One of most famous iditarods racers is Jeff King. He was born in California and moved to Alaska in 1975 and began racing in 1976. He won the Yukon Quest (an 1100 mile race in the US and Canada) in 1989. He is only one of four who has won the Iditarod (a 1049+ mile race across Alaska) in 1993, 1996, 1998 and 2006. At 50 he is the oldest musher to win the event. As of 2008 he has competed in 18 iditarods. He came in second in 2008. He races in many other sled dog competitions and has won many of them. He owns a kennel outside of Denali Park. When I was at Denali Park we were able to visit his kennel. As we exited the bus, each of us was handed a puppy to hold. That was really special as they were so cute and cuddly. We were given a tour of the kennel and watched some of the dogs being trained. We were also able to see a sled and learn a little about mushing.
Jeff King also likes to invent. He added a comfortable seat to his sled which some people call is iditalounger. On one trip he was so comfortable he fell asleep and fell off the sled. Since then he has added a seat belt. He invented a heated handle bar that ranges up to 200 degrees for the sled. He can keep his hands warm as well as his food.
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