Mackey, King set for Sweepstakes
Published Monday, March 24, 2008
Far from the busy streets of Anchorage, some of Alaska’s best mushers will gather in Nome on Wednesday to vie for the biggest payday in the history of Alaska sports.
Sixteen mushers are signed up for the historic All-Alaska Sweepstakes, a 408-mile round-trip sled dog race from Nome to Candle that travels through some of Alaska’s most wild, uninhabited land and awards a $100,000 winner-take-all purse.
Mushers paid an entry fee of $1,500 to $2,000 cash — depending on when they registered — plus one ounce of gold worth about $1,000.
This is the way it was when the Nome Kennel Club began the race 100 years ago, and this is the way it will be when the still-functioning club stages the centennial anniversary event this week.
Same rules, same trail.
But this time, the interest may be higher than ever as four-time Iditarod winner Jeff King will seek revenge against Lance Mackey, who caught the Denali Park musher napping in Elim two weeks ago in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race to win his second straight title.
“No doubt about it,” Mackey said, “we’re going to have a slugfest.”
The Sweepstakes was born in 1908, long before the Open North American, Fur Rondy, Iditarod or the Yukon Quest. It put Alaska sled dog racing on the map and helped dog drivers like Leonhard Seppala, Scotty Allan and John “Iron Man” Johnson make their name as well as their living.
In 1983, the Nome Kennel Club brought the Sweepstakes back for its 75th anniversary, with five-time Iditarod champion Rick Swenson of Two Rivers capturing the $25,000 winning prize.
Then it disappeared again. But after a 25-year absence, the Sweepstakes is back in action.
“It’s a huge milestone in the history of sled dog racing,” Dr. Phil Schobert, All-Alaska Sweepstakes’ executive race director, said by cell phone.
Decades before the Iditarod made national news, Sweepstakes results were reported in The New York Times. The inaugural race boasted a $10,000 purse that would worth about $220,000 today.
That was arguably the biggest payday in the history of dog racing. But this year’s $100,000 will be the biggest payday in modern times, topping the previous record set by the Iditarod’s $72,066 first-place payout in 2005.
“It’s unique because of its purse,” Schobert said. “The Sweepstakes was the birth of long-distance racing.”
But in modern times, the Sweepstakes is a mid-distance race compared to the Yukon Quest and Iditarod, both about 1,000 miles long.
And the Sweepstakes rules are much tougher than either of those ultramarathons.
The Iditarod allows mushers to drop injured, sick or tired dogs, requires one 24- and two eight-hour layovers and banishes outside assistance.
In the Sweepstakes, where mushers can harness a maximum of 12 dogs, they can choose when and where to rest their teams and for how long. Outside assistance from a pit crew also is permitted.
But perhaps the most unique, and controversial, Sweepstakes rule is no dog drops — mushers must finish with the dogs they start with.
In other words, dog drivers must bring their most “bombproof dogs” in the kennel. And if a dog expires, the team is automatically disqualified.
“I feel confident that we have picked a super team,” wrote King in his blog.
The “we” is an entourage of helpers that includes two veteran snowmachiners — 1998 Iron Dog partners Bob Himschoot and Chris Provost — plus two race strategists.
“These four will do much of the thinking for me,” King wrote.
On the contrary, Mackey said he will travel with a crew big enough to “just get by.”
“I don’t have a lot of money to pay these folks,” he said, “so I’m doing it all on volunteers.
“I’ve got people with airplanes and snowmachines. I’m going for the experience alone, but I’m damn sure taking it seriously.”
In 1908, hundreds of bets were placed in Nome, according to Schobert, on which team could travel fastest on the well-packed survey trail — used daily by dog sleds and horse-drawn carriages to travel from one mine to the next.
The trail is no longer the corridor it once was.
A dozen snowmachiners were breaking trail Saturday, hacking down cornices from record snowfalls between Council — about 85 miles into the race — and Candle. Schobert said snow depths could reach 10 feet deep, with the consistency of powder in some places or concrete in others.
“Iron Man” Johnson set the course record in 1910, finishing the 408-mile race in 74 hours, 14 minutes and 37 seconds, a mark that still stands.
