(sirens)
(music)
01:00:12 Tom
Welcome
to Front Street, Nome. This is Iditarod 1978. There's about 400 people here in Front
Street, Nome. Two mushers, Rick Swenson and Dick Mackey are less than a mile
from the finish line, the end of the Iditarod trail. Oh, I can see the teams.
They are neck and neck by golly. From here Chris you should have an awfully
good view from your vantage point.
Chris
Dick
Mackey right now is ahead. He is pumping furiously. His dogs are moving very
well down the front street. Dick Mackey is coming along. Tom, can you see them
any better now than I?
01:00:44 Tom
Here
comes the first dog, the first lead dog, down the jute. And that indeed is
number 13; 13 is Dick Mackey. They're both running. Rick Swenson maybe 4 feet
behind Mackey. The dogs look awfully good. Here comes Dick Mackey. The team is
pulling up almost neck and neck. And Mackey just, oh my God-
Dick
Mackey collapsed. There's a crowd of people around Dick. Mostly photographers.
His son is with him right now. Dick Mackey, the winner of the 1978 Iditarod
Trail Race. Official time is one second apart between the two racers. It was 14
days, 18 hours, 52 minutes, 24 seconds. Just finished 1,049 miles of an
incredibly difficult trail. Lucky number 13. He did it.
(music)
Lance Mackey
I
remember like it was yesterday. At 8 years old seeing dad win really, really
stuck.
01:01:56
All
I wanted to do was be like my dad. I couldn't imitate him enough.
Female
3,2,1
Male
We're
back at it again. Wearing bib number 5, Lance Mackey. Back in 1978, father Dick
won the Iditarod by one second.
Lance
Mackey [unclear].
01:02:41 Dick Mackey
Bless his heart. Hut,
hut. That's it gentlemen.
Lance Mackey
When
I was young people would ask me 'Are you related to Dick Mackey?' It was a
pretty big deal.
Good job guys.
Winning
the Iditarod was definitely my ultimate goal. It's a thousand miles over some
of Mother Nature's worst terrain. I just wanted to accomplish what very few
people had.
01:03:09 - 01:04:11
01:03:31
The
Iditarod is a 1,049 mile sled dog race across the arctic wilderness of Alaska.
01:03:43
More
people have summitted Mt. Everest then have successfully completed the
Iditarod.
01:03:55
In
2013 Lance Mackey attempted his 12th Iditarod
Lance
That's it. Hut, hut..
That a boy.
I
tell people all the time when they'd ask me 'When did you start racing?' I say
'Before I was born.'
01:04:33 Kathy Smith,
Lance's mom
He
really did start mushing before he was born. I was 7 months pregnant with him
when I was in the North American Race.
He
had his little foot right under my ribcage. And every time I'd kick, he'd kick.
And he was just kicking his way out. He wasn't very big when he was born. Oh,
what a little terror in there.
01:05:00 Dick Mackey
Lance
grew up in the dog run. When he was to carry one of these little kid's beach
pails and a little shovel he'd be out there and he'd give them food, or a pail
of water or whatever. As soon as he was old enough I built Lance his own sled
and sewed him up his harnasses and stuff. He entered his first race and he won
it. I mean it was great.
Kathy Smith
Every
waking moment it was something to do with dogs.
Female
Lance, are you going to
boot them all?
Lance
Mackey
Yeah.
Female Announcer
5,4,3,2,1
Go.
Male Announcer
Lance
Mackey is on the go. Finish line will be where the banner is hanging up there.
Dick Mackey
Other
mushers always at the house. Our house was a congregating point. And he'd sit
and listen to all of this conversation about dogs.
Lance Mackey
It's
hard to be in a room like that, full of people, and not feel the excitement
that they're feeling. Or the energy that they're feeling. And I want to be a
part of that. At the time I didn't know the significance of who was in my
living room.
Joe
Reddington Sr. was at our house a lot. That was grandpa Joe.
01:06:26 Greg Heister
The
Iditarod was started because of a gentleman named Joe Reddington who saw the
sled dog disappearing from the native villages of Alaska. And he didn't want it
- he didn't want the sled dog to disappear from the state. And so he started
this race to make sure that those villages would keep the sled dogs intact and
that Alaska wouldn't lose that part of its history.
Dick Mackey
Joe
and I wrote down what we thought the rules would be. The first one was that the
race would start on the first Saturday of March at 10:00 in the morning
regardless of weather.
