Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Four consecutive wins a first in world famous dog sled race

Updated at 6:42 pm on 17 March 2010

Lance Mackey has won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, becoming the first musher to notch four consecutive wins in the world's most famous dog-racing event.

Mackey reached the finish line in Nome, with an official race time of eight days, 23 hours, 59 minutes and 9 seconds, the second-fastest time ever recorded in the 1,800km race from Anchorage.

For Mackey, this year's championship also provided some personal vindication.

A throat-cancer survivor who has a prescription for medical marijuana, Mackey believes he was the target of a new Iditarod rule requiring mushers to submit to drug testing.

The win earns him $70,000 and a new truck.

Mackey has a reputation for toughness - when his left index finger suffered nerve damage during cancer treatment, he chopped it off himself.

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