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By Jeremiah Bartz Frontiersman.com A football coach using a hockey reference as the centerpiece for his keynote address may
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March 8, 2007
Lance Mackey (Fairbanks) was the first musher to reach Iditarod, the 10th checkpoint of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
Mackey, winner of the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race less than a month ago, reached the town that bears the race's name at 12:11 a.m. Thursday, just six minutes ahead of second-place Paul Gebhardt (Kasilof).
Ed Iten (Kotzebue), Mitch Seavey (Seward), Tollef Monson (Kotzebue) and Cim Smyth (Big Lake) have also reached Iditarod.
As of 5:30 p.m. Thursday, 18 mushers were en route to Iditarod from Ophir.
Big Lake's Ramey Smyth leads a group that includes former champions Jeff King (Denali), Martin Buser (Big Lake), Robert Sorlie (Norway) and Rick Swenson (Two Rivers).
The 90-mile stretch from Ophir to Iditarod is seen as one of the toughest spans during the race.
Mackey, Iten, Seavey and Cim Smyth each needed more than 17 hours to get between the two checkpoints.
Gebhardt blazed, doing it in 13 hours and 53 minutes.
The Iditarod saw its 15th musher scratch on Thursday. Ben Stamm (Argyle, Wisc.) took himself out of the race in Nikolai, after suffering a knee injury along the trail, according to a press release issued by the Iditarod Trail Committee.
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