Eddie Burke Jr wins the 2026 Knik 200

In a race that started off fast and is finishing just as quickly, Eddie Burke Jr. took a commanding lead from the get go and didn't look back. The man who used to "put money down" on races is now one puts money down on while racing. 

Burke won the race in 2023, running a team from his mentor Aaron Burmeister. The team was the one Burke worked with to learn how to mush and would run his rookie Iditarod with. Eddie would completely catch the bug as success came and he branched off on his own with his own kennel. He would run the Knik the next year with his own team before taking time off in 2025 to rebuild his team and be a "new dad" for the second time. 

Before this year's Knik race the musher took to his socials announcing that his team was pretty young and named several yearlings to his team. There was talk that he would go a bit slower because of their age, most onlookers expecting him to maybe take it easy. However, the trail was hard and fast and ones Eddie and team have been running on as of late. His team looked good - so he let them compete.

And compete they did.

Eddie took off down the trail and dominated most of Saturday. It shocked very few when he was first into the finish.

The Knik whizzed by this weekend with what seems like all teams off the trail (the trackers are glitchy and show mileage number instead of FIN). The award banquet is happening now so official standings and awards won will be announced later Sunday.