Fast trail sees junior mushers take the lead

Twenty-eight teams took off down the trail Saturday morning on the first leg of the Knik 100. By Saturday afternoon the leaders charged back to the starting line finishing their first fifty miles of the stage race. 

Just over a minute and a half separate the top two teams. Junior mushers Isaac Redington and Emily Robinson will battle it out for the win Sunday, but it's far from their race to lose. The top five teams are close together with about thirty seconds to a minute separating each team. Mushers reported a hard and fast trail for Saturday's start with a packed trail with just a small dusting of snow (making the start a slippery one for handlers).

Isaac Redington will be the first team out at 10am Sunday. The junior musher has a 1min37sec lead over reigning Knik 100 champion Emily Robinson. Robinson, of course, is the junior musher everyone has eyes on as her legend has only grown since she hit the trails several years ago. Last year Robinson played with "the big dogs" and has even bigger racing plans this season. Both junior mushers have a long history with the sport with families that have helped grow their knowledge in the sport. Redington, of course, is a fourth generation musher in his family. Redington's team flew out of the start Saturday morning with the junior musher looking very much in control of the team. Likewise, Robinson looked like a seasoned professional dog musher.

While the juniors were battling for first, "old men" Eddie Burke Jr. and Riley Dyche were close behind coming in third and fourth respectively. Burke is just thirty seconds behind Robinson, with Dyche 1min1sec behind him. Ryan Redington rounds out the top five sitting 1min34 seconds behind Dyche.

Unless weather predictions are completely off, the trail should be much the same Sunday. Teams will leave in the order of their first day placement begining at 10am on Knik Lake. Buckle up, fans, the kick off to the season promises to have a very dramatic finish.

To view a full list of results click here.

Kale Casey will try to go live Sunday on his Facebook page.

Junior musher Emily Robinson defeats Iditarod Champion Sass

Emily Robinson with lead dogs Vickie & Urchin 
at the finish of the Knik 200.
Screencap from Kale Casey Livefeed

In a finish very few saw coming, but most hoped for, Junior Musher Emily Robinson was first into the Knik 200 finish line Sunday afternoon. The teen was all smiles as her team ran under the Knik 200 banner and the crowd realized that it wasn't the 2022 Iditarod Champion Brent Sass as expected but the kid who won the race. 

Brent Sass led on the tracker for most of the second loop, having been passed by Emily before coming into the final checkpoint - though he regained the lead shortly after. As the teams came toward Knik Lake it was evident Emily was gaining on the champion team, but was quickly running out of real estate. In her post race interview with Kale Casey the young musher said that it was a foot race to the finish with both mushers "calling up" their team to encourage a little more speed - and Robinson Racing had that speed in the last mile.

The second day of the Knik 200 saw warmer temperatures, winds blew in late Saturday night and with them temps in the low 30s. There were seven scratches by noon Sunday, several due to musher injury and at least one wrong turn. Sunday afternoon saw another scratch, the weather possibly taking its toll as many of the teams were from the interior where training has been in the negative temperatures. Still the top two teams running were also from up north and seemed to handle the conditions just fine.

Ryan Redington who ran the first loop in the lead managed to hold onto third place - a placement not many expected when he took off Saturday morning considering he was running a bunch of young dogs, but after their 100 mile loop he left a few with handlers and took a smaller team into an even more competitive run. The reigning Iditarod champion was enjoying running dogs on a sled instead of an atv and no doubt was proud to see what his little team could do. Wade Marrs, running Ryan's A team, was given the go ahead before the race started to run the team however he wanted - so he ran them conservatively out of respect for wanting to preserve the team for Ryan's racing season.

Teams will continue to come into the finish, but the top six are all in.

It's not often that junior mushers get to run in 200 mile or more races, and in the Knik junior mushers must have completed at least two 150 mile junior races and proven they can handle a team on their own. There were two junior mushers in the Knik 200 field, Robinson and Isaac Redington. Both are signed up to run the Jr. Iditarod next month.

Sass 20 miles from a win, Robinson hot on his heels

In a confusing morning of watching trackers, where backtracking teams made it look like they were speeddemons and winning a race they'd just restarted hours earlier, it seems most are back on track now and it's Brent Sass who leads the Knik 200. The 2022 Champion was first out of the halfway point early this morning, but just seven minutes behind was Jr Champion and superstar Emily Robinson (yes, this blog has become a full on Robinson stan). Robinson has now closed that gap to less than three minutes - and at one point early on in the run to Eagle Quest 2 was leading - with several hours of mushing still to go it isn't a sure deal who will come first.

