Lance Mackey does it again!

[Blue_In_AK]

Incredibly, Lance Mackey has won both the 1000-mile Yukon Quest and the Iditarod for two straight years, getting into Nome last night about 3:00 a.m. People thought last year was a fluke, but he's done it again. Absolutely amazing. I'm still trying to get my Iditarod gallery pictures together; hopefully, I'll have them done today for those of you who are interested in LOTS of puppy pictures. In the meantime, here's Lance and one of his lead dogs.

[Robb]

1. Amazing

...If you happen to catch them, I've got "relatives" pulling on the Stormwatch team. :hi:

[Blue_In_AK]

4. As a musher, you must really appreciate

what Lance has accomplished here. He has now won six out of the last eleven 1000-mile races. That's just incredible. I loved when he was talking to the press at the end, he had a dog on each side of him and they just couldn't stop licking his face. It was so cute. Pure, unadulterated love.

[mth44sc]

2. Oh darn it

now I already know who won :-)

TV coverage starts this Sunday on Versus

you can catch all the details here

I look forward to this rather belated coverage every year.

Can't wait to see some more pics!

[Blue_In_AK]

3. I just got through watching a replay of the finish.

My husband stayed up and watched it live this morning, but I crashed out about 1:00 a.m. Lance is just such a great champion, and pulled off a great win against Jeff King this year with a little bit of "old-school" trickery that you'll love. I won't spoil it for you, but it's one for the books. Jeff King has got to be kicking himself HARD.

So I'm getting back to my photos now. I'll post here as soon as they're up and captioned. I forgot what a process this is. :)

[JeffR]

5. Could it be time for Congress to investigate possible steroid use?

Looking forward to the pics!

[mth44sc]

6. I gather you suspect the dogs...

I can't wait for them to be called to testify :-)

[JeffR]

7. Despite no evidence, I'm convinced there's something going on

such is life in year 8 of Bushworld, alas.

[flamin lib]

8. What is it about the name "Lance"? First Armstrong now Makey doing

repeat wins in sports that don't make such things easy.

Blue, your sledding pictures are exceptional.

[janx]

9. Are those your pics?

They're incredible! When you get your I'rod pics posted, may I post them (with permission) on my MySpace page? I've blogged about the race.

http://www.myspace.com/foodchainlosthorsepress

Incredible fourth place for Ken!

[Blue_In_AK]

10. They are my pictures.

I've got the photos up on my website, but I've only had time to caption about half of them. You're certainly welcome to check them out and use any you want for your blog. I assume you still have your handy-dandy mushers guide so you can identify the ones I haven't gotten to yet. I tried to post one picture of each team and one of each musher, and I think I only missed Joe Garnie's dogs and for some reason completely missed Silvia Willis, team #40. I don't know how that happened. Maybe I was visiting with you at the time. :)

P.S. You'll recognize that that's Lance's dog Larry in the picture.

[janx]

11. Larry and Hobo got into a fight at one point!

Lance had to drop Hobo. But yes, I recognize Larry. What a face! I think Cindy Gallea is #82. I don't have my musher's guide anymore! I think I left it at the hotel!

[Blue_In_AK]

12. Yes, Cindy is number 82.

I think I have a few more pictures of her other than the ones I posted on my site.

Yes, Larry and Hobo got in a fight because one of Lance's other dogs was in heat. It turned out to be a pretty challenging race for him with these issues, and he said at the finish line that he had thought about dropping out a couple of times. I bet he's glad now that he hung in. :)

Incidentally, let me know which pictures you want for your blog, and I'll send them to you via e-mail. I don't think you can copy the ones from SmugMug because I put a block on them to keep people from using them without my permission.