NOME, Alaska —A 53-year-old former champion won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race to become the oldest winner of Alaska’s grueling test of endurance.
Mitch Seavey and 10 dogs crossed the Nome finish line to cheering crowds at 10:39 p.m. Alaska time Tuesday.
“This is for all of the gentlemen of a certain age,” he said on a live stream posted to the Iditarod website after completing the race in temperatures just above zero. His race time in the 1,000-mile race was nine days, 7 hours and 39 minutes.
Seavey’s victory came after a dueling sprint against Aliy Zirkle, last year’s runner-up, along the frozen, wind-whipped Bering Sea coast. Zirkle crossed the finish line 24 minutes after her rival, who later greeted her.
“You did a good job,” Seavey told Zirkle as a camera crew filmed them. “You’re going to win this thing, probably more than once.”
At a news conference after the race, Zirkle gave credit to her rival’s strategy.
“Mitch has this ability to sit on the sidelines and refuel because he knows he needs to refuel, while everyone else is zooming by,” she said. “It’s smart, and that’s probably why you won.”
For reaching Nome first, Seavey wins $50,400 and a 2013 pickup truck. The rest of the $600,000 purse will be split among the next 29 mushers to cross the finish line under the famed burled arch on Front Street, a block from the sea.
Seavey first won the Iditarod in 2004. Before Seavey’s win on Tuesday, Jeff King had been the oldest Iditarod champion, winning his fourth race at 50 in 2006.