Fans woke with confusion when they saw Ed Hopkins already heading into the finish with what the tracker said was an over 30 mile lead on Brent and Emily. What many didn't factor in was that the tracker was only going off of what the map was telling it - with a two loop race course - Hopkins turning around nearly 20 miles into the second loop caused all sorts of problems. Not to worry, however, musher and dogs returned to Knik Lake and are now showing as officially scratched. According to Kale Casey an official statement from the race will come later today.

Dave Turner, Josh McNeal, Joshua Ribbons, Matt Failor, Jessi Downy, and Sarah Giles also scratched today. No official statements out of the kennels yet as to official reasons, but with the temperatures above freezing (it's supposed to be a mix of rain and snow today now) it could be that no one is having much fun. Welfare of the team is always first and foremost.

There are still 31 teams out on the trail, and a champion should finish mid afternoon. 

2024 Knik 200 race preview

A full roster that saw a handful of changes nearly right up to bib draw, the Knik 200 will kick off at 10am on Saturday, January 6, 2024. It's a race that boasts a bunch of strong contenders and veterans, a couple of junior mushers, and a host of newer names fans will enjoy getting to know. The season's "opening qualifier" for the bigger races (like Iditarod and the two versions of the Yukon Quest) is always a popular one, and once again it looks to have perfect trail conditions for a race.

In the Twenty-Teens the Knik saw many postponed and canceled races due to lack of snow, this year, however, is another record breaking snow total for the area and earlier races have gone off without a hitch. The Knik 100 happened right before Christmas and was a huge success, and saw the Junior phenom Emily Robinson take the top prize. Emily is now on the roster for the 200 and the older more veteran mushers know better than to count her out. 

The race will leave from Knik Lake before traveling out to Deshka Landing (where there is not a checkpoint set up for teams to stop) before returning to Knik Lake for a six hour layover (plus time differential) before repeating the loop. The first team will leave the starting line at 10am, but teams must be at the starting chute no later than 8am as vet checks will happen at the start of the race. Each team needs to have one handler who can pick up any "return/drop dogs" at either Deshka Landing or the halfway point. They are also to assist the team coming into and leaving the midway point. 

Weather for this weekend looks to be just below freezing with Saturday seeing a high of 32F. Saturday afternoon is forecasted a "light snow" that will turn to heavy snow overnight and through Sunday. Along with the snow and warm temp, winds will steadily increase throughout the weekend. Sunday will see a high of 34F.

The mushers will get all of their race information, ask questions, and draw their bib numbers at the musher's meeting on Friday night at the Broken Boat Bar. This is also the host of the awards banquet on Sunday. 

The Knik 200 is a race run in Memory of longtime Knik community member and Father of the Iditarod Joe Redington Sr. The sport owes a lot to Redington for reigniting the love of dogs and the sport when it seemed mushing was going extinct thanks to the snow machine (snowmobile for you Cheechakos). He is well represented in this race both behind the scenes as well as on the trail as there are several teams of Redington dogs on the trail.

With (as of January 4 at 9pm) thirty nine teams getting ready to head down the trail, there's any number of scenarios that could happen, but let's take a stab at who may push for the top prize shall we? (We're going with an alphabetized list, this blogger isn't crazy enough to guess just who comes in what place.)

Who to Watch

Matthew Failor - The 2019 Kusko champion and new dad, Matt Failor has to be on anyone's top ten list. Matt learned from some of the sport's best and now boasts a very successful kennel full of happy dogs. Mentored by Martin Buser, you can see that influence in the way Matt is always a positive face on the trail. Look for Matt to have a strong run.
 
Brent Sass - The 2022 Iditarod Champion had a not so great end to his season last year when he was forced to scratch on the Yukon due to a dental emergency. The Quest and Iditarod Champion had signed up for several mid-distance races this season before making an announcement around Christmas that he had chosen to stay closer to home instead of traveling. Sass says the trails around his home in Eureka are prime training and so the Knik 200 is the only race not named Quest or Iditarod he plans to run this season. 

