Did you enjoy the 2014 Iditarod?  What a great race, right?  Who would have thought that after nine days of racing it would come down to the final minutes, with the leader dropping out, and the third place team passing second place with 22 miles to go, and a sprint down Front Street in Nome.

Well guess what the true story is now coming out, and it's even weirder than we thought.  Check this out.  When Jeff King was blown off the trail just before reaching Safety (!), he had a comfortable lead of about an hour.  When Aliy Zirkle passed him an hour later she had no idea she was doing so.  Pulling into Safety, with a high wind blowing, she decided to rest her team and wait out the weather, conceding first to King.  When Dallas Seavey came along another hour later, he had no idea he was passing King on the trail.  And when he pulled into Safety, he had no idea Zirkle was already there.  His one thought was to stay ahead of his father, who was running fourth, so he went in and out of Safety in minutes.  Zirkle suddenly realized she was losing second to Seavey, and took off after him, fifteen minutes later.  Seavey thought he was racing for third, ahead of his father, and Zirkle thought she was chasing second.  Neither knew King had scratched.  It wasn't until Seavey finished that he found out he had won!  And it wasn't until Zirkle finished that she found out she had been racing for first, not second.  Wow.

Above, right: Seavey and team finishing first in Nome.  They thought they were finishing third.

Well that's it, a wrap for the 2014 Iditarod.  We now return you to our normally scheduled blogging.  Hope you have enjoyed the race and see you all next year!

(All Iditarod 2014 posts)