SB Nation Minnesota - Iditarod 2012: Dallas Seavey Becomes Youngest Champ In Race Historyhttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/48959/mn-fave.png2012-03-14T08:09:42-05:00http://minnesota.sbnation.com/rss/stream/26144852012-03-14T08:09:42-05:002012-03-14T08:09:42-05:00Iditarod 2012: Dallas Seavey Wins Race, Beats Father Mitch
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<p>The 2012 Iditarod Tournament ended late Tuesday night and a pair of mushers with Minnesota ties finished at the front of the pack. Dallas Seavey won the race while his father, a native of Crosby, Minn., finished in seventh place (grandfather Dan Seavey is currently in 52nd place).</p>
<p>Seavey beat runner-up Aliy Zirkle by about an hour, making him the youngest musher to ever win the dog sled race as he turned 25 in the middle of the race. The previous record was held by a different Minnesota native as Rick Swenson won his first Iditarod at the age of 26 in 1977.</p>
<p>Unfortunately for Seavey, however, he was unable to also brek the record for the <a href="http://iditarod.com/dallas-seavey-first-into-nome-youngest-to-win/" target="_blank">fastest total time running the Iditarod</a>.</p>
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<p>Seavey' s team traveled up the Iditarod Trail in 9 days, 04 hours, 29 minutes, 26 seconds. The record is still held by John Baker the 2011 Champion at a time of 8 days, 18 hours, 46 minutes, 39 seconds .</p>
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<p><i>Stay tuned to our </i><a target="_blank" href="http://minnesota.sbnation.com/2012/3/6/2850444/iditarod-2012-results-standings-minnesota">Iditarod 2012 StoryStream</a><i> for more coverage of the dog sled racing taking place in Alaska this month.</i></p>
https://minnesota.sbnation.com/2012/3/14/2870458/iditarod-2012-results-dallas-seaveyScott Schroeder2012-03-13T20:21:53-05:002012-03-13T20:21:53-05:00Iditarod 2012: Minnesota's Dallas Seavey On Way To First Place Finish
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<p>The 2012 Iditarod is likely going to end later Tuesday night with a Minnesotan being the first person across the finish line. Dallas Seavey, who also competed with his grandfather and father in the annual dog sled race, made it through to the last checkpoint first and is expected to have smooth sailing the rest of the way.</p>
<p>Seavey was the first musher that left the last checkpoint, leaving "Safety" and heading to Nome nearly about an hour and 10 minutes before second place Ally Zirkle. There's nothing keeping him from first place ... except a toe injury, <a href="http://iditarod.com/822-am-seavey-out-of-white-mountain-with-nine-huskies-guiness-in-lead-by-joe-runyan/" target="_blank">according to the blog on Iditarod.com</a>.</p>
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<p>The biggest test physically for Dallas is the first third of the trail to Nome, where he certainly will be jogging up the long nine mile climb up and over Topkok hill. His blistered big toes has to be a killer, but he wasn't complaining in the checkpoint. Running on the hill is regarded to be a true way to get time.</p>
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<p>Dallas's father Mitch is currently in seventh place while his grandpa Dan, a Crosby, Minn., native is in 53rd place (out of 55 mushers remaining). Other Minnesotans still in the race include Ken Anderson in 12th place, Paul Gebhardt in 16th place and Willmar native Rick Swenson is in 32nd place.</p>
<p><i>Stay tuned to our </i><a href="http://minnesota.sbnation.com/2012/3/6/2850444/iditarod-2012-results-standings-minnesota" target="_blank">Iditarod 2012 StoryStream</a><i> for more coverage of the dog sled racing taking place in Alaska this month.</i></p>
https://minnesota.sbnation.com/2012/3/13/2869468/dallas-seavey-iditarod-2012-resultsScott Schroeder2012-03-08T07:01:26-06:002012-03-08T07:01:26-06:00Iditarod 2012: Most Minnesotans Have Decided To Take A Break
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<p>The 2012 Iditarod is still happening and, as of Wednesday night, there was a bit of a lull in the race. Not because the conditions were too poor to continue or anything like that, but because the majority of the mushers decided to partake in their mandatory 24-hour rest stop.</p>
<p>Quite a few members of the pack decided to stop and stay at the Takotna checkpoint and, <a href="http://iditarod.com/trail-notes-from-bruce-lee-at-takotna-central/" target="_blank">according the Iditarod.com blog</a>, a few of the teams resting looked raring to run -- including a few Minnesota natives in Dallas and Mitch Seavey:</p>
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<p>I will say that there were an amazing amount of perky fresh looking teams pulling in here last night. With that said, of notice were Aliy Zirkle's, Mitch Seavey's, Jeff King's, Aaron Burmeister's and Dallas Seavey's teams. It's way too early to know who really is driving the best teams yet but these teams looked the freshest at this point in the race. Every team will have ups and downs due to a race of this length but these little details often reveal which teams are getting stronger as they move down the trail.</p>
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<p>Mitch is currently leading all Minnesotans as he currently has a foothold on seventh place, though son Dallas isn't far behind in ninth. Other Minnesota natives include Paul Gebhardt in 11th place, Rick Swenson in 20th, Ken Anderson in 27th and 74-year-old Dan Seavey bringing up the rear in 66th place. Everyone but Dan Seavey took a rest stop at Takotna, and Dan likely will once he gets there, too.</p>
<p><i>Stay tuned to our </i><a target="_blank" href="http://minnesota.sbnation.com/2012/3/6/2850444/iditarod-2012-results-standings-minnesota">Iditarod 2012 StoryStream</a><i> for more coverage of the dog sled racing taking place in Alaska this month.</i></p>
