Lance Mackey’s 15 dogs looked so good coming to the finish line that it was almost inconceivable that they’d just raced nearly 1,000 miles through some of harshest weather the Bering Sea coast can dish out.

I watched the live video feed and was awestruck with the strength and energy of that team. His run times corroborate the images: Six and a half hours to Safety when typically seven hours is considered good for a front-running team, and under three hours from Safety to Nome when the winner often trots along at a three and a half hour pace.

That was clearly the best team on the trail this year. I wish I’d been at the mini convention center in Nome afterwards, where the winner usually takes questions from fans. It would have helped put together pieces of his race.

On the live feed, he told reporters that his one run from Takotna after his 24 hour layover was not supposed to go straight to the ghost town of Iditarod, a 12 hour journey. He packed straw to camp. But his team kept barking and pulling the hook, so he kept going.

Nobody else followed suit, and that single run catapulted him into an enviable position. He followed it up with another 12-plus hour run over to Anvik, and again to Eagle Island. That was nothing new. Front runners did the same moves two years ago. But none of them followed suit in 2009. Probably, none of them could.

Only  a handful of mushers have won three Iditarods in a row: Susan Butcher and Doug Swingley come to mind. Mackey is in pretty good company. But I go back to how sharp his team looked in the home stretch. I’m not sure anybody could match this team that won in 2009.

Looking down the list of the top 20, there are some mild surprises — Dallas Seavey being one. But I’m also struck by the relatively new blood in the top 10. Sebastian Schnuelle wins the Yukon Quest and then takes largely the same dog team and finishes a strong second in the Iditarod. Incredible! Likewise, Aaron Burmeister, Nome’s hometown boy, has never run an Iditarod like this. He and his dogs did and incredible job. And John Baker proved once again that he should always be in your top five picks. What a dog musher.

Meanwhile, it is a heck of a race for fourth place. As I write, Mitch Seavey has pulled about a mile ahead of Burmeister, but those two were looking over their shoulders, no doubt, waiting for Cim Smyth to ignite his booster rockets. Smyth usually makes the run from Safety to Nome in two hours. He could pass all of them if they can’t keep up their speed. He was only

Smyth and Dallas Seavey were neck and neck, just yards apart as they dropped out of the rugged Topkok Hills and hit the section of trail known at the Solomon blowhole. Winds often howl from right to left through there.

Those two were about four miles behind Mitch Seavey.

But just behind Smyth was Jessie Royer, who is no slouch at finishing the Iditarod. If I was a spectator in Nome, I’d be loving this race within the race.

It should be decided, at least the fourth place part, somewhere around 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. Alaska time.