Male 1
The
Iditarod is a thousand miles. And it starts in Anchorage and it goes all the
way to Nome. It goes up over the Alaska range some of the tallest mountains and
peaks in the world, it goes through the cold bank of the interior before it
hits the Yukon River and then the Artic Coast; the Bering Sea Coast.
01:07:15 Joe Runyon
The
rules are pretty bare bone jungle rules. No assistance. You can come into
villages. You can take advantage of hospitality, but there's no pit crew.
Greg Heister
The
winner will generally do it in less than 9 days now. With mushers out on the
trail for 14-15 days. I've seen broken bones out there. These people defy
common sense. They defy the average laws of toughness.
Kathy Smith
The
very first year they didn't know if anybody would even get to Nome. You know?
And when they left we didn't know if we'd ever see them again.
Lance Mackey
I'm
proud of the fact that my dad was involved putting this event together.
Female
Announcer
This is Lance's second
Junior Iditarod. He is 15 years old. He's one of the famous Mackey Iditarod
[unclear].
Kathy Smith
All
Lance ever knew was Iditarod. That's all he knew.
Female
Announcer
Lance, congratulations.
You did your best boy.
Kathy
Smith
Don't let nobody get in
front of you.
Female
3
Alright. Wow. The Mackey
boys.
01:08:31 Kathy Smith
Those
two were always up to something. What one didn't think of, the other did.
Jason Mackey
We
couldn't get away with nothing. You know they always say 'Mom knows
everything.' Well, you best believe they do. She would catch us doing things
sometimes that we weren't supposed to be doing. Sure enough, here she'd come.
It's mom.
Kathy Smith
I
started flying when I was big enough to reach the pedals. Dick bought me an
airplane for Christmas. I just about killed myself in it. I was safe. I mean I
never cracked one up. I didn't, you know, I never had- I went through the trees
one time.
Lance
Mom's
always been more or less a tomboy. She always had short hair. Kind of looked
like a guy. She had no problem digging ditches, or banging nails or whatever.
She used to take us down to the airport and just watch planes fly. Landing and,
you know, touch and go's and all that. And you know our big thing was 'What
kind of plane is that?'
I
remember one day she took us down to watch the airplanes. It was odd to see mom
drinking beer at, you know, 10:00 in the morning. And driving for one. You
know? So something was up. It was real quiet. Sitting there watching these damn
airplanes take off. And she broke it to us that her and dad was splitting up.
He wouldn't be coming home.
Kathy Smith
Dad
and I just ain't - dad's not going to live here no more.
Lance
Well,
what did we do? You know?
Kathy Smith
How
come dad ain't going to live with us no more? Don't he like us no more? You know? And they were little. They don't
understand. Hell, I didn't understand.
01:10:37
I
had been with Dick since I was 19 years old. What the Hell am I going to do
now? I didn't know. I just knew that my kids were going to be with me. Period.
Lance
I
felt like my dad abandoned us. You know? He'd send money for dog food or
whatever occasionally. I say occasionally. He probably did it every month. Mom
would use it for bills if need be, you know?
Hut.
It
was just a struggle.
Hut.
That's it guys.
Dick
I
wished I'd a spent more time with the kids. Hell, I was off work at-
You
get home from work, ya eat, then you go run dogs. K? Then you feed them, then
you go bed. Then you get up the next day. When were you going to spend time
with your kids? Weekends? Okay. And what did you do then? Dogs.
01:12:42
You
want to be a part of it? Come on kid. You know? That's just the way it was.
I
knew the personalities, and quirks, and in and outs of my dogs better than I
understood my children.
01:13:16 Lance Mackey
My
dad was 80 years old before I went fishing or hunting with him. Living in the
state of Alaska? Are you kidding me? Soon as my kids were old enough to walk I
bought them a fishing pole and gun. We went camping, we go hiking, we go
rafting. You know? I had to go Montana, buy my dad a fishing pole, take him
down to a river that didn't even have a fish in it to get a picture of him with
a fishing pole, with me. I mean that - you know?
And
you know what he said? I reminded him of that not too long ago and you know
what he told me? 'I never been much of a fisherman.' I don't give a shit if he ever
fished a day in his life. Teach your damn kids to fish. You know?
01:14:16
I
still don't know him the way most kids should know their father. You could sit
here and tell me that my dad was a good guy and he's just trying to make a
living and providing. You know whatever the case may be. But none of that stuff
ever registered to me.
