After nine days and more than 1,000 miles across some of Alaska's most remote stretches, Jeff King is poised to win his second title in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
King, raised in Northern California but now a neighbor to Denali National Park, reached White Mountain on Monday night. Defending champion Doug Swingley of Simms, Mont., arrived two hours later, at 12:48 a.m. today."I'm pretty excited. This really feels like it's meant to be," said King, who has just 77 miles to go.
And while his nearest competitors nurse tired teams along the trail, King said his dogs were still straining to run.
"I was holding them back when they were racing, and now I don't even whisper to them and I know that I could pick up the speed," he said. "I have a lot of confidence in these guys right now and I'm expecting an eight-hour ride over to Nome tomorrow."
He won the 1,151-mile Anchorage-to-Nome marathon in 1993 in 10 days, 15 hours and is on pace to beat that performance.
With luck and a continuation of clear weather, he could reach the finishing chute on Nome's Front Street by late afternoon. He first must complete a mandatory eight-hour layover.
King has nine healthy dogs in his pack, while Swingley and two-time winner Martin Buser of Big Lake are each down to eight dogs. The mushers started the race March 3 with 16.
Swingley said he and Buser might have burned each other out earlier in the race, allowing King to hang back and conserve energy.
"We'll look back on it . . . talk about it after the race," Swingley said. "I hope it wasn't at the expense of the dogs."
Swingley conceded that he couldn't catch King.
"I gave up on Jeff a long time ago," Swingley said. "He was making really good time along the coast."
King, 39, made the 18-mile run from Golovin in less than two hours, maintaining a pace that mushers farther back in the pack abandoned days ago.
Willow musher Dee Dee Jonrowe stayed with the leaders for the past 500 miles, but said Monday her priority is getting her team to Nome safely.
"I'm not rushing it, not anymore," she said while packing her sled. "I'm taking care of this dog team now."
The winner will receive $50,000 from the $300,000 purse.