Mackey feeling 'stoked'

With a fourth consecutive Iditarod win within his grasp, Lance Mackey arrived in White Mountain on Monday night with a healthy lead over Hans Gatt and Jeff King and an array of emotions in tow.

 

Church bells rang to welcome his arrival, which he called "darn near illegal" for the emotions the sound evoked as he pulled along the frozen Fish River as a brilliantly sunny day began to close. He had just become a grandfather, his own father was there waiting for him at the checkpoint, and White Mountain, he said, is always a little sad because it signals the near end of the race.

 

Seventy-seven miles stand between the three-time defending champ and a history-making victory. Never before has a musher won four Iditarods back-to-back. As for whether crossing the finish line will set a speed record, it's hard to tell, but word from the checkpoint is it may have slipped beyond grasp. Final computations on a run time will need to come from Iditarod officials, and measuring this year's race against Martin Buser's 2002 record is challenging: different start times, different start locations, a potentially longer course and daylight savings all complicate a simple evaluation.

However it ends, one historic aspect of this year's race is already underway.

For the first time ever, all mushers will be subject to mandatory urine tests, given at White Mountain, to determine whether they are positive for any of the race's prohibited substances, including marijuana. As the first musher into the village, Mackey was the first racer to undergo the test, and he was also the target of the pre-race push by race veterans to have the tests performed. Mackey, a cancer survivor with a medical marijuana card, uses the plant and the prescription alternative Marinol to combat chronic pain. He has surmised the drug policy was payback for his winning streak by rivals eager to dismantle his reign, but said at an earlier checkpoint that the attempts to thwart him only make him race with more zeal and that he will comply with the rules.

 

Pulling in to White Mountain with dogs ‘Xena' and ‘Raunchy' at the lead, Mackey had no way to know that Hans Gatt had slid into second position over Jeff King at the checkpoint in Elim, or that his father, Dick Mackey, the 1978 Iditarod champion, would be there waiting. As soon as Mackey caught sight of his dad, a huge, icicle-laden smile beamed from beneath the fur-ruff of his arctic coat, his father touched an outstretched hand to his son's chest and they fell into a hug.

 

"It was really cool to see him," the younger Mackey said.

Dick Mackey spent time earlier in the evening anxiously awaiting his son's arrival by visiting with locals and volunteers at White Mountain's city hall, which is doubling as the village's checkpoint headquarters. There, he spoke of Lance's move to blow through Kaltag, and of how he called another Iditarod champ, his son, Rick, to discuss the situation. We agreed, Dick Mackey said, that "the only thing he could do was keep going."

"As long as he hasn't stretched them too thin, then he'll be alright," Dick Mackey said of his son's team.

"Lance has accomplished so much -- beating the cancer and living his dream. You just can't help but being proud of it all," said Cathy Mackey, Lance's stepmother.