Congratulations Lance Mackey

In the caribou tundra, in the wild barren land
On the fierce arctic ice where the polar bear stands
Where the trail of the Eskimo hunter is worn.
This is the country where legends are born. (Where Legends are Born, by Hobo Jim)

From the first Eskimos that found their way into its vast wilderness, to today’s modern adventurers seeking challenges in a world that has grown soft, Alaska is still a place that has the ability to forge new legends. The history of the Iditarod Trail Sled dog race is filled with many of those legends over the past 37 years.
Who could forget Libby Riddles heading out alone into a blizzard on the Norton Bay ice to become the first woman to win the race. Or the year Rick Swenson won his fifth Iditarod title by pushing on through a blizzard when the rest of the teams had turned around and headed back to the checkpoint. Each of the 17 winners of the race are legends in their own right and the trail has produced thousands of stories for the hundreds of the adventurers that have made the trek with no intentions of fame or glory. This week another legend was born when 36 year old Lance Mackey drove his dog team across the finish line in Nome in the 35th Annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Lance Mackey

Lances story has all the elements of a made for TV movie. Son of 1979 Iditarod champion Dick Mackey, who won the race in the closest finish ever, and brother of 1984 champ Rick, Lance accomplished what was thought to be the impossible.

Mackey had a cancerous tumor removed from his neck two years ago. That left him with nerve damage in his left index finger and pain so unbearable he had the finger removed.

This Iditarod win is something special because Mackey is the first to win both the1,000-mile Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race and the Iditarod back to back, largely with the same dogs. No one thought it could be done.

The No. 13 bib Mackey wore was the same number both his father and half-brother Rick had worn to victory before him. Each of them won the Iditarod on their sixth try. This was Lance’s sixth try, and his fifth finish. He scratched from one Iditarod.

Read his entire story here.