ANCHORAGE, Alaska --- The race is on between Lance Mackey and Jeff King.
Two years ago, King, a four-time champion, appeared on his way to a fifth win in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race with a faster team when he was snookered by Mackey, who went on to win.
On Saturday, Mackey, the defending champion with three back-to-back wins, again snatched the lead, according to global satellite positioning information.
King had been leading the race but Mackey grabbed the lead by being the first musher to leave the Kaltag checkpoint. The front-runners now head toward the Bering Sea coastline in the 1,100-mile race from Anchorage to Nome.
The Iditarod's GPS tracker map showed Mackey in the lead just outside the Kaltag checkpoint shortly after noontime about two-thirds of the way into the race.
King was the first musher to arrive at the Kaltag checkpoint at 11:42 a.m. Mackey arrived 12:28 p.m. and stayed just seven minutes before getting back on the trail.
In 2008, Mackey and King were battling for the lead when King fell victim to an old musher's trick just 123 miles from the finish. Mackey arrived at the checkpoint 3 minutes ahead of King, drank coffee and acted like he was settling in for a long nap. He told checkpoint volunteers to wake him in an hour. But with King snoring, Mackey sneaked out ahead of his opponent and eventually won the race.
BOB HALLINEN/ASSOCIATED PRESS
A dog in rookie musher Emil Churchin's team prepares to leave the Takotna, Alaska, checkpoint during the 1,100-mile race. \nNewton Marshall, of Jamaica, an Iditarod rookie, arrives at the checkpoint in Takotna.
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