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All photos © Barbara Logan 2007
I WAS THERE!!! At twenty below zero!!! (SMILE)
"Lance Mackey has mushed his way into Yukon Quest history books, with his record run from Whitehorse to Fairbanks" (approximately 1000 miles), "as well as matching runner-up Hans Gatt's precedent-setting three-in-a-row Championship performance.
Lance arrived at the Finish Line on the Chena River just before 2:00 pm Alaska Time, to a cheering crowd and his family and friends.
Making the 99 mile run from Chena Hot Springs in just over 11 and-a-half hours, Mackey shortened the record run time by at least 1/2 a day from Frank Turner's 1995 former fastest time.
Mackey's total run time for the 2007 Yukon Quest was 10 days, 2 hours and 37 minutes. The previous record time was 10 days, 16 hours and 20 minutes." (Courtesy Yukon Quest International web page)
I was running errands and heard on the radio that the winner of the 2007 Yukon Quest was arriving in Fairbanks "any minute." An hour and a half later, he reached the finish line on the Chena River just south of the Cushman Street bridge. It was cold waiting, but since I had never been to the beginning or end of the Quest I thought I would do it just to do it. (SMILE) Afterall, the three time winner, Lance Mackey, is a fellow Fairbanksan! It was fun, albeit cold at about minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit, but that didn't stop the crowd from gathering with me on the William Ransom Wood footbridge over the Chena River, and others down on the river and on the Cushman Street Bridge, cheering him on to victory.
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