Wasilla, Alaska – January 4, 2010 – While the Iditarod Trail Committee has experienced significant revenue losses over the past 12 months, it got some great news today from one of its very own. Four-time Iditarod Champion, Jeff King, from Denali Park made a donation of $50,000.00. The funds will be added to the purse.

“This is my way of saying thank you to the Iditarod for doing such a great job of providing an arena for me to experience such success as a dog musher,” said King. “I am so lucky to have been able to make a successful career out of my passion for dogs and the Alaska wilderness, King added.

“Jeff King is a Champion in many, many ways,” said Lee Larsen, President of the Iditarod Trail Committee Board of Directors. “His hope, and my hope, is that others will also want to play whatever role they can by making a contribution to restore the purse or assist in staging “The Last Great Race,” Larsen added.

King, 54, was born in California. He came to Alaska in 1975 to “seek adventure.” He began mushing in 1976 after he heard Jerry Riley’s race finish while listening to the radio. Jeff has an outstanding race record including a Yukon Quest victory in 1989 and four Iditarod victories. He lives with his family on Goose Lake in Denali Park surrounded by the majestic peaks of the Alaska Range. The King’s two-story log home is also an art studio for Jeff’s wife, Donna, an accomplished medical illustrator and wildlife painter. The owner and operator of Goose Lake Kennels, King breeds, raises and trains 60 to 70 huskies a year. The Kings have three daughters, Cali, 25, Tessa, 23, and Ellen, 18. All the girls have run the Jr. Iditarod and Cali finished the Iditarod.

King will make his twenty-first run to Nome when Iditarod XXXVIII gets underway in downtown Anchorage on Saturday, March 6, 2010 at 10:00 a.m.

Jeff King and his team head to Nome in 2006, the year he won his 4th Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. ( Photo courtesy of Jeff Schultz)