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.
