At 4:05 AM Wednesday morning, Jeff King and his large team of dogs, trotted across the finish line in Nome. This second-place victory was bittersweet for the four time Iditarod Champion, who was the only one able to challenge the crafty hardworking Lance Mackey from the Ruby to Nome.

"It was pretty much a two man race from Ruby on. I had advantages and Lance had advantages. He was hungrier than me," King said at the finish line.

Both King's and Mackey's teams were well managed, and looked execellent coming down the street in Nome. The dogs seemed playful and relaxed at the finish line.

King maintained a steady pace throughout the race, saying at one point early on "we're just puttin' along." Although King was unable to take first, he was appluaded for maintaining one of the largest dog teams ever to compete for first place. By the time he reached White Mountain, he had all 16 dogs in harness, and only dropped two for his final dash to Nome.

Although it looked as though the 52-year-old musher and his large team would have the advantage in the unusually warm conditions, it was Mackey's trickery that made the difference. Mackey was able to distance himself by waiting for King to fall asleep in Elim, giving Mackey a 30-minute gap that King was never able to regain that late in the race.

Throughout the race the two were playing off of one another. For days King trailed Mackey allowing him to break the trail. At Koyuk he slept with his feet on Mackey's boots. However it was Mackey's slip out of Elim that put the nail in the coffin for King. "I'm pretty sure he baited me into it," King said. "It never dawned on me. It should have. So, turnaround is fair play. It's been fun.

King, a good sport, described Mackey as, "a heck of a good dog driver and very fun to race."

Although the race is finished for the two, King and Mackey will face each other again very soon. Both have entered in the All-Alaska Sweepstakes which begins in Nome on March 26 with a winner-take-all purse of $100,000. While witnessing the lights and celebration of Mackey's victory from the trail, King said he has already begun looking forward to the next race.

"It just dawned on me that I don't think there's anything I could do to better prepare a Sweepstakes team than what I just did coming from Anchorage," King said after the race. "Now I know. These dogs are going the right speed, they're already psychologically at the pace they need to be to do long runs. If they could just start at 8 mph and be there the whole time and not touch the drag or anything, I don't think you could prepare them better…"

"I'm going to win that one."