A Quest for the best
Mackey Mania will sweep through Fairbanks once again.
When the 23rd annual Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race begins at 11 a.m. today on the Chena River in downtown Fairbanks, defending champion Lance Mackey will drive an exceptionally talented and experienced dog team out onto the 1,000-mile trail to Whitehorse, Yukon.
“They’re the team everybody keeps talking about,” Mackey said Friday.
Leading the way will be Hobo and Larry, the two dogs who paced Mackey to win the 2005 Quest in his rookie season. Nine of the dogs that won the race last year will be back this year.
“Hobo and Larry are kind of the superstars, and then Hanson is kind of a young guy who’s waiting to be a superstar,” Mackey said.
All of Mackey’s dogs have similar dark markings and reflect the broad shoulders, strong muscles and intelligent eyes of the father of the group, Zorro.
“Zorro is my main man. He’s been the stud basically since he was a yearling,” Mackey said. “Seven of the puppies on this team were his. He’s 6 or 7, and is the oldest dog on the team. Most of the group is 3 years old, so nobody’s going to be retiring anytime soon.”
That’s probably discouraging news for his competitors in the dog mushing world. Mackey ran races like a man possessed last year, moving on to the Iditarod Trail and a seventh-place finish in the 1,150-mile race from Anchorage to Nome.
He will have a tight knot of contenders chasing him down the Quest trail. William Kleedehn, Dave Dalton and Hugh Neff, who nipped at Mackey’s heels as he sprinted to the Fairbanks finish line in 2005, are running again this year. Kleedehn returns after finishing just 8 minutes back in the second-closest Quest finish in the race’s history.
Returning after a one-year layoff is Hans Gatt, winner of three consecutive races from 2002-2004.
Mackey has plenty of reason to be confident, however, after taking the first big race of the 2006—the Copper Basin 300.
“Eight of these dogs won the Copper Basin this year, too,” Mackey said. “They are winning veterans. They’re established.”
Mackey was born in Anchorage and lives in Kasilof, where he operates Mackey’s Come Back Kennel. He became a bit of an Alaskan celebrity after winning the Quest last year, but the experience changed him little.
“He’s been exactly the same,” said Tonya Mackey, who does double duty as Mackey’s wife of 10 years and his dog handler. “He still has the same clothes. He still has that duct-taped coat. I think the dogs got a little bit spoiled, though.”
Fans of dog mushing were familiar with the Mackey name long before last year’s Quest.
Rick Mackey, Lance’s brother, is one of three mushers to win both the Iditarod and Quest. And their father, Dick, won the 1978 Iditarod when he provided perhaps the most famous photo-finish in the history of dog racing.
“My whole goal as a kid was to get on the list of champions with my father and my brother,” Mackey said. “I idolized my father when I was growing up. I’m just glad he wasn’t a lawyer.”
The legacy of the Mackey name is a lot to live up to.
“Maybe the expectations are a burden, but I expect more of myself than my family does,” Mackey said. “Most of my drive comes through me.”
That drive, which pushes Mackey into an almost frenzied state of energy during races, has been nicknamed “Mackey Mania.” A manic state comes in handy for a dog musher, who often must deal with all sorts of unforeseen difficulties.
Mackey has a seemingly endless reserve of energy. He said he feels lucky to be alive after being diagnosed with throat cancer five years ago.
“A lot of my motivation is due to the fact of that eye-opening experience,” Mackey said. “There wasn’t any guarantee that I had any amount of years left. Before that, I took for granted that I’d be around.
“I realized that I had a little bit more to do before I left this planet, and I did pull through.”
The lore that surrounds Mackey and his family name has taken on a life of its own. In the mushing community, he said, they are viewed as the “superstars of the state.”
“To me, this is the life to live,” he said. “There’s no set time to wake up to in the morning, there’s no boss hanging over me, my schedule is whatever needs to get done that day. This is what I consider freedom. This is what I love to do.”