Hut.
I
think some of the things I did back then was basically to try to get his
attention.
Kathy Smith
The
way Lance dealt was 'I'll just turn into a little jerk.' You know? Because now
I'm pissed off at the entire world. I'm mad at mom, I'm mad at dad. I'm mad at
life.
Lance Mackey
Hut. Hut
Rebel
is an understatement. I went crazy. Doing stuff no parent would brag about
their kids doing.
01:15:10
There
was many weekends I’d get put in jail for minor consuming. Drunk in public. I
can get in trouble and moms going to bail me out. I'll never forget one time
they called her and she's like 'Let him sit there. I can't take off work. I'll
be there if I can get there, when I can get there. And they come back and they
told me that. 'Sorry, you ain't leaving today.' 'What?' 'Your mom said she
ain't coming.' And I'm like 'Bullshit. Mom's coming to get me. She always
does.' 'Not this time boy.' You know?
Three
or four attempts at high school and still a freshman. My mom knew that there
was something going on. Didn't know exactly what. So she put me in a drug
rehab. And the drug rehab kicked me out.
Hut. Yep, yep. Come on
here. Hut. Yep. Get up.
Male 1
Good
to see you man.
Lance
Good
to see you.
Male 1
Win
yourself some gold?
Lance Mackey
Yeah.
This is worth the effort I think. You know the dogs deserve it more than I do.
Male 1
[Unclear]
Lance Mackey
Holy
cow. He's been in here about four hours now. He's still trying to perform but
he was just- come here- he wasn't so enthused about this whole mess.
I
think maybe just a good meal, a good rest and he might just be a whole different
dog again. You're not sure about this
stuff aren't ya? You're going to tell me [unclear].
01:17:07
I
got to run this team according to what it's capable of doing. Not worry about
what's going on behind me. And if I happen to get to Nome and there's nobody in
front of me? I won.
Male
Lance
congratulations on being the first to reach the halfway point on the 2013
Iditarod. On behalf of GCI and Iditarod committee it's my pleasure to present
you with this year's $3000 worth of gold nuggets. In addition to the gold
nuggets you'll get to keep this trophy. We will also add your name to the
permanent halfway point winners list which is in the Iditarod gallery. So,-
Lance Mackey
Making
sure you got it all out of there
Male Announcer
You
get to take it home. Congratulations.
01:17:55 Lance Mackey
That's
awesome. Thank you. Much as I'd love to stand around and count them I'm going
to leave that up to you. I'm going to take a little, I don't know, catnap.
We'll see you gentleman shortly.
Male
You
earned it.
Lance Mackey
Thank
you much.
Male 1
Good
luck the rest of the way.
Lance Mackey
See
you soon.
Male
Good
night lance.
01:18:13 Lance Mackey
I've
only slept one hour since the starting line. I don't know how people do this
shit every year. Oh, that feels so good.
01:18:57
I
ended up meeting this gal, Tonya. We were both on a dead end street with dead
end relationships. She had three small kids. I needed somebody to help me
straighten out my life. She needed to have a father figure around for the
girls. We thought we could help each other.
Three
months later we got married. We're starting over. Let's start over somewhere
completely different where we know nobody. Not a clue in what the hell was
going to happen, how we was going to make it even happen. We're going to drive
until we're out of money. To a place where we don't know anybody. That took us
to the Kenai Peninsula.
We
set up camp. We made a big - more or less a house out of blue tarps. Put the
tent inside the blue tarp. Found an old couch, an old piece of carpet at the
dump. Every single day we'd build a campfire. That was how we cooked. But it
was going into winter. It was getting kind of cold. We don't really have
nowhere to go. We damn sure ain't staying in a tent all winter. I didn't have a
chainsaw. I didn't have a nail or hammer, nothing like that. But I had a
handsaw.
01:20:20
And
I went over and started cutting trees down by hand. We're building a house
right here. Not sure exactly what kind of house. But we're going to have it
right here. We're going to use these stumps as part of the foundation. I'm
hustling. Anything and everything I possibly can for a $20 bill. I just stuffed
the walls full of old clothes that we got at Salvation Army. I'd stop at the
dumpster every single day. I found a wood stove, I found tires. I mean all
kinds of things I could use. Things were just flowing together.
