Alaska musher on brink of becoming Iditarod's best ever
CBC
Dallas Seavey is on the cusp of becoming mushing's greatest ever champion, but he is also secure enough in himself to say that win or lose, this year's race across Alaska will be his last — at least for a while.
The defending champion, who turned 35 Friday, is tied with Rick Swenson for the most Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race victories: five. Swenson, a 71-year-old known as the King of the Iditarod, won his titles between 1977-1991 and last ran the world's most famous sled dog race in 2012, the year Seavey won his first.
Seavey has his shot at making history in the 50th running of the Iditarod, which starts in Anchorage on Saturday. First run in 1973, the nearly 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometre) race takes mushers and their dog teams over Alaska's unforgiving terrain, including two mountain ranges, the frozen Yukon River and the treacherous Bering Sea ice to finish in the old Gold Rush town of Nome, on Alaska's western coast.
"I'm really stoked for this race. You know, this is a big one for me," Seavey told The Associated Press last week at his home in Talkeetna, about 161 kilometres north of Anchorage.
"It's a big one for the Iditarod."
Seavey grew up around mushing and his family lore is steeped in the race. His grandfather Dan Seavey ran in the very first Iditarod and still mushes recreationally in his 80s. Dallas's father, Mitch, won titles in 2004, 2013 and 2017.
But if Dallas Seavey doesn't bag his sixth crown this month after also winning in 2014, 2015 and 2016, he's not entirely sure how many more races he has in him.
He said he was on the fence about even running this year. Having grown up in the sport, Seavey said he has seen how people run the race year in and year out almost out of habit or the feeling that they have to do it.
Seavey said what burns out athletes is that they don't feel they have an option to leave. He said he thinks it's time for him to exercise that option.
"I'm still excited about mushing... but Iditarod is only one way that we can be a musher," said Seavey, who also operates a mushing tourism business in Talkeetna.
The single dad said he wants to spend time with his daughter, who turns 12 in a few months.
"Once she is out of the house or has more of her own life and dad's not so cool anymore, I probably will be back into mushing, but I'm not going to make that commitment now," Seavey said.
Seavey said he's "not dumb enough" to say he's retiring.
"We don't have to make some statement or big announcement or proclamation," he said.
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