Mackey in line for 4th

NOME, Alaska – Three-time defending champion Lance Mackey, 39, is poised to claim his fourth consecutive win in the 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race over a route beset by bitter cold.

Mackey was the first out of the checkpoint of Elim, 123 miles from the finish line in Nome and 28 miles from the next checkpoint at the Inupiat Eskimo village of Golovin. Mackey left Elim with 11 dogs at 1:06 p.m. Alaska Daylight Time on Monday.

He was followed more than 21/2 hours later by Canada’s Hans Gatt, who just earned his fourth win in the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race. Mackey was runner-up in the Quest, a race he has won four consecutive times, including twice when he also won the Iditarod several weeks later.

Hans, 51, overtook four-time champion Jeff King to chase after Mackey with 12 dogs. Mackey, however, was nearly a dozen miles ahead of his closest competitor.

King 54, who has said this is his last Iditarod, left Koyuk with 13 dogs after resting his team an hour longer than Mackey.

On Monday, Anchorage rookie Emil Churchin became the 14th musher to scratch from the Iditarod.