Mackey, King prepare to cross sound in Iditarod
Contest appears down to which champion's team can outlast other
ANCHORAGE - Reigning three-time champion Lance Mackey and four-time champion Jeff King are turning the 2010 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race into their own two-man contest.
Mackey reached Shaktoolik, the second stop on the run up the western coast of Alaska, at 4:08 p.m. Alaska Daylight Time. King, trying to match Rick Swenson's record of five victories in the 1,100-mile race, reached the village 37 minutes later.
Their next leg will be offshore across Norton Sound, where winds can blow up whiteout conditions in ground storms without a flake of new snow falling.
Veteran long-distance mushers Hugh Neff and Hans Gatt remained in the hunt, but with 224 miles to go in the 1,100 mile race, the contest appeared to come down to which former champion's team could outlast the other.
Mackey, 39, of Fairbanks, was the first to reach Alaska's west coast Sunday morning and was awarded $2,500 in Nome gold nuggets for the feat. He pulled into Unalakleet, an Eskimo village of 750, at 3:32 a.m. and was greeted by camera flashes and applause.
"Thanks you guys for interrupting your sleep time," Mackey said as he pulled up in the dark.
The temperature Sunday morning reached 34 below zero. Only Mackey's eyes were visible under the hood of his thick white parka. A neck gaiter covered his nose and mouth and a headlamp shone from his forehead. Like their driver, Mackey's dogs were protected against the cold, sporting royal blue coats and booties to protect their feet.
King, 54, of Denali Park, reached Unalakleet three hours later at 6:29 a.m.
Mackey rested more than six hours, pulling out just after the sun, still pink in the sky, came over the horizon in clear, cold skies.
To keep pace, King could rest only about three hours and 47 minutes. He took off north for the 40-mile run to Shaktoolik at 10:16 a.m., 28 minutes after Mackey.
King would dearly love to catch him. His fifth championship was in sight two years ago but Mackey sneaked out of a checkpoint 123 miles from the finish and took an insurmountable lead while King napped.
Neff of Tok, Alaska, and Gatt of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, were running third and fourth. Gatt defeated Mackey last month in the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest between Fairbanks and Whitehorse. Neff finished third in the race.
Neff reached Unalakleet at 7:17 a.m. He rested nearly four hours and departed at 11:38 a.m., about two hours after Mackey. Gatt reached Unalakleet at 7:42 a.m. and stayed nearly five hours. He departed at 12:27 p.m., 49 minutes after Neff.