Mackey cuts rest to leave Unalakleet ahead of King
UNALAKLEET — It was classic Lance Mackey, but with a new twist.

Here he was, loose and friendly as always, almost to the point of seeming like he hadn’t just run a dog team 800 miles, as he hung out for a couple of hours at this first checkpoint on the Bering Sea coast. Mackey strolled down to an espresso stand and got a coffee; he joked and hung out with checkers. He left early, daring the competition to go with him. Classic Mackey. His dogs got off their straw and trotted out without a hint of trouble, smoothly, on a shade under three hours rest. Classic Mackey.

But what he said while he was here was a little out of character. It had a hint of concession.

Mackey talked about preserving his dogs, not racing to win; he talked about next year, not the the finish line in Nome this year. “I’m pretty satisfied with with what’s happening here. I’m not disappointed,” he told reporters, going on to say he’s got a lot of young dogs on a team that still has years to improve. “I’m protecting their future. I’d love to win this race, but I also want a dog team next year. If I wind up second, third, fifth — if that’s what keeps them enthused — I’ve got nothing to prove… I’d rather be 50th with a team that’s enthused than first with one that’s not.”

But then, of course, as he bootied up to leave for a blustery 40-mile run up to Shaktoolik, he was reminded about last year, when he arrived here 45 minutes behind Jeff King only to leave ahead of him and go on to win the Iditarod. “We all know how that story ends,” he said, adding that things were looking good. His dogs had finally devoured their meals after lacking some appetite during the hot Yukon River run.

A reporter asked King the same question as he got ready to leave. “Yeah, I was kinda’ hoping it would work out that way, too… of course not!,” he said. The big difference is last year’s team wasn’t “perky,” King said, and this year’s team is. “I think they have more speed than he does,” about a minute per mile. Which has been true, up till now. If the pattern continues, King said he could give Mackey an hour head start, which is an hour less rest for Mackey’s team, and still keep pace with the 2007 champion.

If King pulls that off, he can eventually pull away. That’s the theory anyway.

King rested his dogs for five hours after his 10 hour, 18 minute run over from Kaltag. Mackey rested six hours on the trail and posted a run time of roughly 11 hours before pulling over at Unalakleet for a rest of two hours and 45 minutes.

Both teams still were good about getting off their warm beds of straw and trotting down the Unalakleet River, towards the Blueberry hills. King’s team opened up and started an actual lope, which impressed me at this stage of this 1,000-mile marathon. (For more photos of those teams arriving and leaving Unalakleet, see Jeff Schultz’s images here.)

King was sleepy but still had his sense of humor as reporters asked questions before he left. When he was asked what the difference was now that Mackey had 12 dogs and he had 16 ,he replied, “It means I’ve got four more.” The size of his team should help in the hills, he added, saying more dogs equals more horsepower. But on the flip side, “If I mistakenly take them, it also makes a big difference.” He’ll slow down if he has to pack a dog. With a large team, King has a higher percentage of having to pack a dog that gets hurt or tired. But he’s also intimately aware of what he’s been looking at all race and all season.

King said he had a couple of dogs, Lobben and Call, that haven’t been pulling on the flats but have worked hard on the hills, so he left them in the team. There’s steep hills between Unalakleet and Shaktoolik, followed by the long and sometimes dreaded flat run from Shaktoolik over sea ice to Koyuk.

Fight for third place heats up

The two front runners seem to be opening up quite a gap over the competition, but based on run times from some of the fiesty teams coming in, that gap could be in jeopardy. Kjetil Backen pulled in to Unalakleet at 9:48 p.m., almost three hours after King departed. But Backen was quickly followed by Mitch Seavey and Rick Swenson, the only five-time winner in Iditarod history. Swenson, one of the most popular mushers in the villages along the trail, has posted some of the fastest times between checkpoints and is continuing to do so.

Breaking news from trail breakers
Word from the crew of snowmobilers that has been systematically blazing the Iditarod trail and leaving a trail of wooden trail markers for mushers to follow is that the next section of trail to Shaktoolik is excellent. There’s a reason for that. This year, the trail breakers have towed a specially designed groomer, which can be raised or lowered hydraulically. When it’s being towed, the groomer has a blade that shaves the rough trail, leaving a smoother path in its wake.

Bering Strait School District has Iditarod fever
The regional public school district, based in Unalakleet, has been aggressive about Iditarod coverage for the last few years, and has tons of photos and videos about the race. See the district’s web site here.