Showing posts with label yukon quest 2012. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yukon quest 2012. Show all posts

Friday, January 6, 2012

So much for taking time off!

Schnulle at the start of Iditarod 37,
March 2009
After racing a very exhausting competitive season last year, Sebastian Schnuelle announced that he would take the 2011-2012 racing season off to go sailing and visit friends and family around the globe. Schnuelle tried to take a break the season before, but quickly found himself signing up for the big races around Alaska and Canada.

This season, Schnuelle gave many of his dogs over to another musher and headed outside to "see the sun," as he put it. Soon, though, Schnuelle actively followed the first races of winter, giving his advice and online commentary via his facebook accounts. Then news broke that he would be running the Copper Basin 300 race (being held next weekend). He posted that he was working on his CB300 drop bags, and begrudged his unwavering obsession.

Then rumors swirled earlier this week that Schnuelle had signed up for the Yukon Quest. Some fans scoffed, his name was not on the race website, Schnuelle was taking a break from the big races.

Schnuelle put that talk to rest this morning with his update to his facebook page: "signed up for the Quest. Damn, I AM addicted."
The Yukon Quest is the second most popular long distance sled dog race in Alaska, and the only international race in North America. The race begins in Fairbanks and crosses over the Canadian border. While the Iditarod is now known as the "glamor" race with its well groomed trails and temperate weather, the Quest is known to be brutal. Many Quest mushers who go on to run the Iditarod pump the Quest to be the more challenging of the two (though Hugh Neff took that back after the difficulties of last year's Iditarod).
The 2011 Quest was an exceptionally challenging one, with many of the top names having to scratch due to adverse weather conditions. Once front runner Hugh Neff scratched (a dog died on the trail, which devastated the musher, who then ended up trapped on the mountain during a snow storm), Schnuelle was poised to take the title, but flooding on the Yukon caused other mushers to become trapped on the ice. Schnuelle helped several out of danger, including the eventual winner, Dallas Seavey, who came in just minutes before Schnuelle.
The Quest begins Feb. 4, 2012.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

It's a Rookie Invasion?

With the deadline to register just a couple days away, the 2012 Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race looks to be a field of rookies. So far the official roster has thirty mushers, nineteen of which are rookies. With Hans Gatt retired, and Sebastian Schnuelle taking a year off, the two top named veterans are former Quest and Iditarod Champion Lance Mackey and fan favorite (as well as consistently strong competitor) Hugh Neff. Mackey is the only champion to win both the Quest and Iditarod in the same year (his first Iditarod winning year, 2007). Neff was poised to take the Quest title last year but the death of a dog and horrible weather conditions forced the musher to scratch.

Other notable Quest Veterans in this year's race are Allen Moore, Sonny Lindner and David Dalton.

The biggest news, however, to come out of the musher roster is a team of Eastern European kennels have joined together to travel and compete in the race. All rookies, it's bringing a new and exciting element to the second most popular race in Alaska - and the only sled dog race that travels across the border into Canada making it a one of a kind event in North America.

2011 Quest Champion, Dallas Seavey, is not currently on the roster. No word if he will compete in the Quest this season or not. Seavey is part of an Iditarod mushing dynasty (third generation) as well as the youngest to complete the Iditarod and win the Quest.