Saturday, March 11, 2023

Brent Sass scratches from Iditarod in Eagle Island

Fans learned this morning in a hasty live feed on The Iditarod Facebook Page from Greg Heister that reigning champ Brent Sass had scratched from the race due to "some type of infection where he felt he could not care for his team the way he needed." Heister went on to report that the race was trying to get a plane to Eagle Island to pick up the veteran musher and fly him to Unalakleet for treatment. 

At around 8:40am The Iditarod released an official statement on the scratch:

"Veteran musher and 2022 Iditarod Champion, Brent Sass (bib #14), of Eureka, Alaska,  scratched at 7:42 a.m. today at the Eagle Island checkpoint as he didn’t feel he could care for his team due to current concerns with his periodontal health.

Sass had 11 dogs in harness when he arrived in Eagle Island, all in good health."

Thankfully dogs don't really care if they finish a race, and they no doubt are being treated like the good dogs they are. We wish Brent a speedy recovery.

4 comments:

  1. so sad I was really watching him hard

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    1. It's disappointing. You never want to see an injury of any kind or illness take out a competitor.

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  2. Sad for Brent He was so excited to be racing the iditarod . We will all be here watching for you next year.

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    1. Yes, very disappointing for Brent. He was running a really smart race even with being sick. He'll be back next year and no doubt be in contention for another championship.

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