Dallas Seavey in position for third straight Iditarod title

Frontiersman staff

WASILLA — Willow’s Dallas Seavey was in position to win his third straight Iditarod Monday as the race leaders closed in on an expected Tuesday morning finish in Nome.

Seavey arrived in White Mountain at 9:48 a.m. Monday, reaching the checkpoint 77 miles from Nome with a team of nine dogs. He made the run from Elim in 5 hours, 37 minutes, averaging 8.19 MPH along the way.

Seavey was followed into White Mountain by his father, two-time race champion Mitch Seavey, of Sterling, who arrived 39 minutes after his son at 10:27 a.m. Brent Sass, of Eureka, arrived in White Mountain at 11:40 a.m.

All mushers must take a mandatory layover in White Mountain. Dallas Seavey is scheduled to depart at 5:48 p.m., while Mitch Seavey can leave at around 6:30 p.m.

From White Mountain it’s 55 miles to the penultimate checkpoint of Safety, then another 22 miles to the finish line on Front Street in Nome’s historic downtown.

During last year’s championship run, Dallas Seavey made it from White Mountain to Nome in 10 hours. If he makes similar time this year, he’ll finish just before 4 a.m. Tuesday morning. He’s also in position to challenge his own race record of 8 days, 13 hours, 4 minutes. Unofficially, a 4 a.m. finish would give the 29-year-old a new record by about four minutes.

Two Rivers musher Aliy Zirkle was the fourth musher out of Elim, leaving the checkpoint at 9:24 a.m. Monday. Willow’s Wade Marrs was in fifth place, with the race tracker showing him closing in on Elim late Monday morning.

Dallas Seavey — who won the race in 2012, 2014 and 2015 — is looking to become seventh musher to win at least four Iditarods. Rick Swenson holds the record with five championship runs, while the late Susan Butcher, Big Lake’s Martin Buser, Fairbanks’ Lance Mackey, Montana’s Doug Swingley and Denali Park’s Jeff King each have four titles.

A victory by either Seavey would make it five straight winning runs for the legendary family. Mitch Seavey, a two-time champion, won the race in 2013. The Seavey family patriarch, Dan, finished third in the inaugural race in 1973, and returned to finish the race in 50^th place when he was 74 years old.