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.