Well,
then I got this harebrained idea. 'Man, I'm going to have to get a couple of
dogs again.' It seemed like maybe a matter of a week and I had 2, 3 dogs in the
backyard. Next thing I know I have 20 dogs now. The dogs I got were all
leftovers. Dogs that came from the pound and off the streets. Misfit dogs that
nobody else wanted. It was stupid cause we're barely feeding ourselves.
01:21:23
That
winter there was a little local sprint race track on the peninsula. The first
time I went down there the people in the neighborhood said 'Man this is one of
the most jalopy teams I ever seen.' I had all their rejects and I ended up
beating them. I was back the next weekend, and the following weekend. And I
raced every weekend. I told Tonya one day 'I'm going to run the Iditarod next
year.
Male Announcer
This
is the start of Iditarod 29. Lance Mackey on his way to gold.
01:22:05 Lance Mackey
The
first 20 years of my life I put my parents through hell. I finally realized
that life's too damn short to be screwing up. I want my dad and my mom to be proud
of the things I'm doing. And not be ashamed and disappointed.
Kathy Smith
They
called me from [unclear] and man he was on top of the world. 'Mom, I am having
such a good time at -' you know. On and on and on. Just everything was good. He
got to Kaltag and he called me again. And he said 'I don't know. I don't know
if I'm even going to make it.'
Lance Mackey
I
remember going from Kaltag to Unalakleet. And I heard these wolves behind me.
Yep. Hut. Hut. No. No.
Maybe
I was hallucinating I don't know. Cause I never did see them. I remember
turning around real fast. My eyes went dark and I hit the deck basically. I
didn't know exactly what had happened but I was not feeling right.
Kathy Smith
Since
he was a little, little boy never ever complained. He had strep throat one time
with a 105 fever. 'How do you feel Lance?' 'Fine.' I knew something was up.
01:23:45 Lance Mackey
Prior
to going into the race I had this little lump on my throat. They kept telling
me that I had this abscess tooth. Gave me some pain killers and some
antibiotics and sent me on my way. As I continued to Nome things started
growing rapidly. It went from the size of pea to the size of softball in just a
short couple of weeks.
But
I pushed on and I made it to Nome with this thing growing in my throat. Not
knowing that it was ultimately cancer.
01:24:29
The
doctor he just looked at me and said 'Lance I'm sorry. And I am telling you
straight up, it's serious.' There was really a slim chance that I would pull
through this. It was wrapped around some of the main things. Cutting of the
circulation to my brain. You know, I mean every time I turned around they might
as well have been talking Japanese cause I wasn't understanding these terms.
And all the things that they said was not going to happen. Or the things they
said I wouldn't be able to do. You know? I wouldn't ever race dogs again. I
probably wouldn't have any use of my right arm. I could be mentally challenged
afterwards because of the whole operation. I mean all these different things
were just like, phew, right over my head.
Dick Mackey
Family
and friends all got together at his moms house. Trying to be cheerful you know?
But it was a pretty tense evening.
Female (wife)
That
was awful. I just gave him a great big
hug. We all just kind of went through the motions until it was time to go to
the hospital.
01:26:10 Lance Mackey
Nothing
ever really sank in until I was laying on that hospital bed just fixing to go
into the doors to go surgery. And they said 'You need to say goodbye to your
family.' And, I mean I remember just starting to cry profusely. Cause now all
of sudden it made sense that I might not be coming out of this.
Dick Mackey
The
doctor finally came out and said - he looked me right in the eye and he said
'Well he ain't pretty but I got it all.' Yep, that was relief.
01:27:18 Lance Mackey
The
dogs, they absolutely knew that I was sick. I missed them and I needed them. On
the weekends my wife and my kids would come to see me, they would sneak a dog
or two into the hospital. The first time it happened I cried. Then I couldn't
wait for it to happen again. And I cried even harder the second time.
The
radiation treatments they were fixing to give me were gonna not only kill the
saliva glands but there would never be enough saliva produced for protection
for my teeth. And inevitably they'd be rotten and falling out. Shit their only
teeth. Take them. You know?
Main
artery showing in my neck- very, very vulnerable to scratches. They told me
flat out 'If you get a tree branch that pokes you in the neck and pops that
open you're going to bleed to death. If you get a dog that jumps up on you, and
scratches you with a toenail real bad, and pops that open? You're going to
bleed to death.' I was warned. In fact I was told not to ever race dogs again
because I'm setting myself up for, you know, death basically.
