Dallas Seavey wins record 6th Iditarod dog-sledding race

NOME, Alaska — Dallas Seavey won a record sixth Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race on Tuesday, cruising into Nome to win the 52nd edition of the dog-sledding race.

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Seavey, 37, crossed under the famous Burled Arch on Nome’s front street around 5:15 p.m. local time on Tuesday with 10 dogs in harness, according to KTUU-TV.

The musher added this year’s victory in the Anchorage-to-Nome race to wins in 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2021, snapping a tie with Rick Swenson for the most victories in the 1,049-mile race.

His victory in 2012, when he was 25, made Seavey the youngest musher to win the race.

Seavey finished the 2024 race in 9 days, 2 hours, 16 minutes, 8 seconds, KTUU reported. That included a two-hour penalty he incurred on the first day of the race after an encounter with a moose.

Seavey shot and gutted the moose after the animal became entangled with his dog team on March 4.

Race officials later penalized Seavey two hours, citing Rule 34. The rule states that if a competitor kills an edible big game animal in defense of life and property, “the musher must gut the animal and report the incident to a race official at the next checkpoint,” the Anchorage Daily News reported.

Still, the musher from Talkeetna, Alaska, dominated the Iditarod’s final stages, opening up a big lead after once the pack reached the Norton Sound coast, according to the newspaper.

During his mandatory eight-hour rest at the checkpoint in White Mountain, located 77 miles from Nome, Seavey discussed his motivation as a musher.

“You know, the race gives us a reason to do it well,” Seavey told Alaska Public Media. “I don’t do this because of the race. I do this because I love this, and I love the experience of training dogs and developing them. The race gives us a purpose to do it to the best of our ability, every single day, drive for it, and that’s what the race provides me at least.”

Seavey’s grandfather helped organize the Iditarod and competed in the first race in 1973, according to The Associated Press. His father, Mitch Seavey, won the race three times.

The Iditarod is a grueling race that takes teams over two mountain ranges, across the Yukon River and along the shores of the Bering Sea just south of the Arctic Circle, the AP reported.

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