Something tells me John Baker won’t have to buy a drink in his hometown for quite awhile.
And when you live above the Arctic Circle, well, it seems like there would be plenty of reason to nip the bottle aside from what is sure to be quite a celebration in Baker’s hometown of Kotzebue, Alaska.
The cause for merriment? Baker won the Iditarod Sled Dog Race on Tuesday, guiding his team from Anchorage to the finish line in Nome in record breaking fashion. He completed the 1,100-mile course in eight days, 19 hours and 46 minutes. That’s a whopping three hours ahead of the old record.
Oh, it gets better: He’s also the first native Alaskan to win since 1976 and first Eskimo in the history of the race to capture victory.
Not bad, dude. Not bad at all.
For his efforts, Baker was awarded a check for $50,400, keys to a new truck and floral wreaths for his lead dogs. You’d think the dogs would’ve earned something a little more than that.
Maybe a night or two ...
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