01:28:33
But
I'm stubborn. If I fall off my sled I'm going to have a smile on my face doing
something I love to do. Don't tell me I can't run the Iditarod again, don't tell
me I can't get up and walk now. Don't tell me I can't.
Jason Mackey
No,
I remember telling him, don't worry about the dogs' dude. I got the dogs. I'll
take care of the dogs.' And he wouldn't have no part of that. He was like 'No.
I'm going to get out of this treatment today, and we're going to the peninsula,
and I'm going to run dogs.'
Female (wife)
I
thought he was an idiot. But I also knew that that was really the only thing
keeping him going.
01:29:18 Lance Mackey
The
dogs needed me. And I needed them at the same time.
When
I was a little boy my dad said 'If you tip over you don't just let go. You hang
on. There's going to be bumps and bruises along the way. If you fall off your
sled you get up and get back on it. Keep going.'
Dick Mackey
I
drew bib number 13 in 1978. For the '78 race. It was my 6th attempt.
Years later here comes Lance. Bib number 13. His 6th attempt.
Male Announcer
Lucky position number
13. Lance Mackey.
Lance Mackey
I
feel I'm indebted to my dogs. And I'm going to do my best to pay them back for
changing my life.
Male
Announcer
Lance Mackey on his way
to Nome.
Lance Mackey
I
believe we got a second chance at life for a reason. This is the reason.
Let's go.
01:30:46
We
barely got going and we had a major setback.
Announcer
1
Right down the creek.
Right on the ice. Did he miss it again?
Announcer
2
Look at that ice. That's
just nasty looking. That's a touch area there.
Male
On
the second day of racing Lance broke the runner off the back of his sled. So
basically he's on one runner, navigating some rally dicey trail.
Announcer
1
That was a close call.
Lance Mackey
Hut. Hut.
Announcer
1
Okay I'm imagining he's
really thinking 'Man, I'm glad I made it.' That could have been dicey.
Male
He
bounced like ricochet rabbit through the Dolsal Gorge. It's a notorious canyon.
It was a hell of an accomplishment just making it with good equipment.
01:31:36 Lance Mackey
I
managed to make it to Nikoali. There was two sleds sitting there that belonged
to people who had scratched during the race. One guy said 'Yeah, you can use my
sled. $3000.' Well that wasn't going to work. The other person said flat out
'No, you're not using my sled.' I just realized right then and there that a lot
of these people that I called my friends were nothing more than competition.
We
put the word out that I needed a sled and I had a sled waiting when I got into
Mcgrath. Took me about 15 minutes is all to switch my sleds, snap the dogs, put
a few booties on and head down the trail.
Thanks guys.
Female
Announcer
There's quite a bit of
activity at this checkpoint tonight. Lance Mackey in here about 8:30. He
switched out his sled, headed out.
Male
Announcer
Lance Mackey, man is he
ever moving good.
That one in the lead,
Larry, he's you know really the heart of the team. Larry's real serious,
figures it out. Knows where they're going. Lance always said he's the brain of
the team. He says Larry's' smarter than he is.
Lance Mackey, the leader
of the Iditarod. Man is he ever moving good. He's really putting the hammer
down. He isn't playing cat and mouse. He's just saying 'I'm going to take this
race over.'
01:33:01 Lance Mackey
The
only thing that keeps really running through my head is my dad. I don't know
anything else in the world that I could do to make him any more proud.
I
got to Cape Nome, which is 10 miles outside of Nome, up on this little
mountain. And I knelt down in front of each one of them one at a time. And I
just thanked them from the bottom of my heart. Told them how proud I was, what
they were about to accomplish. I made it up to Larry, who was in the lead of
course. He was the last one I talked to cause I had the most to say to him. And
I looked him in the eye and I said 'Larry, I know you know where we're at.
We've been here several times.' I said 'I don’t know if you realize that we're
going to be here first this time.' Larry looked over at me and got this smirk
on his face. Gave me kind of a one eye 'Yeah dad, I know.'
01:34:02
His
chest puffed out. His head came up real high, and his tail came up in the air.
And for the last 7 miles he just strutted down to Nome.
Male
Announcer
Lance Mackey whipping up
the crowd. Clapping both his hands as the chute closes behind him. He's in the
chute. Coming up past City Hall. Lance Mackey and his comeback kettle coming
back. This is Lance Mackey, your Iditarod Champion.
