Brent Sass holds off Jessie Holmes to win Copper Basin

Brent Sass at finish with Ace and Slater.
Screencap from Kale Casey Live.

Brent Sass flew into the finish line a little before 3:15pm Alaska time Monday winning the 2024 Copper Basin 300. As the sun was setting along the mountain ridge fans watching in Glennallen as well as online (thanks to Kale Casey) Brent's bright parka came out through the trees and it was no doubt Wild and Free would be champion.

Sass didn't have much time for celebration under the arch, however, as Jessie Holmes came in just a minute or so later. Suddenly it meant much more sense why Brent was skipoling and running with his team into the finish. The champion crouched for a quick winner's picture with his team and the trophy before picking up and running out of the way for Jessie's to sign off the trail.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Brent would tell Kale Casey on the live feed regarding the footrace at the end against his friend and competitor Jessie.

Sass wasn't even supposed to race this weekend. The musher had announced around Christmas time that he was downsizing his racing schedule and Copper Basin was not in his plans, but at what seemed the last minute he reconsidered. Sass placed second in last weekend's Knik 200, coming in just seconds behind young phenom Emily Robinson. 

Sass and Holmes spent most of the Copper Basin leap frogging each other, and many knew they would be close together when they finished. The trackers, as on cue, went dark just two miles from the finish so it was anyone's guess if Jessie would overtake the 2022 Iditarod Champion. Brent kept a mile between them for the last 20 miles or so, and his team didn't slow even as they came into the finisher's chute.

Next up into the finish should be Cody Strathe from Squid Acres who has a nice cushion between he and the fourth and fifth place teams - which the race for fourth will be another nailbiter between Matt Hall and Paige Drobny. Teams will continue to come through the finish tonight and tomorrow morning. 

2024 Copper Basin 300 musher roster

The "hardest 300 mile" sled dog race is this weekend and it has a healthy roster of veterans and newbies alike. While all of the mushers have many miles under their belts, there's a big gap between experiences. We have a couple of Iditarod Champions, several rookies, and all those in between. Famous family names, a couple of "reality stars" (who are more than just an Alaskan version of the Kardashians)... and all of them are gearing up for a 300 miles race known for its tough trails and frigid cold temps.

We'll discuss that all in the race preview in the coming days, but let's look at the roster as it stands. Note that if you go to the race's web page they still have withdrawn mushers listed, but this roster has taken them off - as well as two names that have announced on their social media pages that they are not planning to run after all (Brent Sass and Matt Randall). So this roster may not look like the official one, however once bib numbers are drawn we'll know who all will be racing and the roster will be updated on the blog to reflect those changes.

Without further adieu:

Honorary Musher (Bib 1) Tim Taylor

Bib	Musher	Kennel	Link	Link	Link
2	Daniel Klein	Redington Mushing	Website	Facebook	Instagram
3	Jacob Witkop	Piledriver Kennel		Facebook	Instagram
4	Hunter Keefe	Redington Mush Alaska	Website	Facebook	Instagram
5	Nicholas Petit	Team Petit Racing	Website	Facebook	Instagram
6	Kelsey Winters	Can't Stop Racing Kennel?		Facebook	Instagram
7	Sadie Lindquist	Seavey's Ididaride	Website	Facebook	Instagram
8	Lara Kittelson	Seavey's Ididaride	Website	Facebook	Instagram
9	Cody Strathe	Squid Acres	Website	Facebook	Instagram
10	Kristy Berington	Seeing Double Racing	Website	Facebook	Instagram
11	Joey Sabin	VOA Racin	Website	Facebook	Instagram
12	Emily Ford	Shameless Huskies	Website	Facebook	Instagram
13	Tony Angelo	Bella Kennel		Facebook
14	Jessie Holmes	Can't Stop Racing Kennel	Website	Facebook	Instagram
15	Matt Hall	Silver Ace Sled Dogs	Website	Facebook	Instagram
16	Justin Olnes	ReRun Kennel	Website	Facebook	Instagram
17	Josi Thyr	There & Back Again Sled Dogs	Website	Facebook	Instagram
18	Samantha LaLonde	Dallas Seavey Racing		Facebook	Instagram
19	Sydnie Bahl	Dream a Dream Kennel	Website	Facebook
20	Elke Hall	Silver Ace Sled Dogs	Website	Facebook	Instagram
21	Dallas Seavey	Dallas Seavey Racing	Website	Facebook	Instagram
22	Jonah Bacon	Nautique Sky Kennel	Website	Facebook	Instagram
23	Treven Hunter	Dallas Seavey Racing		Facebook	Instagram
24	Michael Dolinar	Happy Trails Kennel		Facebook	Instagram
25	Misha Wiljes	WW Kennel	Website	Facebook
26	Lauro Eklund	Skookum Expeditions	Website	Facebook	Instagram
27	Annette Llanes	Honky Tonk Kennel		Facebook	Instagram
28	Paige Drobny	Squid Acres	Website	Facebook	Instagram
29	Michael Parker	Northern Whites Kennel	Website	Facebook	Instagram
30	Sean Williams	Alaska Mushing School	Website	Facebook	Instagram
31	Brent Sass	Wild & Free Racing	Website	Facebook	Instagram
32	Matt Paveglio	Werewolf Mushing	Website	Facebook	Instagram
33	Calvin Daugherty	Seavey's Ididaride	Website	Facebook	Instagram

