Mackey, King dueling up the coast

UNALAKLEET — And then there were two.

Lance Mackey and Jeff King each left Koyuk within a 16-minute span Monday afternoon, with the next checkpoint of Elim 48 miles ahead.

Mackey left Koyuk at 5:41 p.m. Monday, while King was gone at 5:57 pm.

Mackey was out Shaktoolik, the checkpoint that preceeds Koyuk, 39 minutes ahead of King Monday morning in a hotly-contested Iditarod likely to go down to the wire.

On Sunday, King briefly passed the defending champion before Mackey boldly re-took the lead with some wily maneuvering.

King, a four-time champion from Denali Park, snuck past a snoozing Mackey early Sunday morning outside of this village of 750 people, in the process becoming the first musher to reach the Bering Sea coast and collecting the $3,00 Wells Fargo Gold Coast Award for being the first team into town.

King arrived in Unalakleet shortly after 2 p.m. after making the 90-mile run from Kaltag in a little over 10 hours. Mackey, who left Kaltag almost six hours in front of King, showed up in Unalakleet at 3:32 p.m. after making the run in just under 17 hours.

The defending champion claimed he took a longer-than-anticipated rest on the trail from Kaltag by accident, allowing King to sneak past.

“I kinda lost track of time,” Mackey said while feeding a ravenous group of 12 dogs shortly after arriving in Unalakleet an hour and a half after King.

But with King bedding down for a nap of his own in Unalakleet, Mackey decided it was time to make a move. After grabbing a quick cup of coffee and switching to a lighter sled, the defending champion was back on the trail after resting for just two hours and 45 minutes, leapfrogging King and reclaiming the lead with roughly 260 miles left to Nome.

Mackey played the move cool, saying little about his plans for the rest of the race — not wanting any word to filter back to King.

“Now’s the time to start paying attention to the neighbors,” Mackey said, pulling his snow hook at 6:17 p.m.

A half hour after Mackey left the checkpoint, King rose from his slumber and gave chase, hitting the trail at 7:01 p.m. after getting nearly exactly five hours rest. He said Mackey’s short pit stop in Unalakleet had little to do with his decision to move on.

“That’s about how much I wanted,” he said.

With 16 dogs still in harness, King appeared to have a slightly faster team heading up the coast, and Mackey said he decided it was time to make a move.

“I’m taking a gamble here,” he said, checking his watch. “If it backfires, well, I won’t do it again next year.’

With a smaller team pulling him, Mackey said he had had to keep the pressure on “I’ll keep ‘em guessing, anyway,” he said.

For current race updates, visit www.iditarod.com.

Second dog dies on trail

A second dog has died during the 2008 Iditarod Sled Dog Race.

According to a press release issued by the Iditarod Trail Committee, a snowmachiner ran into the team of Jennifer Freking at about 10 p.m. Sunday while Freking was on the Yukon River near Koyukuk, and a 3-year-old in Freking’s team named Lorne died.

The ITC notified state troopers.

Freking is from Finland, Minn.

Earlier in the race, a 7-year-old in the team of John Stetson died of pneumonia.

Stetson, of Duluth, Minn., subsequently scratched from the race.

Iditarod 36 standings

(As of press time 6 p.m Monday)

Out of Koyuk:

1. Lance Mackey 5:41 p.m. (Monday), 2. Jeff King 5:57 p.m.

Out of Shaktoolik:

3. Ken Anderson 11:15 a.m. (Monday), 4. Martin Buser 1:36 p.m., 5. Ramey Smyth 1:45 p.m., 6. Hans Gatt 2:07 p.m., 7. Paul Gebhardt 2:28 p.m., 8. Kjetil Backen 2:29 p.m., 9. Mitch Seavey 2:30 p.m., 10. Rick Swenson 3:39 p.m., 11. Ed Iten 5:11 p.m., 12. Sebastian Schnuelle 5:15 p.m., 13. Jessie Royer 5:22 p.m., 14. DeeDee Jonrowe 5:48 p.m., 15. Zack Steer 6:30 p.m., 16. Gerry Willomitzer 6:31 p.m., 17. Jim Lanier 6:40 p.m.

Into Shaktoolik:

18. Aaron Burmeister 1:24 p.m., 19. John Baker 2:12 p.m., 20. Ray Redington Jr 5:03 p.m., 21. Hugh Neff 6:19 p.m.

Out of Unalakleet:

22. Silvia Willis 11:42 a.m., 23. Cim Smyth 1:10 p.m., 24. Aliy Zirkle 1:11 p.m., 25. Warren Palfrey 1:12 p.m., 26. William Kleedehn 3:01 p.m., 27. Sigrid Ekran 3:02 p.m., 28. Matt Hayashida 3:20 p.m., 29. Melissa Owens 3:39 p.m., 30. Ed Stiestra 4:42 p.m., 31. Louis Nelson Sr. 6:10 p.m.

Mushers still on trail: 83