Jeff king iditarod biography
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Jeff King (musher)
American sled dog racer
Jeff King | |
|---|---|
Jeff King (center) posing for photos with spectators during the 2013 Kuskokwim 300. | |
| Born | 1956 (age 68–69) North Fork, California, United States |
| Occupation | Dog musher |
| Spouse | Donna Gates (?–2011) |
| Children | 3 |
Jeff King (born 1956) is an American musher and sled dog racer. He is generally credited with introducing the sit-down sled which has largely replaced the standing sled traditionally used by distance mushers.
Early life
[edit]King was born and raised in California.[1]
Mushing career
[edit]King moved to Alaska in 1975 and began racing in 1976. He won the Yukon Quest in 1989, and the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 1993, 1996, 1998, and, at age 50, the 2006 Iditarod,[2] making him the oldest musher to have ever won the event, a distinction he held until 2017, when Mitch Seavey won at age 57.[3][4] King ran the 2022 Iditarod, his
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Jeff King
Jeff is known for his dynamic, motivational, and entertaining public speaking. He has been invited to share his sled dog experience and Alaska stories to audiences around the U.S. and Europe including at mushing, sportsman, outdoor adventure, and tourism venues.
Jeff King is often recognized as the "Winningest Musher in the World." He holds four championship titles for the 1,049-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 1993, 1996, 1998, and 2006. Jeff took first place in the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest in 1989 in addition to earning twenty-four other first-place titles in races across Alaska and other parts of North America. Jeff was inducted into the Iditarod Hall of Fame in 1999. In 2006, at age 50, he became the oldest musher to win the Iditarod. Jeff King has twice received the prestigious Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award for exemplary care of his dog team. He has logged more than 150,000 miles on a dogsled over the past thirty-five years.
Jeff King has captured worldwide
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12 Iditarod Mushers Who Have Skeletons in Their Closets
Published by Elena Waldman.
5 min readStrip away the hype, and it’s easy to see that the abuse inflicted on dogs in the Iditarod is criminally cruel: 150 dogs have died as a result of being forced to run about 100 miles a day through blinding snowstorms, treacherous terrain, and harsh winds for 10 days straight.
Countless others suffer and die off the trail: A PETA eyewitness investigation of kennels owned by Iditarod winners revealed that many dogs were so thin their bones were showing. One was limping from chronic arthritis. Mushers—or dogsled drivers—routinely fed them moldy meat and denied them water during training.
A study conducted by Northeastern University and the Massachusetts SPCA found that people who abuse animals are five times more likely to commit violent crimes against humans—so it’s no surprise that many Iditarod mushers also have a criminal history of aggression aside from what they do to dogs on th