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Saranac Lake resident’s cousin wins Iditarod

Aleacia Landon smiles in the Saranac Lake Youth Center in February 2020. (Enterprise photo — Griffin Kelly)

SARANAC LAKE — Dallas Seavey was closing in on his fifth Iditarod victory before the sun rose in Alaska Monday morning. Aleacia Landon was excitedly watching the historic moment in Saranac Lake, four time zones and nearly 3,000 miles away from the finish line.

A native of Alaska who moved to Saranac Lake in 2016, Landon is related the Seavey clan, which is arguably the most famous family in the world of sled-dog racing. Landon, the director of the Saranac Lake Youth Center, is Dallas Seavey’s step-cousin, and she’s been familiar with sled dog racing ever since she was a youngster growing up in Alaska.

Landon’s stepmother Tracie Audette is the sister of Iditarod legend Mitch Seavey, Dallas’s father. When Dallas Seavey topped this year’s field by reaching the finish line first outside of Willow Alaska — at Deshka Landing — at 5:08 a.m., he tied another mushing legend, Rick Swenson, for the most career victories in the race with five each.

Swenson, nicknamed the “King the Iditarod” last won the race in 1991. He is now 70 and retired, while Dallas Seavey is just 34 years old.

Each year, Landon has followed the progress of the Iditarod, which is an almost 1,000-mile race that crosses Alaska from Anchorage to Nome but underwent major modifications this winter due to the coronavirus pandemic. Landon followed the action and watched her step-cousin claim his fifth win on the Alaska’s News Source website.

Dallas Seavey waves during the ceremonial start of the Iditarod on March, 4, 2017 in downtown Anchorage, Alaska. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

“We were so excited to see Dallas win,” Landon said Monday afternoon. “The Seaveys, they’re amazing dog mushers. It’s so much fun watching them compete.”

Born in Palmer, Alaska, Landon lived in several parts of the state over the years before she moved to Montana in 2005. She recalled being around the Seaveys in her younger days when she also got a first-hand experience with sled-dog racing.

“About 30 years ago, I mushed in a sprint. I came in second,” she said with a laugh. “It was in Seward, the Bear Lake race.”

Landon said in the past she has been to the Iditarod’s ceremonial start — an 11-mile trip through Anchorage — as well as the race’s official restart in Willow. The rest of the race, however, is difficult to witness in person as it travels through the middle of the Alaskan wilderness while passing small, isolated villages along the way.

Instead of traversing Alaska and ending on the Bering Sea coast in Nome, this year’s Iditarod followed a round-trip course, going from Willow to the ghost town of Iditarod — a once-booming community of gold prospectors — and back. The distance of the 2021 Iditarod was also shortened to 848 miles.

Dallas Seavey’s dog team heads through downtown Anchorage during the Iditarod’s ceremonial start on March 4, 2017, the year he placed second in the race behind his father Mitch Seavey. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

Dallas Seavey completed the race in 7 days, 14 hours, 8 minutes and 57 seconds. Like all competitors, he started with 14 dogs. After dropping off four of his dogs at checkpoints along the way, Dallas was pulled across the finish line before daybreak Monday by a team of 10.

Landon, who is married to Saranac Lake native Greg Landon, said she misses Alaska “dearly” and tries to visit there about every two years. The last time she crossed paths with Dallas was in 2016 at a Seavey family wedding.

“It’s a great family. I love them to pieces,” Landon said. “I was planning to go back in 2020, but COVID put an end to those plans. I’m hoping to go visit later this summer.”

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