Lance Mackey Makes History, Wins Record Fourth-Consecutive Iditarod

The 2010 Iditarod is still ongoing, with mushers completing the 1,110 mile dog sled race from Anchorage to Nome, but the race for first ended Tuesday evening, when Lance Mackey crossed the finish line. The cancer survivor became the first ever to win The Last Great Race in four consecutive years. As we say goodbye to Alaska’s frozen wilderness for another year, we offer some of our favorite pictures from the past 10 days (via Alaska Dispatch unless otherwise noted).

At the ceremonial start in downtown Anchorage. (Photo by Brian Weeks/ www.bdweeks.com)

Lance Mackey flew into the Elim checkpoint Monday afternoon, and just as quickly, he was gone again, extending his lead to more than three hours in the 2010 Iditarod over four-time champion Jeff King, who dropped to third.

Mackey stayed only 15 minutes, just enough time to feed his dogs, before heading out to White Mountain, where the windchill is currently -26 degrees.

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Newton Marshall remembers the first time he ever saw snow. Because for the Iditarod rookie, it was just four years ago.

German Sebastian Schnuelle, last year’s runner-up, is currently second in the Iditarod XXXVIII, and was the first to make it to the Rohn checkpoint, arriving with all 16 dogs at 10:52 p.m. ET Monday night. Paul Gebhardt, the first out of Rohn, leaving at 12:32 a.m. ET early Tuesday morning, is the leader.

Rohn is a former site of a roadhouse for dog teams traveling with mail, some 272 miles from Anchorage, but still 840 miles away from the finish in Nome. Schnuelle spent almost five hours there resting, while Gebhardt stayed just 17 minutes before continuing on. While they rarely sleep and usually only stop to let the dogs rest, every musher must take one 24-hour rest and two eight-hour layovers at some point during the race.