An Atlanta native is spending Saturday in the most competitive sled dog race in Alaska: Itidarod: The Last Great Race. He had four days to prepare, mentally.

Sean Underwood is filling in for his 63-year-old mentor and four-time Iditarod champion, Jeff King, who had to suddenly withdraw from the race after having emergency surgery Monday for a perforated intestine.

The champion musher said the pain started that morning with terrible stomach cramps that came and went as he was getting ready to drive south to Anchorage.

“I decided it was something I’d eaten,” King told Alaskan Public Media from his hospital bed in Anchorage Tuesday afternoon. “It turned into a passable pain in my stomach.”

Doctors discovered he had a hole in the wall of the gastrointestinal tract, which can quickly lead to sepsis and death. A surgeon removed 10 inches of his lower intestine. While King is expected to leave the hospital in a week, his recovery will take months.

"I was just happy the man was alive and alert," Underwood told GPB News. "He had a real serious scare and it was a lot of mixed emotions," Underwood said.

Those emotions ran the gamut from fear of losing a friend to the excitement of competition to the thought of how tough that competition will prove. But Underwood said he appreciates the opportunity.

"I was the only one on our crew that's qualified to run the Iditarod," he said.

Underwood earned a unanimous vote from the review board, in an unprecedented situation, and told his mother he would be joining these dogs at the starting line in just four days.

Underwood, 28, graduated St. Pius X Catholic High School and Georgia Southern University before heading into Central and South America, where he spent a year learning to speak Spanish fluently and getting to know relatives in Chile.

He then headed to Alaska in the summer of 2015 to fish commercially with his aunt, uncle and a cousin on Kodiak Island, which is off the mainland of Alaska.

Two summers later, he survived his first winter. That's when King, who was a friend of the family, hired Underwood to work with his Husky Homestead crew. King was born and raised in California, and moved to Alaska in 1975 in search of adventure, according to his bio.

Underwood went on to finish six seasons as a winter handler, summer guide and driver.

He considers the dogs family.

"I'm with them every day in the trenches, so to speak," Underwood said. "I love them to death. To them, I'm like their dad."

The Iditarod runs from Anchorage to Nome and is considered the toughest sled dog race in the country, covering 1,000 miles of mountain ranges, frozen river, dense forest, desolate tundra and windswept coast. The route follows a natural historic trail and is considered a tribute to Alaska’s history and the role the sled dog played.

The race also brings awareness to the diphtheria epidemic in 1925, when a relay of dog teams ran through incredible terrain that winter bringing serum to Nome to help stop the spread of the disease and save the infected.

While Underwood said the historic nature of his run isn't lost on him, he knows there are challenges ahead.

"I know people who've mushed since they could walk and they spent 20 more years preparing for it and they still get to the finish line and say, 'Oh, my gosh, that was a real doozy of a race,'" he said.

Another challenge is coronavirus, which causes the deadly COVID-19 disease that has killed more than 3,300 people worldwide since its discovery in China late last year. People from all over the globe travel to Alaska for Iditarod and, last week, race officials sent mushers a memo on the potential of the virus to affect dogs, Anchorage Daily News reported Friday.

CORONAVIRUS: News And Official Information From GPB

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said Monday no one in the state has tested positive for the virus. But test kits were only recently distributed to the states, GPB News previously reported.

As a proud Southerner, Underwood said he wants to shine a light on his hometown and encourage people to step outside of their comfort zones.

"I just hope this encourages Atlantans to get outside and enjoy the great outdoors," Underwood said. "It is just such a rewarding experience when you find a beautiful place on this planet."

The excited contestant, who will wear No. 46, picked up his number Friday. He said his family in Chile inspired him to embrace a different lifestyle than he did in suburban Atlanta.

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