Score four for Mackey

NOME — The nose on the leader of the 11-dog team pulling Lance Mackey into history crossed underneath the burled arch at 2:59 p.m. today, marking the musher’s fourth Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race victory in as many years.

The Fairbanks musher is the first to win the 1,000-mile epic four times in a row. His race time of eight days, 23 hours, 59 minutes and 9 seconds is the fastest of his four victories. It is only the second time the winner has finished in less than nine days, and Mackey was just an hour and ten minutes behind the all-time race record set in 2002.

The turning point for Mackey — whose teams are known for their unmatched endurance — came this year in Kaltag. Rival musher Jeff King of Denali came into the checkpoint with a 45-minute lead over Mackey. King elected to rest his team in Kaltag for almost four hours, while Mackey blew through after stopping for only seven minutes.

Mackey took a longer stop at the next checkpoint in Unalakleet, but King could not catch up. King was passed by Whitehorse musher Hans Gatt in Elim, but Gatt could not close the almost two-hour lead Mackey took into the mandatory eight-hour layover in White Mountain yesterday.

Just 77 miles from Nome, Mackey set a pace of almost eight miles per hour between White Mountain and the final checkpoint in Safety. Gatt recorded a faster time and left Safety just an hour and a half behind Mackey.

Yet, the final 22 miles of trail was too short to deny Mackey from his historic victory.

Mackey joins King, Susan Butcher, Martin Buser and Doug Swingley in the club of four-time Iditarod champions. Rick Swenson holds the all-time record of five victories, but no racer before Mackey has won four consecutive Iditarods.