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Mackey loses ESPY to marathoner

July 13, 2007
Editor and/or Contributors

Four months ago, Lance Mackey became the first musher to win both the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race and the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race in the same year, a feat for years considered impossible. That apparently wasn’t enough to be named the country’s best outdoor athlete.Mackey learned that Wednesday night at a ceremony honoring the 2007 ESPY winners, losing to a guy who spent less than 12 hours in Alaska, running 26.2 miles.Dean Karnazes of San Francisco won the award at Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre for running 50 marathons in 50 days, including the Mayor’s Marathon course in Anchorage in early October.”The course was beautiful,” Karnazes said at the time. “The leaves on the trail, it was gorgeous.”Mackey could not be reached for comment on Thursday. He was on a flight back to his hometown of Fairbanks.Fans cast a record 12.5 million votes in 38 different categories for the event, which will be televised at 8:30 p.m. Sunday on ESPN (cable Channel 34) in Anchorage. Vote totals in the ESPY’s best outdoor athlete category were not available.