Like a Steppenwolf song, Kasilof musher Lance Mackey lives life "like a true nature's child who was born to be wild," and it is his full-throttle attitude toward mushing that propels him to the front of the pack.
Son of 1978 Iditarod champion Dick Mackey, Lance Mackey grew up mushing dogs, but at 18, he left the sport to pursue commercial fishing in Dutch Harbor and other places for several years.
He returned to mushing and began rebuilding his kennel in 2001. He ran his first Iditarod that year, finishing 36th.
Mackey was diagnosed with cancer shortly after he finished the race and underwent extensive surgery and radiation treatment.
He started the 2002 Iditarod but had to scratch in Ophir. He took 2003 off to regroup. In 2004, he returned to the race and finished 24th.
This season, Mackey has finished inside the top five in every race he's entered, including bringing home this year's win in the Yukon Quest.
In December, Mackey began the racing season with the Sheep Mountain 150, securing victory by finishing close to an hour ahead of his closest competitor in a field of 34 mushers.
In early January, thigh-high overflow, frigid temperatures and punchy trails in the Cooper Basin 300 forced 23 of 40 mushers in the competition to scratch, but Mackey hung in and drove his team to finish in fifth place.
At the end of the month, Mackey ran the Tustumena 200 and, after facing strenuous ups and downs in the Caribou Hills, finished fourth.
Mackey said he hoped the trend would continue when he ran the Quest.
"I have always wanted to do this race," he said in a post on his Web site.
Like the Iditarod, the Quest also is a 1,000-plus mile ultra-marathon. However, deep snow, extreme temperatures and longer distances between checkpoints make up the bulk of the race.
The Quest only allows mushers to use one sled for the trek, as opposed to three on the Iditarod.
"It will definitely be a challenge for us, and I'm excited about trying it," Mackey said before the race.
Running the Quest and the Iditarod in the same year is a tough task, one few mushers attempt. But that hasn't stopped Mackey, who plans to leave for Anchorage days after completing the Quest.
"How can I not do the Iditarod? It's in my blood," Mackey said.
Mushers who have run both races agree the Quest is tougher on mushers, while the Iditarod is tougher on the dogs. Those who attempt the double racing duty find out that even if they have the stamina for both, their dogs may not.
However, Mackey's kennel has grown such over the last few years that he has enough dogs to make two competitive racing teams, so he may not have the same dogs run both races.
"This year we have 34 adult race dogs and another seven younger dogs to choose from to compete in both," Mackey said.
He added that his pick of dogs for each race likely will be as different as the races are from each other.
