“How did you do it?” was the question asked Dallas Seavey by a videographer as he crossed the finish line in Nome at 4:04 this morning, winning the 2014 Iditarod.
“What’d I do?” responded a puzzled Seavey.
“You just won the Iditarod.”
“What? I thought that was my dad behind me. Where’s Jeff and Aliy?”
Dallas Seavey came from behind to capture his second Iditarod championship in three years early Tuesday morning, mushing his team of seven dogs through a wind storm that knocked Jeff King out of the race and prompted Aliy Zirkle to hole up in Safety for more than two hours.
Seavey, 26, jogged beside his sled down Nome’s Front Street to help his dogs, one hand on the sled and the other on a ski pole.
After crossing the finish line he sat down on the back of his sled and leaned his head on his handlebar, exhausted.
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Seavey and his team broke the race speed record, finishing the 1,000-mile race from Willow to Nome in 8 days, 13 hours, 4 minutes, 19 seconds. He shaved more than five hours off John Baker’s 2011 record of 8 days, 18 hours, 46 minutes, 39 seconds.
He beat Zirkle by less than three minutes, ending a frenzied night of racing that saw the lead go from King to Zirkle to Seavey in less than three hours.
High winds, strong enough to overturn sleds and bring progress to a halt, caused Jeff King to scratch and Aliy Zirkle to hunker down for two hours, giving Dallas Seavey the opportunity to pull ahead and win the race.
