Whitehorse Daily Star

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Photo by Christopher Reynolds

STARTING THE FINAL LEG – Brent Sass mushes near/under the Wendell Street Bridge west of Two Rivers en route to Fairbanks.

‘I’m real proud of those 12 dogs down there’

After a roller-coaster final few days that saw him nearly lose his grip on the race

By Christopher Reynolds on February 17, 2015

FAIRBANKS — After a roller-coaster final few days that saw him nearly lose his grip on the race, Brent Sass pulled into Fairbanks a champion in the 2015 Yukon Quest last night, claiming victory for the first time in one of the shortest times on record.

With bulbs flashing and a church bell tolling his arrival, Sass swung past hundreds of cheering fans along the downtown finish chute and crossed the line at 10:52 p.m. Monday, hugging his dogs with a huge grin as his first act as champion.

The 35-year-old musher out of Eureka, Alaska beat Allen Moore, the winner for the past two years, by more than an hour.

“It’s unreal,” Sass said, voice quavering.

“I’m real proud of those 12 dogs down there.”

Tears ran down his cheeks as he thanked his team, his family and his fans “for believing.” Cries of “wild and free” — the name of Sass’s kennel — punctured the air.

Sass gets more than glory as his prize: $24,000 is headed his way, 19 per cent of a $127,000 purse, plus the proceeds from the Quest starter program.

He also claims four ounces of gold — worth about $5,000 — for being the first musher to arrive in Dawson City. Racers must complete the race to claim the yellow stuff.

Sass has now run the gruelling race between Whitehorse and Fairbanks nine times.

He earned the fourth-fastest time in Quest history, taking nine days, 12 hours and 49 minutes to complete the trek.

Moore retains the title of quickest finisher, tackling the trail in under nine days for the past two years when the race was re-routed and shortened significantly due to trail conditions.

This year, the race saw extremely cold weather that worked to slow teams and eliminate a high proportion of mushers. Ten of 26 sled drivers bowed out in the first two- thirds alone.

Piles of jumble ice on the Yukon River north of Dawson and elsewhere also posed problems, taking out a runner on rookie Jason Campeau’s sleigh and prompting a six- hour penalty when he replaced it.

Meanwhile, four-time champion Lance Mackey suffered frostbite on his hands in temperatures that dipped to nearly -50 C, before wind chill.

The weather acted as a wedge, cleaving the slow from the swift.

Last-place musher Rob Cooke, who was resting between Eagle and Circle, Alaska late last night, trailed roughly 450 kilometres behind Sass when the new Quest king crossed the finish line.

Sass blew a 10-hour lead on Moore after he napped for nearly nine hours on a frozen marsh south of Circle through early Sunday morning.

The indulgence cost Sass 40 kilometres of ground, which Moore then built on by blowing by Sass on a desolate stretch of the Deese Highway on Sunday night. There was just over 200 kilometres left to go in the race.

Sass leapt up in his long underwear, prepared his dogs and tore out of the Mile 101 checkpoint — fully dressed by that point — a half hour later.

When they hit the final stopover, a mandatory eight-hour layover in Two Rivers — Moore’s home turf — Sass had all but regained the lost ground.

The two exchanged pleasantries in a tense hour before they launched on the final leg just after 1:30 p.m. Monday.

Sass’s team stuttered at the launch, while Moore’s took off with ease surrounded by fans from his neck of the woods.

But Moore flew past the senior musher several hours into the 72-kilometre stretch.

“This is fun, isn’t it?” he said as he overtook Moore, 57, who shot him a smile.

Mushers are obliged to make room on the trail and let a faster team past — except on the race’s final mile — reflecting the friendly competitiveness that defines the race.

As for extended napping en route, Sass said: “It works! Fall asleep on the trail for 10 hours and you can come in first.”

The runner-up, who crossed the line at 12:06 a.m. Tuesday, looked down but kept his chin up and cracked smiles as he shook hands with Sass in the chute, thanked the crowd for their support and patted his team of 11 dogs one by one.

“They just didn’t have it in them this year,” he said.

That same team brought Moore victory for the last two years. “I thought my team was going to be that team again.”

Sass managed to overcome the “Dawson gold curse,” which supposedly condemns the first musher to the Klondike town to losing the race.

Apparently caught in its spell, the curse — or perhaps exhaustion — caused Sass to fall from his sled as he approached the final checkpoint before the finish line last year, inducing a concussion and taking him out of a race he might well have won.

“I don’t have to give the gold to Allen this year, that’s cool,” Sass laughed, referring to the four ounces of precious metal.

Ed Hopkins, a Tagish-area musher, was in a comfortable third place heading into the race’s final leg Monday morning.

If he finishes third, Hopkins, 50, would be highest-placing Yukoner since Sebastian Schnuelle, who finished second in 2011.

The legendary Hans Gatt, a more long-term Yukon resident (Schnuelle now lives in Alaska), won the Quest for his fourth and final time in 2010. Gatt also claims the fastest finishing time with nine days, zero hours and 26 minutes.

British Columbia rookie Damon Tedford was holding down fourth in Two Rivers early Monday afternoon.

Hugh Neff and his depleted, ragtag team are holding down fifth, followed by Yukoner Normand Casavant in sixth.

See standings update.

Comments (2)

Up 0 Down 1

Ev Voykin on Feb 17, 2015 at 9:29 pm

I have a correction on my comment - It should read 3, 4, 5th and 6th positions. My apologies.

Up 19 Down 1

Ev Voykin on Feb 17, 2015 at 4:51 pm

Great article! Today is also exciting for us Canadians as Hopkins, Tedford, Casavant will take 3,4,5th position and even Hugh Neff who lived in the Yukon for a decade. Can't recall a year when the top 6 were mostly Canadian mushers. Proud of them all.

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