ANCHORAGE, Alaska — As a young boy growing up in Norway, Thomas Waerner spent idle hours thinking long and hard about two different kinds of iconic American modes of transportation: muscle cars and the sled dogs in the Iditarod.

Waerner, 47, made one of those dreams reality on Wednesday, winning the nearly 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometer) Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across Alaska. He took a commanding lead in the late stages of the race and beat the second-place musher, three-time champion Mitch Seavey, by nearly six hours. Thirteen other mushers also have finished the race, and the remainder of the top five were Jessie Royer of Fairbanks in third, Brent Sass of Eureka in fourth and Nome native Aaron Burmeister in fifth.

“This is awesome,” Waerner said

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