Lance Mackey Wins Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race for 4th Time

by Amy Judd | March 16, 2010 at 06:13 pm

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Musher Lance Mackey Wins Fourth Consecutive Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race

Lance Mackey has won his fourth Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, after competing the 1,049 mile race in eight days, 23 hours 59 minutes and 9 seconds.

Iditarod 2010 Race: Jeff King Leads

His father Dick Mackey was also the 1978 Iditarod champion according to CNN and he greated his son at the finish line with:

"You've done something that will never be repeated, son."

Mackey and his team of highly trained dogs have won the 1,000 mile Yukon Quest race from Fairbanks to Nome four times and he is the record holder for the most consecutive wins in that race. Lance Mackey is also a throat cancer survivor and was recently inducted in to the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame.

Hans Gatt took second place in the race as he was about nine miles behind Lance Mackey and Jeff King took third, who was 25 miles behind Hans Gatt. King donated $50,000 towards the Iditarod Trail Committee when he heard that the race was in financial trouble and he wanted to make sure that the 2010 prize money was preserved.

71 teams entered the race, but 14 had to drop out due to various reasons. The last place in the race gets the traditional red lantern, which is a tradition dating back to 1953.

Newton Marshall from Jamacia took part in this year's Iditarod Race and he was in 48th place out of the remaining 54 teams. Marshall trained wtih Mackey for this year's race.