Iron Dog Day 7: Morgan and Olds win 2019 race

For the second year in a row, Team No. 10, of Mike Morgan and Chris Olds, have claimed the Iron Dog title, arriving first in Fairbanks on Saturday.

The duo finished the race with a course time of 34 hours, 27 minutes and 31 seconds, taking home $10,000 for winning the race on Polaris snowmachines.

“It’s surreal, I don’t even have words for it,” Morgan said at the finish line.

He and Olds are the first back-to-back champions since Mark McKenna and Dusty VanMeter, back in 2013.

Similar to their 2018 championship campaign, both Olds and Morgan kept a commanding lead throughout the race, despite being the last team to leave the start line.

Both attributed their success to minimizing mistakes on the trail.

“We didn’t even pull the tool bags out the whole race,” Morgan said. “That’s the name of the game.”

For the 47-year-old Olds, this is his fourth Iron Dog title in 18 years of competing.

“It’s almost more amazing to win being my age, being up here with kids half my age racing, and being competitive,” Olds said. “It wasn’t easy, but it was good to be here.”

When asked if he would go for a fifth title, Olds simply said: “Probably in the cards.”