Race for third heats up between Gatt, Anderson and Smyth

WHITE MOUNTAIN — If Lance Mackey pulls off a victory, it may have been a little of that old Mackey magic — a recipe that includes a dash of mind games and a lot of old-fashioned hard work — that made the difference.

First, the head game: Mackey lulled his rival, Jeff King, into parking his team at Elim. He then tip-toed out of the checkpoint at 2:20 a.m. after just an hour and 20 minutes rest, right as King shut his eyes for a nap. That was textbook Iditarod tricksterism. The move gained Mackey a one-hour advantage leaving that checkpoint. The hard work part came next, then the reigning Iditarod champion called up his team and ski-poled for the next six and a half hours to maintain that advantage all the way to White Mountain.

 

King woke up, realized he’d been left behind and got his team moving at 3:10 a.m., after a rest of about two hours. The four-time champion assumed he’d gain on Mackey, since he had on all the runs up to this one, but he found out that Mackey still had a little more gas in the tank. “There’s no end yet in how many times I think I know something that’s not true,” King said, shortly before taking a snooze at White Mountain.

The two are parked this afternoon side by side, sleeping out their mandatory eight-hour layover, and will resume their duel to the finish line in Nome at 4:53 p.m. for Mackey and 5:50 p.m. for King. Mackey achieved a major advantage by pulling away. A difference of 57 minutes at this point is a commanding position to be in. Since both teams will be traveling fairly slowly, it’s mathematically difficult to expend enough energy to make up an hour, and then make a pass and hold on, with 77 miles to go. It can be done, and both mushers know it, but it will be tough for King.

There’s a bit of Iditarod trickster lore regarding Mackey’s brother, the 1983 champion Rick Mackey. According to the story, Mackey ditched a pack of other mushers at Kaltag in 2003 by fooling them into believing he’d be right back inside the community hall where they were all huddled to warm up. Rick went outside and then came back with a cooler of dog food , and left it by the door, before heading back out. All the other mushers assumed he’d be back to pick up the cooler and that he planned another feeding. By the time they realized they’d been had, Mackey was a long way up the trail. Minus one cooler.

Lance Mackey learned a thing or two from his brother. He considered leaving his bright red snow suit hanging on the way inside the Elim firehouse last night, right where King could see it, which might buy him a little more time. But forecasts called for brisk winds overnight, so Mackey wound up taking his suit after all.

He had, however, laid a trap so tempting to the sleep-deprived King that it hooked him. When King approached Elim, he’d already made up his mind that if Mackey blew through, he would follow, grudgingly. King strongly believes in staying at checkpoints on the coast. But when King pulled in, Mackey had his dogs on their beds and a cooker going. The trap was set, and King walked right into it. He bedded down his dogs, too, fed them, and went inside for a nap.

King said he has worked hard to keep Mackey form puling one of these moves. He’d fallen asleep at Koyuk with his feet atop Mackey’s boots, and was stirred awake only when Mackey tried to slip them out from under him.

King got within 35 minutes of Mackey by Golovin, but a couple of dogs wanted to pull over at that village and it took awhile to get his speed back up as he left, King said.

Both teams looked good coming here, observers said. Mackey’s were a little more tired; they’d run harder.

King said his team arrived without any major physical injuries, but he would drop two of them — Angus and Lobben — and likely take off with 14 dogs for the chase to the finish line. Angus has a nagging soreness in one of his feet, and Lobben has been reluctant to pick up the pace, which is what King will have to do next. His team, he said, “is spectacularly fluid, smooth and fast. They have tons of speed… I’m expecting mine to go good.”

King said he was never looking for a symbolic victory by finishing with all 16 of his dogs in harness. The only way that could happen is if he’s “willing to cede first, which I’m not.”

(Snow and wind prevented pilots from flying me from Koyuk last night to White Mountain, so I was unable to see the first two teams arrive or to talk with Lance about the happenings overnight. King was still awake and talking with reporters, and others who talked to Lance filled in some of the gaps for me.)

The race for third is heating up, and is apparently between Hans Gatt, Ken Anderson, Ramey Smyth, and Martin Buser. All are superior dog drivers and will give every effort to race to the finish line. We not only may have a race right to the finish line for first, but also a race for third. Those four are due in to White Mountain at 4 p.m.