Truckload Authority - Winter 2014/15

Brought to you by
Dallas
and the
Dog Days
of Winter
By Micah Jackson and Lyndon Finney
It’s 4 a.m. on March 11, 2014, in the quaint village town of Nome, Alaska.
Dallas Seavey, just seven days past his 27th birthday and who in 2012 became
the youngest musher to ever win the Iditarod, is approaching the finish line of this
year’s race. The Iditarod, the world’s premier dog sled race, is believed by many
sports experts to be the “greatest race on earth,” presenting a plethora of mental
and physical challenges unmatched by any other event in the world.
For Dallas and this year’s field of mushers, it’s been a brutal eight days. Not only
was the course 1,049 miles long, the trail had been marked by exceptionally poor
conditions because of a lack of snow after a warm winter (by Alaskan standards,
of course).
A number of mushers were injured and scratched at the beginning of the race
when their sleds bumped and tumbled through gravel near Dalzell Gorge and Tin
Creek, where one musher had to be rescued by helicopter after breaking an ankle
and suffering a concussion. What’s more, snowless conditions again greeted mushers
as they reached the western coast of Alaska farther into the race.
Nearly 80 miles from the finish near White Mountain, driving one of the “most
beautiful” dog teams he’d ever run, Dallas Seavey is in third place.
That really didn’t matter to him because to Seavey, “It’s not about victory or
defeat, it is about going out there and pushing myself to the very last step.”
In this case, the last steps are near at hand, and Seavey is at peace he’d
pushed himself to the very limit, but the astonishing events to unfold over the next
12 grueling hours would change the sport and the impossible for all time.
Somewhere up ahead are two talented and accomplished mushers — and
friends.
Jeff King, 58, who’s won the race four times, is in first place, and 45-year-old
Aliy Zirkle, who had completed the grueling race 14 times, is in second.
Sure, it would be nice to win again, Seavey is thinking as he takes the mandatory
eight-hour rest break, but winning isn’t everything and winning wouldn’t necessarily
cement his standing among the best in the history of the sport. There are
those who believe at his young age, Seavey could finish his career someday as one
of the best Iditarod racers ever. After all, King and other four-time winners Lance
Mackey and Martin Buser didn’t win their first race until they were in their 30s.
“If I do everything within my power, if I truly and honestly can answer to myself
that I’ve done the best I was physically capable of doing, that’s going to be the best