Doug Swingley won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Wednesday for the third straight year, completing an 1,100-mile trip through the harsh Alaska wilderness.
The musher from Lincoln, Mont., arrived at the finish in Nome at 6:55 a.m., ending his trek in 9 days, 19 hours, 55 minutes and beating a field that featured six previous champions.
"This was a special race to win because it was really difficult," Swingley said. "These dogs are the athletes. They're the ones that are fabulous."
Swingley, who finished first in 1995, equaled Susan Butcher's total of four victories. The only five-time champion is Rick Swenson.
Swingley won $62,857 and a new pickup truck. The first 30 finishers share in the race's $550,000 purse.
The race from Anchorage to Nome, first run in 1973, commemorates a 1925 lifesaving delivery of serum to diptheria-stricken Nome by sled dogs.
Sixty-eight teams started the race in Anchorage on March 3. Mushers had to contend with an icy trail that had little snow and was bare in spots. Strong headwinds on the Yukon River and the Bering Sea coast also made things difficult.
Swingley headed out from White Mountain on Tuesday evening with 77 miles to go. When he reached that point earlier in the day, he was about six hours ahead of his closest pursuer, Linwood Fiedler. Swenson was in fourth place Tuesday.
No comments
Commenting is turned off for this story.