https://minnesota.sbnation.com/2012/3/8/2853619/iditarod-standings-results-map-minnesotaScott Schroeder2012-03-06T19:27:59-06:002012-03-06T19:27:59-06:002012 Iditarod Standings: Minnesota Native Dan Seavey Off To A Slow Start
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<p>The 2012 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is through a few days of action already, but the standings still aren't all that important considering the eight and 24-hour layovers still need to take place. As of now, however, Crosby, Minn., native Dan Seavey is sitting in the back of the pack.</p>
<p>Seavey, the 74-year-old Iditarod veteran and <a href="http://minnesota.sbnation.com/2012/3/6/2848128/iditarod-2012-history-minnesota/in/2614485" target="_blank">father and grandfather of the other Seavey's in the race</a>, took a rather unfortunate detour early in the race. Iditarod.com's Joe Runyan has the details:</p>
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<p>I happened to be in the Finger checkpoint when Dan arrived last night. Unfortunately , he went 16 miles off trail after following lathe to a lodge out of Skwetna. In hindsight, he realized the lathe were not consistent with the orange top Iditarod lathe with reflectors and blue ribbon. In fact, Dan criticized himself, recalling that he had asked for the blue ribbon marking as an aid for color blind mushers years ago in his capacity as boardmember.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, he was in good spirits, and left this am about 6;47. He will have to hustle to stay in contact with the race.</p>
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<p>As of Tuesday evening, the elder Seavey is in 66th place out of 66 mushers and about two hours behind the next closest team of dogs. As far as the rest of the Minnesota natives are concerned, Mitch Seavey is in fifth place, Paul Gebhardt is in seventh place, Dallas Seavey is in 10th place, Rick Swenson is in 11th place and Ken Anderson is in 30th place.</p>
<p><i>Stay tuned to our </i><a href="http://minnesota.sbnation.com/2012/3/6/2850444/iditarod-2012-results-standings-minnesota" target="_blank">Iditarod 2012 StoryStream</a><i> for more coverage of the dog sled racing taking place in Alaska this month.</i></p>
https://minnesota.sbnation.com/2012/3/6/2850459/iditarod-2012-standings-results-dan-seaveyScott Schroeder2012-03-06T08:00:55-06:002012-03-06T08:00:55-06:00Iditarod 2012: Minnesota Well Represented In Sled Dog Race
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<img alt="Sunday, March 4, 2012 Paul Gebhardt’s team drops onto Long Lake at the restart of Iditarod 2012 in Willow, Alaska. By Jeff Schultz / AlaskaStock.com" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/JatFq905pydwGrkADMAXUDsauXU=/0x0:504x336/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/imported_assets/1004632/04_AA1D_1_0343.jpg" />
<figcaption>Sunday, March 4, 2012 Paul Gebhardt’s team drops onto Long Lake at the restart of Iditarod 2012 in Willow, Alaska. By Jeff Schultz / AlaskaStock.com</figcaption>
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<p>The 2012 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race officially began on Saturday, but we've decided it's not too late to start covering considering the many Minnesotans involved.</p> <p>The 2012 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race has been off and running since Saturday but, considering the annual event is like most races in that it matters how everyone finishes -- not how everyone starts -- it doesn't seem like it's too late for SB Nation Minnesota to begin its coverage.</p>
<p>Considering the Iditarod trail is in Alaska and not Minnesota, there are probably quite a few confusing looks happening right now as our readers try and figure out the regional significance considering none of the <a target="_blank" href="http://iditarod.com/race/musher-listing/">66 mushers listed on the race's website</a> listed Minnesota as the state they're representing. That's because the majority of the world's top mushers move to Alaska to focus on the sport, but there are quite a few with bloodlines tracing back to the Land of 10,000 Lakes.</p>
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<li>The top Minnesotan musher, at least in terms of past success, is Willmar native <b>Rick Swenson</b>. Swenson holds the record for most Iditarod races won with five -- in three different decades, no less -- but could be tied this season as Alaska native Lance Mackey is looking for his fifth win as well.</li>
<li>Three of the 66 mushers in this year's race have Seavey as their last name and all three have Crosby, Minn., ties: <b>Dan Seavey</b>, a 74-year-old musher and the only person to compete in the first and 40th (current) Iditarod; <b>Mitch Seavey</b>, Dan's son and the winner of the 2004 Iditarod; and <b>Dallas Seavey</b>, a third-generation musher who finished in fourth place last season after following in grandpa Dan and father Mitch's footsteps.</li>
<li>Another perennial contender is Glencoe native <b>Paul Gebhardt</b>. Gebhardt moved to Alaska in 1989 and has been mushing since 1992, taking second place two times in the Iditarod.</li>
<li>Grand Rapids native <b>Ken Anderson</b> is also competing in this year's Iditarod. The former Minnesota Golden Gopher became part of the first husband and wife due at the Iditarod when wife Gwen competed in a past race.</li>
<p>Of the 66 mushers currently competing in the Iditarod, six of them called Minnesota their home before moving to Alaska to better themselves at their craft. Gebhardt is currently doing the best in the standings, but considering there are at least two more weeks worth of racing, everything is still up in the air.</p>
<p>So let's follow along, have some fun and hopefully learn more about the native Minnesotans as they compete over the next couple of weeks. And yay dogs!</p>
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https://minnesota.sbnation.com/2012/3/6/2848128/iditarod-2012-history-minnesotaScott Schroeder