NOME, Alaska -- Jeff King used near-continuous sledding Tuesday to capture the 24th annual Iditarod Sled Dog Race.Outside Online special Iditarod coverage
Jeff King celebrates his Iditarod victory with Jake, one of King's lead dogs. (13k jpg)
King, who won the race in 1993, finished the 1,151-mile mushing marathon with the second-fastest time ever of 9 days, 5 hours, 43 minutes.
King reached Safety from White Mountain at 12:37 p.m. local time and set off after a five-minute break. The short rest prevented King from suffering a mandatory eight-hour layover. Defending champion Doug Swingley departed White Mountain at 8:50 a.m. and is still on the course in second place, about two hours behind King.
In becoming just the second musher to finish the race in under 10 days, King won $50,000 of the $300,000 purse and a new, $30,000 pickup.
"The team was really a joy," King said at the finish line. "I had to keep my feet off the gas pedal early in the race."
King finished the race with six of his original 16 dogs. He was carrying another dog in the sled as he led his team under the burled arch that marks the official end of the race.
Tim Osmar moved into third place on the leg from Golovin to White Mountain, arriving at 10:05 a.m. Martin Buser came in 55 minutes later and DeeDee Jonrowe six minutes after Buser. The three are currently resting during the mandatory layover.
Jonrowe and Buser were fighting for third place when both took a wrong turn when a trail split. They headed 10 miles into the hills rather than across the sea ice on Golovin Bay.
King spent much of the race staying even or just behind Swingley, Buser and Jonrowe. He was able to conserve his team's energy through a rough middle stretch of the route, from Ophir through Cripple and on to the Yukon River village of Ruby.
Buser was forced to drop several dogs there that had tired because of river overflow and ice along the route. Swingley and Jonrowe's teams fought diarrhea.
But King was able to hang onto 13 dogs well past the race's halfway point, giving him at times a two-dog advantage over the other leaders.
Jeff King celebrates his Iditarod victory with Jake, one of King's lead dogs. (13k jpg)