As the honorary musher for this year's Iditarod, four-time champion Lance Mackey left a huge impact on those who knew him best.
The face of a race and the heart of a sport, Mackey showcased one of the most dominant runs in dog mushing history with passion, resiliency and a special love for his four-legged companions.
He went back-to-back again in 2008, followed up by two more Iditarod victories to make it an Iditarod four-peat from 2007 to 2010.Following his initial diagnosis of throat cancer in 2001, Mackey went on to beat it before his historic run in the 2000s.He stepped away from the sport to focus on rehabilitation afterAfter the cancer returned in 2021, Mackey died on Sept. 7, 2022, at the age of 52, survived by his two young children Atigun and Lozen.
“Lance deserves all the honor in the world that he gets and I am so happy that they are honoring him with that position,” Holmes said before the ceremonial start. “It is exciting to be the first musher after him and I feel like the stars are aligning right now with that. I got Lance in front of me leading me all the way to Nome this time.
“Something that I guess you think of when you think of the word ‘toughness’, Lance Mackey is the image that kind of comes to mind for sure,” Stoddard said at Mackey’s celebration of life. “If you can dig out some of your inner Lance Mackey, that will definitely help you.”
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