Dallas Seavey wins 2016 Iditarod in record time

WASILLA — Dallas? Dynasty.

Willow musher Dallas Seavey won his third straight Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in dramatic fashion Monday morning, crossing the finish line in Nome in a record time of 8 days, 11 hours, 20 minutes, 16 seconds in front of hundreds of screaming fans lining Front Street in Nome.

"This was a heck of a trip, all the way from the start," Seavey said during his post-race interview, which was televised live in Alaska on KTVA-TV and GCI Cable, and worldwide via the Iditarod's official website.

Seavey started the 975-mile race from Willow Lake in the Mat-Su Valley to Front Street along the Bering Sea coast in Nome battling an illness, and said he was the "most tired I've ever been in the Iditarod."

"It wasn’t as straightforward as the last time and they came together into an awesome little team. Different than what I’ve had in the past but we made it work," he said.

Seavey lauded his dogs for carrying him through to the finish.

"This team started coming together and I started patching myself up a little bit and we started feeling better and better, the dogs did better, I felt better, and the last couple days have been pretty amazing," he said.

He reserved his highest praise for a leader named Reef, a 4-year-old male who became a three-time champion Tuesday morning.

"Three Iditarod's in four years is pretty dang impressive," said Seavey, who posed for pictures after the race with lead dogs (and littermates) Reef and Tide.

The victory was the fourth overall for Seavey, who outdueled his closest competitor — his dad, Mitch — down the home stretch for the second consecutive year.

"I'm going to try to not bring that up," joked the champion as he spoke to reporters.

Seavey’s dogs ran with winged paws in the final miles of the race. A team of seven Alaskan huskies and one steely-eyed musher arrived in the penultimate checkpoint of Safety at 11:36 p.m. Monday after torching the 58-mile trip along the coast from White Mountain in 5 hours, 48 minutes — an average of 9.48 MPH.

The Willow musher then pared his squad down to its leanest for the final 22-mile sprint into the historic gold rush city of 3,000, making the run from Safety with just six of the 16 dogs that began the journey from home to Nome on March 6. Those six and Seavey traversed the Safety-to-Nome route in just 2 hours, 40 minutes, arriving at 2:20 in the morning.

The champ said he doesn't consider running with a scaled-down team a hindrance. Instead, the ultra-fit musher who used a ski pole until the final yards said his squad is at its best when it's lean and mean.

"When you need to be afraid is when I only have eight dogs, that’s when we get into gear," he said.

Seavey and his dogs beat the previous record of 8 days, 13 hours, 4 minutes and 19 seconds it took to win in 2014.

With the victory, Seavey added to a resume on par with any of the legendary names to come before him. In winning a fourth title, the 29-year-old joined Martin Buser, Susan Butcher, Jeff King, Doug Swingley and Lance Mackey as the only mushers to win four times in the 44-year history of “The Last Great Race.” Only Rick Swenson (5) has more victories.

Tuesday’s finish marked the 10^th time in 10 starts Seavey has crossed beneath the famous Burled Arch that looms over the finish line in downtown Nome. He’s finished in the top 10 eight times and in the top five spots six times. He’s the youngest musher to complete the race (he was a day past 18 when he started his first race in 2005) and the youngest victor, winning the 2012 event at age 25. He also joined Swingley and Butcher with three consecutive titles and drew within one of Lance Mackey's record four straight wins.

Seavey's victory came as his father again played second fiddle to his virtuoso son. And though they didn’t know it, Dallas and Dad were all alone on the final run to Nome. According to a report posted on Iditarod.com, the duo’s closest pursuer in the final days of the race, Eureka’s Brent Sass, couldn’t get his dogs going out of White Mountain Monday night and had to return to the checkpoint for more rest. Sass officially checked out of White Mountain just 73 minutes behind the elder Seavey, but as of 3 a.m. Tuesday, he was reportedly still resting in the village.

Without Sass to give chase, Mitch Seavey had second place comfortably to himself, crossing the finish line 45 minutes after his son in 8 days, 12 hours, 5 minutes and 25 seconds — the second-fastest time ever.