Amanda Otto - Remember when Amanda almost ran down Brent Sass on the final leg of the Yukon Quest Alaska last year? Yeah, she made a monster run look easy and gained a whole lot of respect from fans and mushers. While she's training young dogs don't expect her to not make things exciting this season. She could use the Knik as a way to stretch their legs, or she could be coming out of the gate ready to compete. Either way, you Otto count on Otto.

Wade Marrs - With no snow in the Midwest where Marrs now calls home with his wife and two kiddos and kennel of dogs, Wade traveled with Ryan Redington to Alaska this past week to run in the Knik 200. Marrs is reportedly running Redington's A-Team so that Ryan can focus on working with his puppy team. Marrs and Redington have both shared the excitement of getting to mush on a sled behind dogs and not use an ATV. Because Marrs has the reigning Iditarod Champ's A team in this race, we're looking for Marrs to have the better odds of pushing for a top finish.

Dave Turner - If you've followed this blog a while you know we can't have a race with Dave Turner on the roster and not have his name in the mix for the top dawg. Turner has a good track record in mid-distance races, and even a few wins. Turner could prove to be the spoiler once again.

Nicolas Petit - The "king of the mid-distance" will start off fast and hope he stays fast. Petit likes to let the dogs pick the pace and race schedule most of the time, which works well in the 200 and 300 mile races. The musher is well known for his quirky attitude - often aloof - as well as some of his mishaps (like his many wrong turns over the years). He calls himself dad and the dogs are his kids. Expect much the same this season.

Eddie Burke Jr. - Speaking of new dad, Eddie has a brand spankin' new daughter as of Friday morning. The reigning Knik 200 champion still plans to race this weekend saying "she gave me permission, but I have to win." No doubt he'll be riding high on the excitement of the new bundle, but that may prove a distraction. Burke has also gone from working with Aaron Burmeister's kennel to running a kennel of his own with dogs bought from several mushers. The Iditarod Rookie of the Year has won this weekend either way. 

Emily Robinson - The Junior Mushing Phenom is at it again this season already having won the Knik 100 race against some of these same teams just last month. Emily seems completely unfazed running with the big dogs, having done so several times last season along with winning junior race after junior race. This IS her "biggest race" to date, and with the tad longer trail length it could offer her a challenge. Look for Emily to once again make sure she is a force to reckon with. 

Michelle Phillips - Michelle is one of the top female mushers in the sport, she was very competitive in last year's Knik 200 and there's no indication she won't be again this year. Look for Michelle to start out strong and challenge for the front and stay there.

Travis Beals - The third "new dad" on the list is also running on trails he's recently moved to (within the last year) so they are quickly becoming "home trails". He'll most likely use this as a training run, but if everything is working well he could easily contend for a top spot.

**Not ignoring Ryan Redington, but with his plan being to train the puppy team, it's safe to assume he won't be pushing for the win - look for Wade Marrs with Ryan's A team to try to pull the win off.

Be sure to check out the full roster and follow all of the teams along the way.

How to Watch

For those of us who cannot watch in person, there will be a lot of refreshing of internet pages, here's a run down on how you can follow along with this weekend's race.

Official Website
The race had to restructure their organization a couple of years ago and is now under the direction of the Knik Iditarod Trail Blazers, so they have just a page on their site for the race, but it has the rules and basic information. They also have a way to follow the times in and out LIVE via a spreadsheet (I know there's a group of my readers who LOVE a good spreadsheet).

GPS Tracker
What would we do without these little trackers that drive us crazy when they go haywire (I will always blame the aliens), trackleaders.com will once again keep us obsessively refreshing our screen with their wonderful GPS map. The 2024 map and trackers can be found here.

Social Media
The race is most active on Facebook. The race has not been active on Twitter in years. There's also no Instagram. 

For live feeds I'm told the hope is Kale Casey will be on Knik Lake - though he was due to fly to Alaska Friday. If he is there he'll go live on Facebook!

Schedule of Events

Friday, January 5, 2024
4:00pm-6:00pm Musher's Dinner and Bib Draw

Saturday, January 6, 2024
8:00am Mandatory Vet Check
10:00am Start
**Teams will start on Knik Lake**

Sunday, January 7, 2024
6:00pm Award Banquet

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.