Self-prclaimed part-time musher finishes third in Iditarod

March 16, 2007

By Jeremiah Bartz/ Frontiersman

NOME - The seasoned veterans were the story of the 2006 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. But in 2007, it's been all about the young guns.

Just hours after 36-year-old Lance Mackey won his first Iditarod title, 33-year-old Zack Steer posted the best finish of his career.

Steer, a self-proclaimed part-time musher who owns and operates Sheep Mountain Lodge with his wife Anjenette, was the third musher to reach Front Street in Nome on Wednesday morning.

Steer hit the finish line of the 1,100-mile trail at 3:46 a.m. Wednesday, 21 minutes ahead of four-time Iditarod champion Martin Buser.

Another four-time champ and the winner of the 2006 race, Jeff King, finished fifth.

Mackey and Steer lead of group of young mushers who saw great success in the 2007 race.

That group includes Ken Anderson, 34, who finished seventh in the race, and 27-year-old Tollef Monson, who was 10th.

&#8220This year there were a lot of new faces,” Steer said.

Steer said he doesn't see the likes of Buser and King going away anytime soon, but there are some young mushers to contend with.

&#8220Instead of the changing of the guard, it's the additions to the guard,” he said.

Steer, competing in just his fourth Iditarod, was among the top group of mushers for virtually the entire race. Steer did enough to stay among that top tier of mushers, but was also able to conserve the energy of his team midway through the race. That, he said, enabled him to be more aggressive once he hit the northeast coast of Alaska, that boarders the final stretch of the trail.

Looking back on his run, Steer feels there were a couple of key points to his race.

First, he completed the stretch from Nikolai to Ophir in nearly one continuous run. It's about a 10-hour run, he said, that he completed just before he took his mandatory 24-hour rest.

After his 24-hour rest, Steer said, it would have been very easy to hit the trail hard and fast. But en route to Iditarod after leaving Ophir, Steer broke the stretch into three six-hour increments.

&#8220In essence I camped out twice, while other teams camped out once,” he said. &#8220Other teams got ahead of me, but I preserved team speed.”

By being conservative at that point, Steer was able to speed ahead of Buser and King late in the race.

When Steer left White Mountain he was 20 minutes behind Buser. When he hit Safety, the final checkpoint on the trail, Steer was four minutes ahead of the Iditarod legend.

Steer completed the final 22 miles of the race from Safety to Nome in 3 hours and nine minutes. Buser did it in 3:21.

Steer said he stuck to his pre-race strategy for about the first half of the race.

Late in the race, Steer said he pushed through areas on the Yukon River where he had planned on camping, just because the trail was fast enough to do it.

&#8220It was a pretty quick trail,” Steer said. &#8220There wasn't a lot of deep, soft snow.”

Steer said he had not planned on doing a long run from Unalakleet to Koyuk, once he hit the coast, but felt it was necessary to stay in the upper echelon of the field.

This is the first year Steer has completed the race since he finished 14th in 2000. He also finished 22nd in this rookie year, 1998.

In 2005, with his wife at home expecting their second child, Steer opted to scratch.

Kennel partners with Anchorage musher Robert Bundtzen, Steer said he will be taking the 2008 Iditarod off. This year Steer took the kennel's top team out on the trail, while Bundtzen, who stood in 42nd as of press time, took the kennel's B team.

Next year, Bundtzen will have the A team.

In the meantime Steer will go back to his full-time gig at the Sheep Mountain Lodge, where he also organizes the annual Sheep Mountain 150 Sled Dog Race.

&#8220The Iditarod is my vacation,” Steer said.

Mackey made history late Tuesday night by becoming the first musher to win both the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race in the same season.

&#8220It's still all the buzz in town,” Steer said from Nome Thursday. &#8220It's definitely a feat that will be difficult to repeat. That's for sure.”

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.