13 for this, his sixth Iditarod.

Lance camped out for days at the Iditarod headquarters in June to be the first person to sign up in order to select the No. 13 bib.

Mackey earned $69,000 and a truck worth about $41,000 for the victory. He has been driving a truck that is 14 years old.

Last month, Mackey won his third consecutive Yukon Quest.

With less than two weeks' rest, Mackey took 13 of his 16 dogs from the Yukon Quest to Willow for the March 4 official start of the Iditarod.

Many mushers have long believed it would not be possible to win both races in the same year with the same dogs because the animals would need more time to recover from one grueling race before launching off on another.

Mackey's win proves that is not so.

Canadian Hans Gatt, 49, a three-time Quest winner who was also runner-up to Mackey twice, said Mackey's team was the best-looking team in the Iditarod this year.

Instead of tiring, Mackey's team recovered faster than the others after long runs.

"I can't run my dogs like that," said Gatt, who was almost 100 miles back on the trail. "He obviously has figured out something we have not figured out yet."

Mackey, a cancer survivor, was the first musher early Tuesday morning to the White Mountain checkpoint, about 80 miles from the finish line and where mushers must take a mandatory eight-hour rest.

Mackey defeated a field that included four-time winners Jeff King and Martin Buser. When Mackey crossed the finish line, Buser was in third place and King was in fifth.

During the race, Mackey said, "You know, I was kind of thinking on the way here, I'm tired of the Jeff and Martin Show. It's time for a new face, even if it's an ugly one."