Lance Mackey
Yeah!
[Unclear]
Life just changed.
Yeah!
You guys are incredible. I so love you.
Male
Announcer
Why is it so important
to the Mackey family? Why has this event become so much about your family in
its definition.
01:35:36 Lance Mackey
Well
it's our lifestyle. It's something we breathe, eat and sleep. I mean this is
what we do. You know? My dad got me hooked on this sport. I'm so proud of him
not being a warrior or a line cook, or something like that. I don't know if I'd
follow in his footsteps. This is my passion. And it is very important for us
successful, for me to be successful. And make my father proud. You know?
Male Announcer
Lance,
your father is not here tonight. If he was, right now, what would you say to
him?
Lance Mackey
I
don't know if I can talk. He'd be a
proud man.
Kathy Smith
No
prouder than your mom. He ain't no
prouder than your momma.
Lance Mackey
Dreams
do come true momma.
Kathy Smith
He
ain't no prouder than your mom.
Lance Mackey
I
know. I'm so happy to see you. Oh my God mom. I can't believe it. It was a vision in a dream. Oh, I did it.
They did. They did it too.
Male Announcer
Lance
will check in.
Lance Mackey
Oh,
it feels so good.
Kathy Smith
Oh
my God. My son just won this thing. That was the best - that was the best win,
I think, in the history of Iditarod.
Lance Mackey
I
was just in the middle of getting comfortable and undressed when I seen the
door come open and him come through the front door.
01:38:08 Dick Mackey
He
said 'I always wanted to be like my dad and now I am.' That was pretty special.
Yeah. Yeah.
Lance Mackey
It
was cool standing there as I'm answering questions to look over there and see
that smile on his face. The whole time. And I knew that I'd done what I'd set
out to achieve. And that was to make my parents proud.
01:38:47
The
first thing that the competitors were saying was 'Oh, he got lucky. Oh, it was
a fluke. That will never happen again.' You know? Really? Why can't you just
come up and congratulate me. Tell me good job instead of making all these
excuses why it happened, why you couldn't do it? And that's exactly what was
going on. And all that did was just piss me off. Really? Watch this.
Female
Announcer
3,2
Male
Announcer
Champion, Lance Mackey
from Fairbanks, on his way to Nome.
Female
Announcer
2,1 Go!
Male
Announcer
The Denali Park Champion
Jeff King on his way to Nome.
01:39:31 Lance Mackey
Jeff
was the team I had to beat to win the race. I don't care who wins the Iditarod.
They have to outrun Jeff to do it. He is the best in the world. And we pretty
much dominated the race from the very get go.
Greg Heister
He
knew Jeff was faster. And his team was better. And Jeff was toying with him.
Lance Mackey
Everything
I was doing he seemed to be doing as well.
If
I stopped, he was going to stop. If I went to sleep, he was going to go to
sleep. If I fed my dogs, he's going to feed his dogs.
Male
He
realizes that King was dogging him. He's going to dog him and dog him. Let him
break trail. Just be his shadow. And then in the last 100 miles of the race
he's going to take control and win.
Lance Mackey
He's
been doing this since he started racing. You know? Hang back, hang back and
catch you on the coast. And you never see him again.
Jeff King
We
both knew it was going to come down to the two of us. And trail times were
giving me a slight advantage. But enough of this letting you leave an hour
ahead of me. I'm going out right behind ya.
Lance Mackey
Hut. I kept thinking 'How am
I really going to outrun a team that's faster than me?' I knew I had to do
something to shake him a little bit.
Elim's
the last opportunity. It was pretty much the end of the line.
Male
Okay. Welcome to Elim.
Lance Mackey
How's
it going?
Male
Alright.
Male
Planning
on sleeping a little bit?
Lance Mackey
Couple
hour's maybe.
Male
Okay.
Good then. Okay. Okay. Plan on staying?
Jeff King
I'm
only going if he's going.
Male 1
Uh,
he plans on staying a little bit.
Jeff King
Okay.
01:41:23 Lance Mackey
I'm
not sure exactly what to say to him at this stage. I'm not going to
congratulate him yet.
Jeff King
He's
finally done. He finally knows I'm going to beat him. And he's just going to
hold on to second.
Rockstar.
Lance Mackey
Likewise
uh?
Jeff King
He's
just going to basically throw in the towel.
Lance Mackey
I
go in, I drank two big family size cups of coffee. Then I went and laid down.
