Dallas Back In The Saddle
After three years, Dallas Seavey is returning to the Iditarod, after the 2017 helter skelter incident that shocked his life and mushing career.
Iditarod - A Family Tradition
Dallas Seavey ran his first Iditarod at age 18, and at age 25, he became the youngest musher ever to win, completing the 2012 Iditarod in 9 days, 4 hours, 29 minutes, 26 seconds. Since then he has competed every year – well, not quite.
Dallas Seavey was born in Virginia, but moved to Alaska at the age of 5. He is now based close to Talkeetna, a small town two hours drive north of Anchorage. Here, at the banks of the three rivers Susitna, Chulitna and Talkeetna, he has his top kennel with hundred-plus dogs. Seavey and his team make their daily living by fueling tourists the power of Alaskan husky, giving them the opportunity to mush their own sled dogs into the wilderness.
Dallas Seavey walking the line of dogs while his father Mitch mans the brake. Photo: Dave Poyzer
The story about Dallas Seavey and Iditarod started when he was 5 years old, but his family's history with the race traces even further back. His grandfather, Dan Seavey ran the first two races in 1973 and 1974, and has completed the race four times. His father, Mitch Seavey, another legendary musher, has won Iditarod three times, the last time in 2017. That year Dallas Seavey finished second, but Iditarod 2017 should be remembered for other occurrences than the nerve-wracking race between father and son.
The Positive Drug Test
A month after the race, Seavey got a call from the race marshal, who told him that four of his dogs had tested positive for tramadol, an opioid painkiller.
Race portrait of Dallas before the 2014 edition if Iditarod. Photo: Joanne Potts.
“And that set off, literally, I would say, without a doubt, the most stressful year of my life“, he recently stated to Alaska Public Media. The accusations tarnished the core of his identity - as a devoted and hard working musher. After a turbulent year in a public battle involving lawyers, toxicologists and PR firms, The Iditarod Trail Committee finally cleared Seavey of any wrongdoing.
"After several meetings with Dallas Seavey, and review of all relevant information and evidence, the board does not believe that Dallas had any involvement with, or knowledge of, the events that led to the positive test in his team," the Trail Committee said, and concluded "that it is not credible that Dallas was involved, and he is found to have committed no wrong doing."
So what had happened? That still puzzles Dallas Seavey.
“I have theories. I have suspicions. But I do not have proof.”
So what has Dallas been doing for the last three years? Well, he needed a pause from Iditarod, and flew his dogs across the Atlantic to participate in Europe’s longest dog sled race, Finnmarksløpet located in northern Norway. In the harsh plateau of arctic blizzards and darkness, he and his dogs challenged some of the greatest teams in Europe through the 1200-kilometer course. In 2018 he finished third, in 2019 he scratched halfway due to tendinitis in several of his dogs.
Dallas took a year away from racing Iditarod in 2020 to provide commentary for QRILL PAWS. Here together with Greg Heister and Bruce Lee. Photo: Iditarod
In 2020 he took a year off from racing, and provided commentary and expert analysis for us in qrillpaws.com, bringing mushing to a worldwide audience. And he has been training his dogs without the pressure of racing.
But now he is ready, and this year marks Dallas Seavey’s 12th Iditarod. He has carefully picked out his team of 14 second-to-none athletic dogs for Iditarod 2021.
“In a way it’s coming home for me, right? This is where I belong, racing the Iditarod.”
Sources: Anchorage Daily News, Iditarod.com, www.alaskasnewssource.com, Finnmarken, Alaska Public Media, Reuters, AK Sled Dog Tours, www.highnorthnews.com, Facebook
