Mackey and King are neck-and-neck in final stretch of Iditarod

The final days of the Iditarod are shaping up to be very exciting ones for front-runners Lance Mackey and Jeff King. Although Mackey has been leading most of the way, King has always been close behind, and has consistently narrowed Mackey’s lead between checkpoints.

It almost seems as though King is just waiting to make his final move. He clearly has the faster team at this point, with 16 dogs to Mackey’s 14. This is the point in the race where a musher’s strategy really becomes important. Each of these mushers’ ability to know just when (and for how long) to give their dogs a break, so they can get the maximum performance out of them, will likely be what decides this race.

At this point, Mackey has a real fight ahead of him. He’s going to have to keep pushing his team as hard as he can, all the way to Nome. While in Unalakleet, Mackey was keenly aware of the situation:

“I’ve got to keep him guessing. It’s hard to outrun a team of that caliber. So if it comes down to a foot race, I’m lazy. But come and get me.”

King still has his work cut out for him in this final stretch, but with a full team, he certainly seems to have an edge over Mackey. We’ll soon find out, as the front runners are expected to cross the finish line in Nome by Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning.

Photo from the Anchorage Daily News