At about 11:15am Alaska time, Eddie Burke Jr. was first to the finish line on Knik Lake to win the Knik 200. Considered a newcomer by many, Burke sticking with the lead teams and then taking the lead surprised mushing fans - but not his fans nor his kennel.
As he stopped the team and jumped off to celebrate with his team he yelled out to Kale Casey filming live at the finish that he was no longer a wildcard. The musher gave pets to all of the dogs and a big bear hug from his daughter before signing off the trail as the 2023 Champion.
Eddie is running a team out of Aaron Burmeister's Wildstyle Racing Kennel. Burke has been training under Burmeister's mentorship for about three years now and is looking to complete his first Iditarod in March. Brent Sass would finish several minutes behind him with a happy strong team.
As Brent spoke with Eddie after taking care of their teams. "I thought you were Nic, that's how much I know! I really thought you were Nic!"
So it isn't just trackers that are confused out there.
It was a great ending.
ReplyDeleteFor sure!
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