He went and laid down by the door. Put in some headphones and went to sleep
(fingers snap) that fast.
If anybody asks- I'm
still laying down.
(whistles) Hey. Come on.
(whistles) Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Alright. Kill that.
Hut, hut.
Jeff King
When
my eyes opened and I made eye contact with some of the people in the room, they
looked like they had seen a mass murderer. And I realized I had been duped.
Male
Announcer
There's quite a crowd
out here as you can hear. Very boisterous for 3 in the morning but that's not
stopping the gold rush city from welcoming Lance Mackey to Nome for the second
time in a row in first place.
His lead dogs crossing
right now. Lance Mackey, your 2008 Iditarod Sled Dog Race Champion.
Lance Mackey
If
you're going to dream, dream big right?
Female
Thank you Lance. Good
job in the race.
Lance Mackey
Thank
you. Have a great night.
Female
Thank
you.
Lance Mackey
There
you go.
Female
Thank
you.
Lance Mackey
My
pleasure. Thank you ladies. I appreciate you being out here.
Female
This
race wouldn't be Iditarod, I think, without Lance Mackey.
Lance Mackey
How
you doing young lady? You excited about that Iditarod?
Female 2
I
knew you when you were nobody.
Lance Mackey
I've
always been somebody.
Female 2
Shut
up and give me a kiss.
Male
Announcer
Lance Mackey and his
comeback kettle. Coming back for a 3rd consecutive victory. This is
Lance Mackey your 2009 Iditarod Champion. Lance Mackey!
Lance Mackey
I
didn't really think all this was going to become of it. I honestly didn't.
01:44:05
I'm
not just running dogs to become noticed and to win the Iditarod. I love
spending time with the dogs. I love Alaska and I love the people in it.
Dick Mackey
I
was down at the local hardware store the other day. A teenager was working in
there. And I bought something with a credit card. She said 'Dick Mackey. Are
you related to Lance?' And I says 'Yeah. I'm his dad.' 'Oh cool.' And she says
'Did you run dogs too?' (Laughing)
Female
Announcer
An historic finish for
2010. Four [unclear] for Lance Mackey. The only musher to do so back to back.
Lance Mackey
I
drew the right number. Number 49. This is representing the whole state of
Alaska and the people who believe in me.
Male 1
You've
done something that will never be repeated son.
Greg Heister
Four
in a row will never be done again. This is the greatest accomplishment that
this sport has ever, ever seen. And it's the greatest accomplishment that this
sport will ever see. Ever. Period. Done. End of story. The greatest thing has
already happened.
01:45:37 Lance Mackey
It's
warm out huh guys? I think that's everybody. That's everybody.
Boy
You live in Fairbanks?
Lance
Mackey
How'd you know that?
Huh?
Boy
Musher update.
Lance
Mackey
Oh okay.
Female
They got all the
musher's pictures up at the school. And they say where you live and everything.
Boy
It says you're around
year 50.
Lance
Mackey
What? You knew?
Boy
I forgot.
Lance
Mackey
No. It didn't say I was
around 50.
Boy
I forgot.
Lance
Mackey
No. She's older than I
am.
Boy
In dog years.
Lance
Mackey
(Laughing) Ah, you make
me laugh.
01:46:47
You
know at one point in the race, I really thought I could win this thing. But
hey, you know, you're not going to win them all.
01:47:01
Lance
finished 19th in the 2013 Iditarod
Alright. Alright.
Lance
I'm
not going to say I wouldn't want to win the Iditarod again. But it wouldn't
change anything if I did.
There we go. That's it.
I
just want to go have fun with my dogs.
Thatta boys. Good job.
How about you old man? Want some? Hey big Zippo.
Hi pretty girl. You get
some loving too. I didn't forget you. [Unclear] Alright munchkins. Alright
little munchkins.
They're
all my best friends. Every single one of them.
Billy
Badass. Billy Badass.
01:48:16
There's
nothing else in the world that matters when I'm with them.
Most
people think we're alone when we're out there in the middle of nowhere. There's
nothing more enjoyable than being out with your best friends.
That's it. That's it.
That's my boys.
It
is all about the dogs. As long as my dogs are happy and healthy I'm golden.
01:49:54
I
know you haven't had enough attention today. I know you haven't had no
attention today. Yeah, you silly boy. So sorry boy. Yeah. Little boy.
Hi. Hi.
Is
that all?