The only difference from this year’s trail to the original is checkpoints, Schobert said. This has 14 checkpoints, while the original had 17.
Even with freshly broken trail, a new record isn’t likely. When Swenson won in 1983 in a race with very little snow cover, he was about 10 hours slower than Johnson’s record.
“It’s a slow and steady trudge,” Schobert said. “What the Iditarod mushers travels in 1,100 miles, these guys will condense into 400.”
The trail marches up and over three mountain ranges and cuts across roughly 50 water crossings — most frozen, some not.
“Basically, it’s going to be 400 miles non-stop,” Mackey said. “I don’t know much about it, but if I had to choose one of the three races I really want to win, it’s the Sweepstakes.”
Besides the money, Mackey, 37, wants the recognition of becoming long-distance mushing’s only triple-crown winner — Yukon Quest, Iditarod and Sweepstakes.
Even with 16-musher field, he expects stiff competition as top-five Iditarod racers Ed Iten and Ramy Brooks, as well as 2004 Iditarod champ Mitch Seavey should also contend for the $100,000 payout. This is the second race for Brooks since the 2007 Iditarod, after which he was banned from the Iditarod until 2010 for abusing his dogs.
“I can’t imagine a two-man race,” Mackey said. “There’s going to be fresh teams, but to look at the list, me and Jeff are the favorites.”
Mackey plans to use two dogs from his Iditarod team, with the rest coming from his Yukon Quest team or his stepson’s Junior Iditarod team.
The day he won the 2008 Iditarod, King told him that he would use the same 16 Iditarod dogs that made it all the way to White Mountain. Even if that’s not the case now, at the time it was music to Mackey’s ears.
“I know it’s beatable,” Mackey said.
Comments
Is there anyone else in the race. I guess there's no other dog musher's in Alaska.
Go LANCE MACKEY!! Best musher in the world as far as we are concerned!
Good luck Lance!
Catch up with you and T at the Mondo sometime...
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If it's such a ''Historic '' race howcome there's only 14 musher's in it.
GOOD LUCK to all of the Mushers, what a sport it has become.
And me growing up and watching the black and white television set it was Sargent Preston of the Yukon who was the hero.
Be Safe !
Go Mackey! A triple crown, how cool would that be?
Quoting "If it's such a ''Historic '' race how come there's only 14 musher's in it."
It's a winner-take-all purse. Finishing second is no different than last - except the last place musher gets a red lantern for his/her trophy room.
The bottom line is that 14 mushers have the brass to risk their entry fees for a chance at the big reward. Lots of others may have the ability, they may have the dogs, but they don't have the self confidence to take the risk.
Regarding "Is there anyone else in the race. I guess there's no other dog musher's in Alaska."
There are some great mushers signed up, unfortunately they didn't just make history so they may not sell as many newspapers. Perhaps you, AKNATUFF, have something positive to say about someone not mentioned?
I would like to wish all the mushers in this race the best of luck and be safe. Our son Peter MacManus and his cousin Jayson Russell will be driving out the first team for honorary musher Pete MacManus, their grand father who lost his life and most of his dog team in a plane crash after completing the 75th anniversary race in 1983. I am so glad they are being allowed to participate in this part of the race for our family.
To AKNATUFF Lance Mackey has accomplished something to be proud of. He is an awesome dog musher, so is Jeff King, there are many other good mushers running in this race also. Try not to be negative, this is a good thing and great for the sport.
Not allowing mushers to drop injured or sick dogs is a huge huge mistake. Why should a sick or injured dog be pushed to run? That is just inhumane. With all the money riding on the race one can expect that at least some mushers will not use good judgment about scratching. I do not oppose dog mushing and know that these canine athletes love to compete. But this is not a good rule. I do not support it at all.
I think that the rule is that no, there are no dog drops (there aren't in a few other races across the state either due to logistics)and you have to finish with the dogs you start with but you can carry dogs in your sled if they become sick or injured so as to avoid further illness/injury.
GO JEFF GO
Don't let him sneak around you, we all know how sneaky he can be...It's Tami btw.... waves and waves.. go Jeff go
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO JEFFF GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Tami
Ely mn
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