American musher Andrew Pace and his sled dog team get ready at the start line for the Yukon Quest in Whitehorse, Yukon on Feb. 2, 2019. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Crystal Schick)
American musher Andrew Pace and his sled dog team get ready at the start line for the Yukon Quest in Whitehorse, Yukon on Feb. 2, 2019. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Crystal Schick)
Canada

Brent Sass, Alaskan Musher, Wins 2019 Yukon Quest With Full Team of Dogs

By The Canadian Press
February 12, 2019 Updated: February 12, 2019

FAIRBANKS, Alaska—Alaskan musher Brent Sass has won the 36th annual Yukon Quest.

This is his second time winning what is considered the toughest dog sled race on the planet.

He crossed the finish line in Fairbanks, Alaska, on Monday afternoon with a full team of 14 dogs.

Thirty teams from Canada, the United States, and as far away as the Czech Republic and New Zealand were at the start line in Whitehorse on Feb. 2 to compete in the 1,600 kilometre race.

By completing the race and being the first musher to make it to Dawson City, Sass will also take home two ounces of Klondike placer gold worth about $3,400.

Sass said he went into the race with a plan and a schedule.

“My goals were to have fun, to kill my run on Birch Creek, and be competitive, and we did all three of those goals, so that’s great,” he said after the win.

For the first time since 2003, mushers had to truck their teams between Braeburn, the first checkpoint north of Whitehorse, and Carmacks, about 75 kilometres further along the route.

Mushers and race organizers were concerned about the lack of snow and warmer weather along the trail.

Jason Biasetti’s sled dogs wait in their crates in Whitehorse, Yukon on Feb. 2, 2019. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Crystal Schick)

Sgt. John Mitchell with the Canadian Rangers said earlier that a 32-member squad had been working on the Yukon side of the trail and conditions improved over the last week.

This year’s prize purse is $115,000, down slightly from the $125,000 awarded last year. The first 15 finishers will share a percentage of the pot.

A haze hangs around spectators on the Chena River as teams left Fairbanks, Alaska, during the start of the Yukon Quest sled dog race Feb. 3, 2018. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Robin Wood/Fairbanks Daily News-Miner via AP)
A haze hangs around spectators on the Chena River as teams left Fairbanks, Alaska, during the start of the Yukon Quest sled dog race Feb. 3, 2018. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Robin Wood/Fairbanks Daily News-Miner via AP)

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