Iditarod front-runner Dallas Seavey makes his final drive toward Nome, Alaska, during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Tuesday, March 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Anchorage Daily News, Marc Lester)
Iditarod front-runner Dallas Seavey makes his final drive toward Nome, Alaska, during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Tuesday, March 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Anchorage Daily News, Marc Lester)
Dallas Seavey makes his way toward the finish line in Nome, Alaska, during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Tuesday, March 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Anchorage Daily News, Marc Lester)
Dallas Seavey makes his way toward the finish line in Nome, Alaska, during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Tuesday, March 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Anchorage Daily News, Marc Lester)
Aliy Zirkle leaves White Mountain, Alaska, in second place during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Tuesday, March 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Anchorage Daily News, Marc Lester)
Aaron Burmeister departs the checkpoint in White Mountain, Alaska, during the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Tuesday, March 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Anchorage Daily News, Marc Lester)
NOME, Alaska (AP) ? Dallas Seavey won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Tuesday, becoming the youngest musher to win the nearly 1,000-mile (1,600-kilometer) race across Alaska.
Seavey turned 25 on March 4, the day the race officially started north of Anchorage. He was the first musher to reach Nome, his nine dogs trotting into the Bering Sea coastal community at 7:29 p.m.
The winner greeted family and friends briefly, then turned to hug his dogs.
"They mean the world to me," said Seavey, who finished in nine days, four hours and 29 minutes.
The previous youngest winner was the race's only five-time champion, Rick Swenson, who won his first Iditarod at the age of 26 in 1977. Swenson, now 61, is in this year's race, and was running in the middle of the pack.
Asked about his record-breaking victory, Seavey said it's been a goal since he started racing competitively in 2009.
"When you put your mind on something ... good things will happen," he told the crowd under Nome's burled arch finish line.
"Dream big!" he said as he sat with an arm around each of his two lead dogs, who wore their own yellow floral garlands. "Go for it! Why not?"
It's a family affair for the Seaveys. Dallas' father, Mitch, won the race in 2004. He was racing in seventh place when Dallas crossed the finish line.
This year, Dallas' 74-year-old grandfather, Dan, is running in his fifth Iditarod to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Iditarod Trail. His trip to Nome is being sponsored by the Iditarod Historic Trail Alliance to highlight the rich history of the trail.
"It's kind of what we do," Dallas Seavey said when asked about that legacy.
Two of 1978 winner Dick Mackey's sons have also won, Rick Mackey in 1983 and Lance Mackey from 2007-2010.
Dallas Seavey was the first musher to leave White Mountain after completing a mandatory eight-hour layover to rest his dogs. The second musher out was Aliy Zirkle, and Seavey maintained his lead for the last 77 miles (124 kilometers) of the trail from White Mountain to the finish line in Nome.
Dallas Seavey has been described by his father as "fiercely competitive." The former Alaska high school wrestling champion, who also spent a year at the U.S. Olympic Training Center before turning his attention back to dogs, was the first musher to reach the White Mountain checkpoint at 12:14 a.m. Alaska time.
Sixty-six teams began the race on March 4. Eleven mushers have scratched, including Tom Thurston, who left the race Tuesday afternoon in Unalakleet due to concern for his dogs. He was down to eight dogs when he scratched.
Among the 55 mushers left on the trail are 12 rookies. Brent Sass is doing the best among the rookies, at 13th place on Tuesday.
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