Edited 8:30pm January 12.

Who are you excited to see on the list? Predictions? Comment below with your thoughts and who you're cheering for!

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

Petit and Sass race to the finish

The front runners for the Copper Basin 300 are in the home stretch. With just about 8 miles to go, Nicolas Petit looks to clinch the title once again as champion of the CB300. Brent Sass is a solid two miles behind the Big Lake musher, and is quickly running out of time to catch up much less pass. 

Petit took a moment from the runners this morning as he left the last checkpoint in Chistochina to send out a quick message reading simply, "Turned on the afterburners." For a musher who just last weekend conceded his time may have come to an end of being champion of mid-distance races, it seems his prediction was premature.

Or was it a prediction? Nic is known to enjoy playing mental games with his competitors (and tease his fans) and it appears that is exactly what he was trying to do after his third place finish in the Knik 200.

Seventeen miles behind Nic are Jessie Holmes and Matt Hall. Hall is down to eight dogs, Jessie has nine but also has the speed. Their trackers are not consistently pinging so it's difficult to tell who is actually ahead of the other at this point. 

Look for the finishers to begin arriving close to Noon Alaska time.

Sass, Petit, and Hall lead Copper Basin, several teams scratch

It should be no surprise that the top three are out of the Meier's Lake checkpoint within a couple of miles of each other. Brent Sass was first to leave at just before 7pm, Nicolas Petit followed twenty eight minutes later. Even though Matt Hall was second into the checkpoint, he was third out nearly an hour later. 

While there is an hour difference between second and third, Hall has the most rest banked out of the top three. He is running as fast as the top two and only needs two more hours of mandatory rest. Petit needs two and half hours, and Sass three.

The chase pack is starting to leave the checkpoint now, with Hedda Mosleth leading that charge. Hedda is running a team from Dallas' Seavey's kennel, and it does not appear that she is running conservatively. She's keeping up "with the big boys" and may play a spoiler. 

Five teams have scratched on the run between Lake Louise and Meier's Lake. Trail reports from those that made the difficult decision to scratch said that the deep snow and "moose tracks" created conditions that gave many teams minor injuries - causing mushers to either run the second half of the race with a small team, or call it a day. All teams report no major injuries, but they want to keep it that way.

Moose tracks in deep snow can cause a problem for dogs as the holes the moose make in the trail are much deeper than the dogs can step in causing falls and pulled muscles. This type of post holing is not just physically dangerous it's also mentally demanding of the dogs and at the end of the day if they dogs aren't loving it - you're in it for the wrong reasons.

The five teams who've scratched so far are:
Jeff Deeter
Cody Strathe
Vickie Justice
Riley Dyche
Richie Beattie

Not every team that's scratched has "checked in" with followers to give their exact reasons, but the top teams that pulled out earlier have.

With just over 100 miles left to go for the frontrunners, do not expect a winner until late morning (at the earliest) finish on Monday. As stated, they still have three to four hours of rest they have to take on top of keeping up top speeds to make a morning finish even possible - it's more likely afternoon or evening on Monday for teams to show up back in Glen Allen. We'll have a better picture come Monday morning.

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).