(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.

 

Come on, Hut, Hut

 

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 6^th attempt. Years later here comes Lance. Bib number 13. His 6^th 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 3^rd 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?