Dallas Seavey wins Iditarod, matches most wins by a musher

Ever since Dallas Seavey, 34, became the youngest musher to win the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 2012, he's been bombarded by questions about whether he would eventually get five race titles, the most ever by any musher.

"I think it was probably 10 minutes after I won that first race that somebody mentioned five," he told The Associated Press before this year's race.

Now Seavey, considered by many to have the potential to become the race's great champion, will have to start fending off questions about title number six. On Monday, he collected his fifth Iditarod title, winning the pandemic-shortened race by more than three hours over second-place musher Aaron Burmeister.

"That's huge, man," he said. "I looked up to the Iditarod champions my whole life and I've dreamed about this my whole life. To actually go from that, to see it happen, to realize that, that's pretty cool," he said.

'It's a big deal'

He matched the record of five wins by Rick Swenson, known as the King of the Iditarod for picking up those titles from 1977 to 1991.

"It's a big deal," Seavey said at the finish line, after a race official checked to make sure his sled was complete with a sleeping bag, axe, dog booties and other mandatory gear. His 5 a.m. finish was televised statewide.

Seavey said he didn't let himself think about a fifth win on the trail because he didn't want to jinx it.

Numerous mushers have tried to crack the five-title barrier over the past three decades, only to fall short. Four-time champions and familiar names to fans are the late Susan Butcher, Martin Buser, Lance Mackey, Doug Swingley and Jeff King.

Seavey said the goal has been to get the fifth title, which puts a musher in an elite group, but he's also realistic about what it means.

"I don't hold any misconceptions that this would somehow change me," he said before the race. "We see that in sports quite a lot where we focus so much on one thing and the assumption that it is if you win, this is somehow miraculously going to solve all your other problems. That's not the case."

Seavey said at the finish line he tries to give himself a little time after each win to revel in it, but then it's time to focus on the next thing.

"Whatever you're doing, give it your whole attention and we'll dwell on the records or the numbers when we're too old to keep doing it. That's the time to look back at it," he said. "But right now, I want to keep moving."

He completed the 848-mile trail in seven days, 14 hours, eight minutes and 57 seconds. Seavey won titles in 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2021.

The victory also marks his return to a race that has been a part of his family's history. His grandfather, Dan Seavey, placed third in the first Iditarod in 1973.

Seavey finished second to his father, three-time winner Mitch Seavey, in the 2017 race. Shortly after, Iditarod officials announced that four of Dallas Seavey's dogs tested positive for banned opioid painkiller.

Seavey vehemently denied giving his dogs any painkillers. A year later, the Iditarod reversed course and cleared Seavey of any wrongdoing. He skipped the Iditarod until this year, choosing to compete with his dogs in Europe instead.

He said he holds no animosity toward the Iditarod. He said the entire Seavey family loves the race and what it means to Alaska.

"I think things are all good with the Iditarod right now," he said.

Pandemic precautions

The pandemic didn't stop the Iditarod from starting March 7 with 46 mushers. During the race, mushers bypassed most rural Alaska villages that normally serve as checkpoints as a safety precaution, leaving the competitors to sleep in tent camps outside towns or under the stars in temperatures that reached -48 C.

Since then, nine have scratched including fan favourite Aliy Zirkle, who was injured in a fall and said it would likely be her last race.

Another musher, Gunnar Johnson, was withdrawn after he tested positive for COVID-19. That left 36 teams on the trail.

The race route was changed and shortened this year. Mushers started the race near Willow, about 80 kilometres north of Anchorage.

From there, they travelled to the ghost town of Iditarod and then turned back around to finish in Willow.

A normal race is about 1,609 kilometres, and takes mushers across the wilds of Alaska from Willow to the finish line in Nome, on the state's Bering Sea coast.

Though the race was shortened, Seavey said he doesn't think there should be an asterisk beside his name for the 2021 champion because the trail is different every year.

Seavey has started the race from the Anchorage area, from Fairbanks when there wasn't enough snow further south, and he's done the race's northern and southern routes.

"When you beat everybody that shows up, you win on the trail they give you," Seavey said.

Defending champion Thomas Waerner didn't race this year because of uncertainty in arranging travel during the pandemic. He was stuck in Alaska for months after winning last year, and only got home to Norway after hitching a ride on a vintage airplane flying from Anchorage to its new home at a museum in Norway.

Partly due to the pandemic and pressure on sponsors by race critic People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the overall race purse was down 20 per cent, to $400,000 this year. Seavey received $40,000 and a new snowmobile for winning the race, a prize that was about $10,000 less than what Waerner received last year.