Compiled by Outside Online

March 6, 2002 As the leaders of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race left the Alaska Range behind yesterday, four-time winner and the man touted as the one to beat in this year's race, Doug Swingley, was lazing in the sun on the far side of the range. In an unexpected move, Swingley announced Tuesday afternoon that he was retiring from competitive dog sledding.

"This is my victory lap," the Lincoln, Montana, resident told the Anchorage Daily News. "I'm retiring from competitive racing. You won't see me up front any more."

Swingley, 48, first won the Iditarod in 1995, becoming the only non-Alaskan ever to do so. In 1996 and 1997 he placed second and in 1998 he fell to ninth. But he came back to win in 1999, 2000, and 2001, becoming only the second person to win three Iditarods in a row (see "Dog is My Copilot," Outside magazine, March 2001). His 2000 race time of nine days and 58 minutes is the current race record. Before this year's race -— the 30th annual —- started on Sunday people were looking at Swingley to win an unprecedented fourth consecutive Iditarod.

Melanie Shirilla, Swingley's fiancée, told the Anchorage Daily News that Swingley had been thinking about retiring for months but didn't make a definite decision until the race's start Sunday in Wasilla, Alaska. "I didn't know for sure this was happening until the morning of the (race) restart. I'm not sure Doug knew before the night before, either. He's got the team to (win). He could have done it."

The mushing master himself did not give any clues about his retirement. Friday, just two days before the Iditarod started Swingley told the Associated Press, "I think everybody knows it's going to take somebody doing something special to beat me."

Yesterday however, Swingley said that he had decided to run an easy Iditarod back in December, reported the Associated Press. Not wanting other competitors to "slack off," he kept it a secret.

Initially other mushers thought Swingley's leisurely start was just a planned racing tactic. Saying that he was "sandbagging" in the first two days of the race, Swingley helped perpetuate this idea. Racers have begun to accept the fact that this is not a ploy, however. Jeff King, a three-time Iditarod winner and in 20th place as of 8:00 A.M. this morning, told the AP that he was disappointed with Swingley's decision, but understood it.

"I have mixed emotions," King told the AP, "In one way it's a letdown from a competitive point of view. On the other hand, I'm envious. It's almost criminal to be in this big a rush."

"I'm seeing people I haven't seen in a long time and having a great time just running my puppies," Swingley told the Anchorage Daily News.

Swingley left the Rohn checkpoint at 7:37 A.M. this morning, in 48th place out of 62 teams. Linwood Fiedler, an Alaskan who was the runner-up to Swingley last year, is currently in first, having blasted through the Ophir checkpoint at 7:35 A.M., spending only a few seconds there. Martin Buser, winner of the 1997 race, is in second place, resting a few hours at Ophir.

For complete race standings, log on to the Iditarod Web site at www.iditarod.com.