Sass’s coast collapse left the door open for Aliy Zirkle, who had the third team on the trail out of White Mountain at 11:51 p.m. Monday and appeared poised to claim third place sometime Tuesday. The Two Rivers musher finished fifth last year and was in position Tuesday morning to earn her fifth straight top-5 finish.

Willow's Wade Marrs also leapfrogged Sass in White Mountain, leaving the checkpoint in fourth place a little less than three hours after Zirkle.

For winning, Seavey received $75,000 and a new Dodge pick-up truck. The cash gives him $396,215.88 in Iditarod prize money during his 10-race career.

Also a runner-up to Dallas last year as well, Mitch Seavey claimed his 13^th top 10 finish Tuesday morning. A two-time champion and the last musher not named Dallas to win the title (in 2013, when his son finished fourth), the 56-year-old Kenai Peninsula resident earned his 22^nd career Iditarod finish Tuesday.

The latest father-son duel further added to the Seavey family’s unmatched legacy in Iditarod races. The Seaveys have now won five consecutive races and six overall, but it’s not just Mitch and Dallas who have made their mark on the race. Family patriarch Dan Seavey finished third in the inaugural Iditarod in 1973 and has five career finishes — most recently in 2012 at the age of 74. The two Seavey finishes Tuesday made it 43 successful runs to Nome for six different members of the Seavey clan, including three finishes by Dallas’s brother Danny, two by his brother Tyrell and one by his wife, Jen.

Moments after the race, Dallas was asked to reflect on his family's unmatched Iditarod legacy.

"It's just another day of mushing, man," he said. "That's what we do."

For more information or updated race standings, visit iditarod.com

PAST IDITAROD CHAMPIONS

2016 Seavey, Dallas *08d 11h 20m 16s

2015Seavey, Dallas08d 18h 13m 06s2014Seavey, Dallas08d 13h 04m 19s2013Seavey, Mitch09d 07h 39m 56s2012Seavey, Dallas09d 04h 29m 26s2011Baker, John08d 18h 46m 39s2010Mackey, Lance08d 23h 59m 09s2009Mackey, Lance09d 21h 38m 46s2008Mackey, Lance09d 11h 46m 48s2007Mackey, Lance09d 05h 08m 41s2006King, Jeff09d 11h 11m 36s2005Sørlie, Robert09d 18h 39m 31s2004Seavey, Mitch09d 12h 20m 22s2003Sørlie, Robert09d 15h 47m 36s2002Buser, Martin08d 22h 46m 02s2001Swingley, Doug09d 19h 55m 50s2000Swingley, Doug09d 00h 58m 06s1999Swingley, Doug09d 14h 31m 07s1998King, Jeff09d 05h 52m 26s1997Buser, Martin09d 08h 30m 45s1996King, Jeff09d 05h 43m 13s1995Swingley, Doug09d 02h 42m 19s1994Buser, Martin10d 13h 02m 39s1993King, Jeff10d 15h 38m 15s1992Buser, Martin10d 19h 17m 15s1991Swenson, Rick12d 16h 34m 39s1990Butcher, Susan11d 01h 53m 23s1989Runyan, Joe11d 05h 24m 34s1988Butcher, Susan11d 11h 41m 40s1987Butcher, Susan11d 02h 05m 13s1986Butcher, Susan11d 15h 06m 00s1985Riddles, Libby18d 00h 20m 17s1984Osmar, Dean12d 15h 07m 33s1983Mackey, Rick12d 14h 10m 44s1982Swenson, Rick16d 04h 40m 10s1981Swenson, Rick12d 08h 45m 02s1980May, Joe14d 07h 11m 51s1979Swenson, Rick15d 10h 37m 47s1978Mackey, Dick14d 18h 52m 24s1977Swenson, Rick16d 16h 27m 13s1976Riley, Gerald18d 22h 58m 17s1975Peters, Emmitt14d 14h 43m 45s1974Huntington, Carl20d 15h 02m 07s1973Wilmarth, Dick20d 00h 49m 41s

* New record