09/08/2022
Yesterday the dog world lost an incredible man. Since the moment I began running dogs, I looked up to Lance, he was an absolute warrior.
Here’s a short bio I had wrote about Lance previously, it’ll put into perspective the strength and passion he carried with him.
The Toughest Athlete Alive
“The comeback kid, an iron-man musher with a kennel of wonder-dogs” as stated on alaskasportshall.org.
In 1970, on July 2nd Lance Mackey was born, to his parents Dick and Kathy Mackey, in Fairbanks Alaska. A few months prior to Lances arrival his mother had finished 4th place at the Women’s North American Championship, while 7months pregnant. You could say he was made to be a musher. Lances parents report that he has been racing ever since he was old enough to hold onto the sled. Lance was born into a mushing family, partial founders of the Iditarod. In the year 1978 his father Dick was the Iditarod Champion with a time of 14 days 18hours 52minutes and 24seconds. In 1983 his older brother Rick secured the Iditarod victory with a time of 12days 14hours 10minutes and 44seconds.
As a junior musher Lance was known for his ‘near psychic connection to his dogs’. He raced the Jr Iditarod from 1985-1988, at best accomplishing 4th place in 1988.
In 1999 After a few rough years of addiction and marriage, Lance and his wife Tanya got divorced. After struggling with money, being completely broke, not being able to afford mushing, Lance had managed to save enough money from working as a fisherman, to buy 50acres and build a small cabin in Kasilof,Alaska. Where he would reunite with sleddogs creating Lance Mackeys comeback kennel. His kennel started with dogs “nobody else wanted” with the exception of a proven elite bitch named Rosie that Lance had bought for $100. He bred Rosie to a star dog in a friends kennel, having first pick of the litter Lance chose a male named Zorro. Zorro became the genetic foundation of Lances kennel, being one of his most legendary dogs. Lance writes “Zorro was born in fall of 2000. His dad was Doc Holliday from Tim Osmar and the mom was Rosie, a female I had acquired from another kennel on the peninsula. The reasons for the combination: Rosie had all the athletic characteristics that were appealing to me - very smooth, a kind of puppy mentality, where nothing affected her, never got injured, but she was a bad eater, had bad feet, so I combined her with another dog that had strong qualities there” Zorro ran the 2001 Iditarod as a yearling and was standing out even over the adults that year, both mentally and physically. In 2008 Lance won the Tustumena 200, his entire team was made up or Zorro and his offspring. Unfortunately during the All Alaskan Sweepstakes that year Zorro was hit by a snowmobile, ending his career and forcing him into months of therapy just to regain use of his legs. Lances Niece Brenda has a kennel of Zorro’s defendant’s as well as many kennels around the world. He ended up passing at 15years old, although Lance still has a few vials of semen stored directly from Zorro.
Backing up to the beginning of Lance Mackeys comeback kennel, he entered into the 2001 Iditarod once he got his kennel figured out. Lance was currently battling cancer, which he didn’t find out about until after completing the race, which he finished 36/57 mushers.
Lance was soon diagnosed with stage 4 throat cancer, he had surgery removing a handful of tissue on the right side of his face and neck, along with his salivary glands, interior carotid artery, and a large portion of a muscle used to support his right arm. Radiation treatment had also taken a physical toll, of tooth degradation. So along with lacking teeth, the right side of his face and neck are sunken in, and partially limp right arm due to tissue removal, one of his main arteries to his brain is now only protected by a thin layer of skin posing lethal risks. Due to his health concerns Mackey also suffers from Raynauds Syndrome, causing immense pain in the hands and fees activated by the cold. His condition is so serious that he had his left index finger voluntarily amputated.
Lance refused to listen to the doctors and entered in the 2002 Iditarod, after travelling 440 miles he was forced to scratch due to his cancer treatment complications and the fact his ensure kept freezing in his feeding tube making it impossible for him to eat… he was running the Iditarod while receiving cancer treatment and while he had a feeding tube in.. an absolute warrior.
Returning to the Iditarod in 2004, Lance spent 3 years building a team, placing in 24th, 7th and then 10th. When In 2005 he would become the defending champion of the Yukon Quest until 2008. During the 2007 mushing season Lance managed to accomplish the impossible, he won the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest in the same year, the first ever musher to accomplish this, and to prove himself the following season in 2008 Lance had won both races again. In 2007 8 of lances dogs ran both races, running 2000 miles within 40 days, crossing both finish lines with wagging tails. Come 2009 he would break his 4 year victory streak racing the Yukon Quest but be on his 3rd consecutive Iditarod victory.
In 2020 Lance failed the drug test during the Iditarod, he had relapsed and He would then be disqualified and be seeking rehabilitation, to only find out in 2021 his cancer has returned, and the tragedy of his partners death due to an ATV accident has left Lance as a single father of two young children, while suffering from cancer.
On September 7th 2022 Lance had succumbed to his illness, mush on and run free Lance.
IDITAROD VICTORIES
(2007) 9days 5hours 8minutes 41seconds
(2008) 9days 11hours 46minutes 48seconds
(2009) 9days 21hours 38minutes 46seconds
(2010) 8days 23hours 59 minutes 9seconds ****best personal time****
*2007 most inspirational musher*
*2009 Leonhard seppala humanitarian award*
*2012 sportsmanship award*
*2019 mushers choice award*
Plus a bunch more.
YUKON QUEST VICTORIES
(2005) 11days 32minutes
(2006) 10days 7hours 47minutes
(2007) 10days 2hours 37minutes
(2008) 10days 12hours 14minutes
*first musher to win the YKQ 4 years in a row*
*holds the 3rd fastest finish time at the YKQ*
