Montanan Takes Iditarod Lead Swingley Passes A Dining Buser

Montana musher Doug Swingley jumped into the lead in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Friday, passing up an invitation to share a seven-course meal with rival Martin Buser.

Buser, a two-time champion, won the gourmet meal as the first musher to reach the Yukon River. He arrived in the village of Anvik at 9:48 a.m. Alaska time. Swingley, the 1995 champion, checked in at 11:17 a.m., staying 4 minutes - just long enough to decline Buser’s invitation.

Swingley was headed for the village of Grayling, 18 miles up the trail. The move would put him closer to Nome, but he still had to complete a mandatory 8-hour layover, something Buser had already begun in Anvik. Swingley reached Grayling at 2:02 p.m.

A church bell signaled Buser’s arrival in this small village of rough-hewn log cabins, perched on a hillside overlooking the river.

Many of the 80 villagers joined race officials and sponsors who crowded into the community center to watch as the Big Lake musher sat at a table covered with a white linen cloth and feasted on pan-seared ahi tuna, lobster bisque, New York steak and creme brulee with raspberries.

As he ate, Buser puzzled over what became of defending champion Jeff King of Denali Park.

“I passed him about a third of the way out of Iditarod. He followed me for a while,” Buser said.

King, who had said he was coming down with the flu, had decided to take his 8-hour layover in Shageluk, 25 miles back. He had been holding a lead of less than an hour since the top teams completed their mandatory 24-hour break in Takotna.

The 25th anniversary running of the Iditarod, meanwhile, has been marred by four dog deaths - two of them reported Thursday.

Race veterinarians said there was no outward sign of trauma to any of the four dogs and they have not been able to determine why they died.