Two more races cancel 2026 events

While the Copper Basin 300 is set to be an exciting race in Alaska this weekend, two races announced they would not run in 2026. As Alaska sees record cold temps and record snow accumulation (thinking of you, Juneau!) the Lower 48 is still waiting for winter weather causing races to continue to cancel or postpone in hopes of better conditions. And another beloved race is looking at an uncertain future with a cancelation fans did not see coming.

Late Wednesday Morning (Pacific Time) the Eagle Cap Extreme Sled Dog Race announced that the race scheduled for January 22 is canceled. Citing lack of snow to be able to put in safe trails, the race took to Facebook to deliver the news. "We held off making this decision for a few days because of the current storm cycle approaching the area," the race wrote.

"I spoke with a forecaster at the National Weather Service yesterday to get a better idea as to the storm track and timing," the missive continued. "It turns out the forecast was pretty accurate and the storm has tracked well north of us leaving us with rain and a very light dusting of snow. This morning saw lots of blue sky in Wallowa County. Going into next week, we are seeing a warming trend with no additional significant moisture."

The Eagle Cap is the only Iditarod and Quest Qualifier run in Oregon and while the rosters are smaller than what Canadian and Alaska races see, it's a healthy one with many loyal kennels. Comments from mushers and fans alike flooded the Facebook announcement Wednesday with most being grateful for the early announcement so they could make arrangements to run other races outside of Oregon. Others asked if for future years an optional second site for the race could be chosen. 

Wednesday afternoon saw the second cancelation announcement, this one coming from Canada. From an article on the CBC website, the mushing community learned that there will not be a Yukon Quest run in Canada in 2026. The race was scheduled to run on January 31, but little had been released about the race. The Quest in 2025 chose to lock its Facepook posts down not allowing anyone to comment on what they shared. It had many side-eying the race and wondering just what was going on with the beloved event.

While the official reason for the race seems to be something of "volunteer burnout" with the board of directors, there seems to be a little more to it. In the CBC article former board members chimed in with their thoughts and disappointments on the organization. Citing challenges like climate change, trail changes, and community support - it seems the race has no shortage of excuses for why things couldn't come together in 2026.

Pointedly one musher who was a former board member made note that the way the organization handled this year's race information was "disrespectful to mushers." 

This year's race was planned to only be a one hundred mile race, about 350 miles shorter than last year's Quest, and 900miles shorter than its original structure of a cross border race into Alaska. The 1000mile race ended in 2022 when the two boards that ran the International race decided to divorce each other over organizational disagreements (the most public one being about rest schedules and how to track rest). Some also argue that the dwindling roster numbers made it continually difficult to run a successful race with a purse participants came to expect from the race.

This year the Alaskan version of the Quest is set to take place February 7 and has a 750mile loop trail starting and ending in Fairbanks planned with a decent number of mushers signed up to run.

Are you surprised by today's cancelations? Thoughts on the Yukon Quest issues? Comment below with your thoughts!

Buy me a slice of pizza to help keep the blog up and running. It's always appreciated but never expected.  

No 1000 mile race for the Quest in 2024

 The boards of both the Yukon Quest Alaska and Yukon Quest Canada released a joint statement Wednesday saying they will not come together to host the thousand mile race across the Yukon Territories of Alaska and Canada. After dealing with the borders closing during the Covid-19 Pandemic, and then a major shake up within the organization that saw the two boards split and go their separate ways, fans were not completely shocked at the announcement this week.

Depending on which side you talk to the split is basically blamed on failure to compromise. One side wants to revamp how the race is run, the other wants to share the financial strain. If you listen to the talk by mushers, former members, and longtime fans - it's a little more ego at fault than anything else. Either way, Mom and Dad are still separated and they aren't sharing custody of the kids, it's a Parent Trap situation.

The statement reads:

"The Yukon Quest Alaska and Yukon Quest Canada boards held a joint board meeting on April 18th, 2023. The boards discussed moving forward with separate races for 2024 while also coming together to support the spirit of the race and celebrate the history of the 1,000-mile race.

The boards want to let Quest fans around the world know they can look forward to world class distance races in 2024 in both Canada & Alaska. Even though the 1,000-mile traditional Yukon Quest is still on hold, the boards will continue to explore ways to once again bring it to life for mushers and fans alike.

More details on race distances and trails coming soon."

Fans were excited to see the two entities had, at least, come together to discuss the possibility of returning to the historical 1000 mile race across Alaska and Canada. However, like last year, they concluded to keep with two separate races for next season. No information was given for what those races would like like or what distances would be run. Alaska ran a somewhat larger roster (not by much for their longest distance), did not have the online and media infrastructure of Canada, and had an iffy decision by the race marshal choosing to withdraw a team they felt was no longer competitive (which the board reversed after the race concluded). Canada had much smaller rosters, had the better social media and website, and had no questionable calls by officials. 

Overall both boards ran successful, very exciting races, and it gave many hope for a reconciliation in the future. However, it could also be argued that because both entities were successful they no longer feel the need to work with the other. All of this, of course, is conjecture and speculation. Many commented on the statement on social media last night still very positive for 2025 and beyond, so it's still a wait and see if we will ever see the Yukon Quest in its former glory.

The 1,000 mile race was last run in 2020.