Wow. Congratulations!
He'll take home $57,000 in prize winnings, likely to help train next year's team. I doubt there'd be much left to invest in his Sheep Mountain Lodge in Sutton.
In a way, this doesn't surprise me. I have one image of Zach indelibly burnt into my memory. In June of 1991, while hiking to the top of Flattop Mountain in Anchorage (and sucking wind while doing it), I looked up the mountain and saw a red-headed runner in shorts and a t-shirt running down the mountain path.
As he got closer, I recognized the runner as Zach, training for the grueling Mt. Marathon in Seward. He had run up and down the mountain in preparation for the July 4th race that year. That's the race that my jr. high friend Andy Hornung ran and lacerated his leg on loose shale rock when he fell on his descent, requiring too many stitches to count.
Anyway, finishing the Iditarod is quite a feat, much less finishing in the top three.
By the way, Lance Mackey - another fellow GenXer - (and yes, son of previous winner Dick Mackey and half-brother of previous winner Rick Mackey) won the Iditarod last night wearing bib #13 on March 13 - the same bib number worn by his father and brother when they won. Most notably, he made history by becoming the first to win both the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest and the Iditarod in the same year. He is also a cancer survivor, and in a pleasantly ironic way, I'm guessing a victory by anyone else could not be more appropriate in light of Susan Butcher's loss to cancer this past year.
A remarkable Iditarod all the way around: a herculean victory, a passing of the generational torch, a racing dynasty cemented, and tragic disease overcome.
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