EAGLE, Alaska — The first Yukon Quest dog teams have arrived at Eagle, the first checkpoint in Alaska.

Race front-runners Brent Sass glided in at 5:00 Alaska time this morning.

Hugh Neff arrived at 8:23, followed by Matt Hall at 10:09.

The trio, followed by Allen Moore and Ed Hopkins, had all left the Dawson City checkpoint Thursday morning after taking their mandatory 36 hours of rest.

Sass had a four-hour lead over second-place musher Hugh Neff when he left Dawson. Sass was still in the lead and was expected into Eagle first.

Neff fell out of second place during the run to Eagle. But it may be only temporarily because he appears to have taken rest earlier than the three teams that passed him, according to GPS tracker data.

From Dawson, the Yukon Quest trail travels 50 miles down the Yukon River to the gold mining ghost town of Fortymile, where the Fortymile River flows into the Yukon.

Early in the day Thursday, airplanes flying low over the Yukon River because of cloudy weather spotted Sass and his team between Dawson and Eagle. Sass had almost reached the Fortymile seven hours into his run.

From the town of Fortymile, mushers continue up the narrow Fortymile River for 45 miles to reach the Taylor Highway, a road that’s unmaintained in the winter months.

Mushers climb the highway over 3,420-foot American Summit, the second of four summits they will climb on the trail.

By Sam Friedman
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner