NOME, Alaska — Paul Gebhardt has twice been the bridesmaid in the Last Great Race, but the Kasilof, Alaska, musher wasn’t complaining one bit as he crossed the finish line two hours, 20 minutes behind the winner, and Gebhardt’s former training partner, Lance Mackey.
Gebhardt got a big hug from his wife, Evy, and was thronged by hometown fans at the finish. The 2007 champion Lance Mackey also stayed awake long enough to shake Gebhardt’s hand.
“Heck of a race,” Mackey said. “It was fun,” Gebhardt replied. Gebhardt went on to describe Mackey as “a very different dog driver. There’s nothing he wouldn’t do to have a better team,” then he pointed out that Mackey is the first musher ever to win the Yukon Quest and Iditarod in the same year. “You’ve got to admit, he’s like the Dale Earnhardt of dog racing,” Gebhardt said.
The 50-year-old musher was physically “pretty wiped out” after this race, one of the most punishing Iditarods in recent memory – at least to humans. Low snow plagued mushers for miles the whole 1,000 miles of the race, forcing them to jump, run, pull and dance to avoid grassy tussocks, stumps and rocks. Sleds also took a pounding.
In the hunt for first, Gebhardt pulled over for three hours and 37 minutes at Shaktoolik, primarily to fix a broken sled while Mackey continued on to Koyuk. That break proved to be the difference in the otherwise evenly matched dog teams. Though he matched Mackey’s speeds for the remainder of the race up the coast, Gebhardt could not make up that deficit.
The musher also suffered through a debilitating head cold the whole race, forcing him sometimes to sit and rest on his sled because he was so weak.
Gebhardt and Mackey worked as a pair from the halfway point to the coast. Gebhardt figured if they ran together they had a better chance to overtake the two four-time champions in their path, Martin Buser and Jeff King. “I told Lance, if we could work together, we can race each other later,” Gebhardt said.
The two took turns breaking trail, so that the team behind would have less stress on its leaders. It is very easy for one team to trot along following another sled. And it wouldn’t be the first collaboration between them. They lived next door until last summer when Mackey moved from Kasilof to Fox, Alaska. Before the move, Paul would sometimes race Mackey’s dogs, and Mackey would use Gebhardt’s.
The race for third and fourth
As Mackey surged forward, followed closely by Gebhardt, they overtook the early race leaders Buser and King. Buser set the standard for fast in this Iditarod, but lost that edge by Kaltag. Buser, 48, kept racing, whistling and keeping it happy despite enduring a physically punishing run of his own. His dogs responded, and he began to get some of that energy back.
Behind him was Zack Steer, 33, of Sheep Mountain, Alaska. The full-time lodge owner and part-time competitor had a dream run this year. Always a sharp tactician, Steer kept his plan simple. He would run short and rest more often, banking on his team’s speed to propel him in the standings. He executed the plan flawlessly, only making late moves to run long once he reached Kaltag. He banked that his team would be tempered by that point in the race, and hold its speed.
Meanwhile, the reigning champion, Jeff King of Denali Park, took a third course of action once he got to Unalakleet. Or rather, he stuck to his master goal, consciously, even though it would place him lower in the standings.
King obviously races to win. But if first place is plainly out of his grasp, he pulls over more often and maintains his team’s energy and attitudes for the next race. His finishing position isn’t his utmost goal at that point. It is simply his racing style.
Behind all these teams was a long convoy of dog teams still strung out down the Bering Sea Coast to the Yukon River. Every one of them was having an adventure. Some had too much of an adventure and had to scratch. Over the next few days, I look forward to meeting up with many of them and telling a few of their stories on this Web site.
Lucky number of dogs must be 13
As Mackey sat under the burled arch with lead dogs Larry and Lippy on either side, he insisted he had 13 Quest dogs in his Iditarod team. His wife, Tonya, yelled out “nine,” and they went back and forth. “Thirteen.” “Nine.” “Thirteen.” “Nine.” Finally, Mackey said, “I’ve been with them the last 10 days. I know.”
Since he wore bib 13, came in on March 13 and his son finished 13th in this year’s Junior Iditarod, let’s just leave it at 13 dogs.