Dallas Seavey Wins a Crazy Iditarod

Aliy Zirkle takes 2nd for 3rd year straight
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 11, 2014 8:11 AM CDT
Dallas Seavey Wins a Crazy Iditarod
A Dallas Seavey team dog rests its head on another dog after arriving in Koyuk checkpoint during the 2014 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Sunday, March 9, 2014 in Koyuk, Alaska.   (AP Photo/The Anchorage Daily News, Bob Hallinen)

Dallas Seavey has won his second Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in a climactic finish that saw him speed past two competitors in the final 77 miles. During that span, Seavey, 26, passed Aliy Zirkle, who came in second, as well as four-time winner Jeff King. Zirkle has now come in second three years in a row, the AP reports; she finished a few minutes behind Seavey. It was one of the race's tightest finishes ever, the Anchorage Daily News reports.

The race had "three leaders in three hours" last night," said executive director Stan Hooley. "It's very unusual." King, however, scratched at 11:50pm amid heavy winds. Seavey passed Zirkle after she paused for several hours at the Safety checkpoint during a storm; Seavey stayed at the checkpoint for just three minutes. It's the first time in two decades a competitor has lost the lead in the final 77 miles, the Daily News notes. Seavey was the race's youngest winner in 2012; his father, Mitch, was the oldest as a 53-year-old last year, the AP notes. (More Dallas Seavey stories.)

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