Larry Retires
“(Lance) Mackey is forcing the golden harness-winner into retirement.
‘Even if he wants to do another, I’m not going to let him,’ said the 38-year-old Fairbanks musher. ‘He’s got a lot of miles under him.’
Larry has finished eight Iditarods — seven with Mackey and one with former Mackey neighbor Paul Gebhardt from Kasilof — and four Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Races, not to mention dozens of middle-distance sled dog races.
His record as a leader is remarkable.
Larry has led teams in 10 races of 1,000 miles, and he has won seven of them.
Larry made a big name for himself in 2007 by becoming the dog to win the golden harness in both the Yukon Quest and Iditarod. His master made history that year, too, winning sled-dog racing’s first Iditarod-Quest double. (Each of those races are over 1,000 miles and are just a few weeks apart.)
Before Lance and Larry, it was thought impossible to win both of those ultra-endurance marathons in the space of about a month. Lance and Larry proved that doubly wrong with wins in 2007 and again in 2008, though it obviously wasn’t easy.
When Larry posed for photographs with Mackey beneath the burled arch in Nome in 2007, the dog could barely keep his eyes open. Wearing a flowered necklace, Larry struggled to keep from falling asleep while sitting next to his master.”
More here.
