Cancer claims Iditarod champion Rick Mackey. His father and brother also won famed Alaska race

Cancer claims Iditarod champion Rick Mackey. His father and brother also won famed Alaska race

Musher and dog trainer Rick Mackey has died. He won the grueling Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across Alaska in 1983. His daughter Brenda Mackey tells The Associated Press he

Cancer claims Iditarod champion Rick Mackey. His father and brother also won famed Alaska race

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Rick Mackey, the winner of the 1983 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, has died of lung cancer, his daughter told The Associated Press Wednesday. Mackey, who died Monday, was 71. The Mackey name is closely tied to the history of the Iditarod, the grueling race that takes mushers and their dog teams 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) across the Alaska wilderness to the finish line on the Bering Sea coast. Rick’s father, Dick, won …