2023 Copper Basin 300 musher roster

The Copper Basin, the toughest 300 miles in Alaska - or for sure the coldest. It's also one of the most popular of races in Alaska. This year's roster is a lot of well known names as well as hopeful qualifiers for future Iditarods and Quests. The Knik 200 was chilly enough at -20F for most of the race, but we've seen CB300s that have gotten as cold as -60F (and a lot of teams scratched because of it). This race is not for the faint of heart, and kudos to all who not only run it but volunteer to work it.

As with all of my musher rosters, the list will not be finalized until the night before race day, but for now the twenty nine names are in alphabetical order with each musher's kennel and links. Bib draw is Friday evening, and as usual the roster will be updated to reflect any changes to the roster as well as bib order. Bib draw happened Friday night where the roster was finalized, the honorary musher revealed, and bib numbers listed. Hopefully no one has a frozen truck in the morning and we see everyone at the start line at 10am Saturday!

01 - Honorary Musher, Lance Mackey
02 - Lara Kittelson (Seavey's Ididaride*) - Website / Facebook / Instagram
03 - Anna Hennessy (Shameless Huskies) - Facebook / Instagram
04 - Matt Hall (Smokin' Aces) - Website / Facebook / Instagram
05 - Nicolas Petit (Team Petit) - Website / Facebook / Instagram
06 - Riley Dyche (Dark Horse Sled Dogs) - Website / Facebook / Instagram
07 - Lauro Eklund (Skookum Expeditions) - Website / Facebook / Facebook 2 / Instagram / Instagram 2
08 - Calvin Daugherty (Seavey's Ididaride) - Website / Facebook
09 - Jeremy Traska (Howling Ridge) - Website / Facebook / Instagram
10 - Justin Olnes (ReRun Kennel) - Website / Facebook / Instagram
11 - Gregg Vitello (Northern Exposure Dog Sledding) - Website / Facebook / Instagram
12 - Misha Wiljes (WW Kennel) - Website / Facebook
13 - Bailey Vitello (Team Bailey) - Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram
14 - Jessie Holmes (Team Can't Stop) - Website / Facebook / Instagram
15 - Vickie Justice (Awl Alaskan Kennel) - Facebook / Instagram
16 - Brent Sass (Wild and Free Mushing) - Website / Facebook / Instagram
17 - Cody Strathe (Squid Acres) - Website / Facebook / Instagram
18 - Hedda Mosleth (Dallas Seavey Racing) - Facebook / Instagram
19 - Paige Drobny (Squid Acres) - Website / Facebook / Instagram
20 - Tucker Costain (Ryno Sled Dog Kennel) - Website / Facebook
21 - Joshua Armstrong (?) - Facebook / Instagram
22 - Louve Tweddell (Echoes Kennel) - Website / Facebook
23 - Ronald Stiffner (Fast and the Furry) - Facebook
24 - Jeffery Deeter (Black Spruce Kennel) - Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram
25 - Richie Beattie (WildThingz) - Website / Facebook / Instagram

*Jonathan Hayes had to withdraw due to musher injury, his place was swapped by another member of Team Seavey, Lara Kittelson (which is why her name is not in order alphabetically.)
**Ashely Dove is off the roster due to her team catching a bug on the Knik 200 which then got passed around to the entire kennel. The dogs are all doing fine and it's a minor illness but better to let it run its course than run with sick dogs - DOGS FIRST ALWAYS.
***Amanda Otto hit a caribou near Cantwell on her way to the race and had to withdraw. All humans and canines are fine, truck and caribou not so much. Amanda says she is bummed, but excited to cheer on everyone running this weekend and will focus on the Quest.

Comment below with any thoughts about the roster, or any corrections. If you like what you see and want to support my addiction (I mean HOBBY) of following these races and stalking (I mean cheering on) the mushers, you can buy me a slice of pizza (that really goes to paying for my internet/web expenses).