Seavey wins 5th Iditarod title

Dallas Seavey is an Iditarod champion once again.

The third-generation musher who now calls Talkeenta home earned his fifth Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race title, arriving at the finish line at Deshka Landing just after 5 a.m. Monday.

Seavey joins legend Rick Swenson as the only mushers to win the Iditarod five times.

“It’s a big deal,” Seavey told Alaska’s News Source and Iditarod Insider moments after winning the race. “Ever since I won my first Iditarod, I was the youngest to win, people have been asking about it. I’ve always said I’m going to get the next one and someday five might be the next one. That was today. It was finally the next one and we got it.”

The title comes after a slight hiatus in race. Seavey last competed in 2017, earning a runner-up finish. That followed three straight Iditarod titles, 2014-2016. Seavey also won it all in 2012, and did not finish outside the top-8 during an eight-year run from 2009-2017.

Seavey finished his 2021 race in 7 days, 14 hours, 8 minutes and 57 seconds. He had an average speed of 4.57 mph. Seavey finished with 10 dogs in harness.

The course, new this year to accommodate the Iditarod’s COVID-19 mitigation plan, led teams from Deshka Landing to the Iditarod checkpoint and back.

Seavey was the first to arrive in Skwentna, hitting the checkpoint at 12:44 p.m. Sunday. After serving the mandatory eight-hour layover, Seavey hit the trail en route to the finish at 8:44 p.m.

During the race, Seavey also won the Alaska Air Transit Spirit of the Iditarod Award, the Lakefront Anchorage First Musher to the Yukon Award, the Ryan Air Gold Coast Award and the Northrim Bank Achieve More Award. For the win, Seavey will receive the majority stake of the race purse, and also gets a 2022 Ski Doo snowmachine courtesy of Alaska Mining and Diving Supply.

Seavey finished more than three hours ahead of runner-up Aaron Burmeister, who reached Deshka Landing at 8:23 a.m. Brent Sass, Wade Marrs and Mille Proslid rounded out the top 5. A total of 13 mushers had reached the finish line as of late Monday night.

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