Yukon Quest 2009

I'm sure you all have been wondering where my dog mushing posts have gone to - I've been attempting to restrain myself a bit. But now the winner of my favorite sled dog race has been announced - congratulations to the winner of the 2009 Yukon Quest - Sebastian Schnuelle!

Sebastian Schnuelle arrives at the finish line in Fairbanks, AK (this year it
started in Whitehorse, YT). Photo by John Hagen & taken from the official
Yukon Quest Page.

It's been a very exciting Quest this year - we all thought we knew exactly who the winner was from the start and then he fell out due to a penalty (well deserved in my opinion although he seems quite sore about it) and then it seemed equally obvious who was next in line but he got stuck a day before the ending of the race on Eagle Summit. It's one of the things I love about dog mushing - the winner is never a given.

Yukon Quest Update

There's been a winner! Lance Mackey crossed the finish line in Whitehorse at 1:23am local time trailed by only 15 minutes by rookie & second place winner Ken Anderson. This is Mackey's 4th win for this race, the most anyone has ever won it. It took more then 10days to complete. The race for 3rd, 4th, & 5th place is still tight with Michelle Phillips, David Dalton, & Brent Sass running close together. Kyla Boivin is currently running in the red lantern spot (the last racer in wins a red lantern which is a very honorable place).

Some highlights of the race this year:

*The jumble ice on the Yukon River on the Alaska side was a real challenge to all mushers. Julie Estey torn her ACL/broke her leg (?) on the ice and had to continue on until the next check-in point which was still miles away at Slavin Cabin. Slavin's Cabin is off the road system so they had to figure out a way to air evacuate her.

*Early in the race one of the rookie mushers was Withdrawn by race officials because veterinarians were concerned about the well being of his dogs. The Quest is a race that takes the well being of the dogs very much into account.

*Frank Turner, the oldest musher (60yrs) who has raced the Quest for 24 out it's 25 year existence (a real record), scratched early on citing that he was too old for this race anymore and the his wife should divorce him if he tries to run it again.

*So far we've had 8 mushers scratch (scratch is what it's called when you decide not to finish the race for whatever reason)

*One of the racers had to give one of her dogs mouth-to-mouth

I'll give you at least one more final update (don't want to bore you too much with mushing news) but there is also the NEXT RACE to look forward to: The Iditarod starts March 1st in downtown Anchorage.

The Yukon Quest Begins

Tomorrow is race day for the Yukon Quest (http://www.yukonquest.com/), my favorite dog mushing race in existence! The Yukon Quest is a 1,000 mile dog mushing race between Fairbanks, Alaska, USA and Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada and true to it's name the course primarily follows the mighty Yukon River which in it's frozen form was the primary highway into the north in the days of the gold rush. The race alternates which city it starts in and where it ends and is one of the wildest, remotest, and longest of all the sled dog races out there. This year it will start in Fairbanks and end in Whitehorse. You bet that many Fairbanksans will be out there volunteer dog handling at the start on the Chena River and that along the race routes every village along the way will greet the mushers enthusiastically, and there will be people waiting up at all hours of the night in Whitehorse to cheer the mushers across the finish line. This year it looks like there will be 24 intrepid mushers, all of whom have profiles up on the website. There are familiar names up there that I will be cheering along the way.

Dogs impatiently waiting to start by their mushing truck, Quest 2004. Each truck has a symphony of excited dog sounds.

This race more then any other race, in my opinion, challenges the musher's wilderness and survival skills. They must carry certain gear in order to chop their sled out of ice if they should break through, chase off a an attacking moose, food for themselves and their dogs as well as straw for their dogs to bed on. Often the temperatures for this race are well below -40F/C and one days when it warms up too much the mushers have to rest during the day and race during the night to keep their animals from heating up to much. This year it looks like overflow, when river water flows over the frozen ice, will be a big challenge along the race course. Overflow can present a real problem, having dog feet and runners in water in very cold temperatures causes major ice formation on both creating a need for frequent stops to keep feet healthy and runners slidable.

Lining out the team, which is so excited it has to be braked by a snowmachine from the rear, Quest starting line, Fairbanks, 2004.

I'll miss listening to the bark of the excited dogs and the live trail coverage as part of my morning wake-up ritual but I am glad that in this day and age I can still get my fix by listening to it by podcast at KUAC (Fairbanks' public radio station).

Edited to note: It's the 25th anniversary of this race this year!

PS - abernier, if you are reading this, send me an email so I can answer your question more thoroughly!