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FINISHED FIRST – Brent Sass at the finish line of the Yukon Quest 350 in Fairbanks, Alaska Tuesday morning. Matt Hall finshed second and Deke Naaktgeboren finished third. Photo courtesy of WHITNEY MCLAREN
Brent Sass captures Yukon Quest 350 title
Brent Sass has won his fourth Yukon Quest, crossing the finish line in Fairbanks at 6:09 this morning (Alaska time).
Brent Sass has won his fourth Yukon Quest, crossing the finish line in Fairbanks at 6:09 this morning (Alaska time).
The veteran musher from Eureka, Alaska finished the Yukon Quest 350 in two days and 19.5 hours.
The regular 1,000-mile Quest was cancelled this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Both Alaska and the Yukon race organizations chose instead to each run shorter races on their side of the border.
The Alaska race began last Saturday. The Alaska 350 went from Fairbanks to Two Rivers and back.
The Yukon Quest 300 will begin in Whitehorse on Feb. 19. Sass is signed up to run the race on the Yukon side.
Mushers will race through Braeburn to Mandanna Lake and back to Whitehorse.
Race marshal Doug Grilliot said this morning he chatted with Sass after he crossed the finish line.
“A few people came out,” he said of the gathering at the finish. “It was early in the morning, but we had a nice little crowd and everybody was appreciative.
“We had about 50 people at the finish,” Grilliot added. “That is pretty good for 6:30 in the morning on a weekday.”
Sass first of all thanked his handlers and the race organization.
“He talked a little about the challenges on the trail,” Grilliot said. “He was very positive and enjoyed the race ... and he had a great time.”
He said Sass found the trail to be in pretty good shape.
Grilliot said Sass has a tremendous team this year.
“He is really looking forward to coming down to the Yukon to compete.”
Sass won his first Yukon Quest in 2015. He repeated as Quest champion in 2019 and again in 2020.
Sass is currently the only Alaskan musher signed up to run the race on this side of the border.
The Quest champion started and finished with 14 dogs.
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Comments (1)
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My Opinion on Feb 8, 2022 at 4:23 pm
I am glad that the organizers found a way to make this work. HOWEVER please explain to me how running a 350 mile race in Alaska, then running a 300 mile race in Yukon with exactly the same competitors makes any scientific sense at all. When are we stopping these mandates and foolishness. Yes we can be as safe as our personal situation requires and that is reasonable. But all of this control and disruption to commerce and business has to stop. Let's move on.