‘Old' guard

Young guns can't crack the King

March 17, 2006

JOEL DAVIDSON/Frontiersman reporter

NOME - At age 50, Iditarod XXXIV winner Jeff King is the oldest champion in race history. The Denali Park musher led an impressive group of veteran mushers this year who were marked by wrinkles, gray and thinning hair, and years of unmatched experience that proved too much for a pack of young challengers to overcome.

Joining King in the top four were fellow gray-hairs Doug Swingley, 52, Paul Gebhardt, 50, and DeeDee Jonrowe, 52. Any one of them could have set the age record by winning the race.

&#8220We've had the most experience,” King explained Wednesday morning after winning his fourth title in 9 hours, 11 days, 11 minutes and 36 seconds. &#8220If, at middle age, you can remain fit enough to stand at the back of the sled, then your age should have little bearing on your ability to perform physically, and it might be a big asset for you to perform mentally.”

A slew of younger mushers were expected to challenge for the title this year, but the old guard held them at bay once again. Not since 1997 has a musher younger than 40 won The Last Great Race.

Last year's rookie of the year, Bjornar Andersen, is a 28-year-old Norwegian musher who took fourth place last year and was expected to contend for the title in Nome this year. Instead, he finished the race in sixth place with many of the same dogs his uncle, Robert Sorlie, won with in 2005. A rough trail and extreme weather conditions were partly responsible for keeping Andersen out of the top five.

&#8220This year was very tough conditions,” he said, while standing exhausted under the landmark Burled Arch in Nome that marks the end of the Iditarod Trail.

King had nothing but praise for the young, hungry Anderson, but ultimately said experience is hard to overcome.

&#8220He is just too young to have done it enough to have the same level of experience as someone who is older,” King explained.

Four-time champ Doug Swingley, of Lincoln, Mont., held the previous record for oldest winner at age 47 in 2001. After crossing the finish line a few hours behind King this year, Swingley said he was angered by a recent newspaper article that suggested the older mushers were past their racing prime.

&#8220Four 50-year-olds finished in the top four,” he said. &#8220We are not washed up has-beens.”

Veteran musher DeeDee Jonrowe, of Willow, relished the ageless theme of 2006.

&#8220It's kind of fun to be as competitive as we are over 50,” she said of her veteran colleagues. &#8220There's a lot about Iditarod that has to do with maturity - kind of like chess. Not only is it an athletic endeavor, but it's also good judgment calls, and I think that gets better with age.”

But experience isn't the whole tale, said 35-year-old Lance Mackey. Mackey, from Kasilof, is back-to-back winner of the rugged Yukon Quest race that takes place a few weeks before the Iditarod. After finishing 10th at this year's Iditarod and seventh last year, Mackey said the older mushers also have a lot of resources on their side.

&#8220Experience has a lot to do with it, but the majority of the people in the front group have major sponsors,” he said. &#8220My biggest sponsor is a thousand dollars. I use cheap dog food and drive a beat-up truck, but it makes it all that more satisfying to compete with these guys, 'cause I'm doing it on a third of the budget with a third the amount of dogs and a third the amount of time that they put into it.”

At age 29, Big Lake musher Cim Smyth was another young gun who hoped to crack Iditarod's upper echelon this year. Instead he finished 12th.

&#8220I went into the race with pretty high expectations,” he said. &#8220Twelfth was not on my list of good places to be. I wanted to be right in the top, but I pushed too fast, too far and the team never recovered.”

Knowing how far to push a team without overextending the dogs is key to winning the Iditarod, and the older mushers rarely make mistakes, Smyth said.

&#8220There are several guys who just so happen to be older and they know what they are doing,” he said. &#8220They are masters, and they don't turn in bad performances very often.”

Judgment calls were especially important in this year's race, marked by 60-mile-an-hour winds, 50-below temperatures, blizzard conditions and rough, jagged trail.

With his victory this year, King joins Martin Buser, Susan Butcher, and Doug Swingley as the only four-time champs. Rick Swenson, at age 55, is the only five-time winner.

King said he already was thinking about next year's race on his way into Nome. He said the young mushers who pose the greatest threats are those who come from racing families.

&#8220I think the real dangerous ones are the second- and third-generation ones such as the Seaveys, whose competitive knowledge is handed down from one generation to another,” he said.

As for now, King said he plans to push the age limit for a few more years.

&#8220I'll be doing it as long as it is still fun for me and I don't have any physical limitations that don't keep me from doing it,” he said.

Contact Joel Davidson at

352-2266 or joel.davidson@

frontiersman.com.