I’d bet that Rick Swenson would love to have had that headline appear in the papers back in 1978 when he came in second place to Dick Mackey by just a brief moment in what is the most dramatic finish in Iditarod history. For the five time champion this year things are different; Rick hasn’t seen the top 10 since 2004, or won the race since 1991. He joked at the Musher’s Banquet in Anchorage that he was hoping to make this year his sixth victory, even losing a significant amount of weight before the race by going on Atkins. Rick wasn’t able to do as well as he hoped, coming in 26th place…but how he got that position is a fun story. He arrived under the Burled Arch just 1 second in front of rookie Silvia Willis. In what was to spectators very reminiscent of that Swenson/Mackey race up front street in 1978, Rick and Silvia started the battle out on the sea ice in front of Nome. Rick left Safety 20 minutes before Willis and she kept gaining on him during the last few miles into town. They were running as fast as they could all the way in the chute and Rick got luck this time and kept his lead.

Posted by admin on Thursday, March 15th, 2007 at 7:29 pm.