Alaska’s annual Iditarod canine sled race ended with one of many largest names within the sport coming from behind after a moose attack to win the grueling, days-long contest for an unprecedented sixth time.
But Dallas Seavey’s record-setting win late on Tuesday was overshadowed by the deaths of three dogs on this 12 months’s endurance race throughout the Alaska wilderness, and renewed calls from an animal rights group to cease the race. A fourth canine, one in all Seavey’s, was severely injured within the moose attack
Seavey completed the 51st Iditarod in 9 days, two hours, 16 minutes and eight seconds and gained simply over $55,000 for first place. As he neared the end line, he jumped off his sled and ran together with his dogs, pumping his fists. After he reached the end line, he hugged every canine on his staff – and so they licked him as they sat on the winner’s podium.
“This one was supposed to be hard,” Seavey informed the gang. “It had to be special, it had to be more than just a normal Iditarod, and for me, it was.”
The Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race takes human-and-dog groups throughout 1,000 miles of wilderness on a path that traverses two mountain ranges, the Yukon River and a slice of the frozen Bering Sea earlier than ending in Nome simply south of the Arctic Circle.
But the deaths of the dogs on three separate groups, two led by rookie mushers and a 3rd in his second Iditarod, solid a pall over the race because the Iditarod ended a five-year streak with no canine demise. Five dogs additionally died and eight had been injured in collisions with snow machines throughout coaching earlier than the race on shared-use trails.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the loudest critic of the Iditarod, referred to as for officers to finish the competition as soon as and for all.
“The Iditarod is the shame of Alaska,” Peta govt vice chairman Tracy Reiman stated in a press release. “How many more dogs need to die before this stops? Dogs’ lives are worth more than this.”
The Iditarod didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Mushers Issac Teaford, of Salt Lake City, and Hunter Keefe, of Knik, voluntarily give up the course after their dogs died. The third canine on rookie Calvin Daugherty’s staff collapsed on the path about 10 miles earlier than reaching the checkpoint within the village of Shaktoolik. A necropsy is deliberate, and Daugherty additionally give up the race.
A moose severely injured one in all Seavey’s dogs in an attack on the path early within the race. Seavey shot and killed the moose with a handgun and gutted it. Race guidelines require any large sport animal killed in protection of life or property to be gutted earlier than the musher strikes on. But as a result of he spent solely 10 minutes gutting the moose, race officers gave Seavey a two-hour time penalty.
Seavey and his staff battled again, and by Tuesday morning that they had a three-hour lead over their nearest competitor earlier than sweeping to victory later within the day.
“When you look back at 1,000 miles of what these dogs just covered, the challenges they faced, you can’t swallow that in one bite, but we can have one good step at a time,” he stated of his dogs. “And if you can keep doing that, it leads to something.”
Seavey’s identify is discovered all through the Iditarod file guide. In 2005, he grew to become the youngest musher to run within the race, and in 2012, its youngest champion.
Seavey additionally gained the Iditarod in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2021. He had beforehand been tied with now-retired musher Rick Swenson with 5 titles apiece. Swenson gained the Iditarod in 1977, 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1991.
Seavey’s household historical past is deeply entwined with the Iditarod. His grandfather, Dan, helped arrange and ran the primary Iditarod in 1973, and his father, Mitch, is a three-time champion.
Dallas Seavey almost took a unique path within the sports activities world. He was the primary Alaskan to win a USA nationwide wrestling championship when he took the 125lbs Greco-Roman title in 2003 and educated for a 12 months on the US Olympic Training Center earlier than concussions led him to again to mushing.
The Iditarod began on 2 March for 38 mushers with a ceremonial run in Anchorage, adopted by the aggressive begin on 3 March in Willow, about 75 miles north of Anchorage. Seven mushers dropped out of the race this 12 months.
