Canada's Yukon Quest releases statement on Facebook

In a post on Facebook Thursday morning, Canada's Yukon Quest broke its silence on the news yesterday that there would not be a race in 2026. The brief message lined out the biggest issues the organization faced. As with all of their posts in the last few months, the organization limited comments on the post, but that didn't stop a multitude of fans and mushers from sharing the post far and wide on social media.

"As you may have gathered from the flurry of CBC activity," the organization wrote, "there is presently no Yukon Quest sled dog race organized for 2026.

The reasons are quite long in the making, but the volunteer Board that formed in June 2025 inherited a debt of over $30,000 from the previous Board and Race Organization. The debt issue overshadowed everything the new Board tried e.g. one is not allowed to have a raffle license in the Yukon if the proceeds are to pay off debt; and of course divisions arose about the route, although the Rangers wouldn't prep a route on the Yukon River because of the dangers of thin ice...and so the Board became inactive one by one.

The Board could have accessed the funds from YG, except there are strict requirements to access such money, involving marketing plans, detailed budgets and detailed monthly cash flow projections - somewhat beyond most volunteer Board members - to access the money a professional was required to complete the paperwork in order to access the money ... that was needed to pay the professional...Catch 22, the money's there, but money is first needed to pay someone to complete the paperwork, and the Board was sitting on $30k of inherited debt.

If you wish to follow mushing in the Yukon, the sport and people who love and work with their dogs, we suggest you look up these sites:  Yukon Odyssey ,  Yukon Dog Mushers Association  (YDMA),  Dog Powered Sports Association of the Yukon (DPSAY). 

The Quest simply became a business that lost contact with, and failed to nurture, its base: the sport, culture, people and dogs of mushing.

Happy Trails!"

The Yukon Quest in Canada was scheduled to be a 100mile race starting from Whitehorse on January 31, 2026. Alaska's Yukon Quest is still set to start on February 7 in Fairbanks, Alaska, and will travel in a loop of 750miles back to Fairbanks.

What are your thoughts on the Yukon Quest's statement? Do you think it can be saved? Should it? Comment with your ideas below!

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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!

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Su Dog 300 announces cancelation

In a quick turn of events the Su Dog went from "it's a go" to "it's a no" Friday as they took to their social media platforms to announce they were cancelling the inagural race. Just last night the race organization was confident they could put on a race with the only caveat being that mushers would get wet. 

Though the response on the original posting of the race would go on inspite of forecasted storms was positive, it seems that the response behind the scenes was not. In comments on Friday's announcements race organizers stressed that this was NOT due to trail conditions and was due to negative messages they recieved from some of the mushers concerned with the race's decision.

"Just to be clear," race organizer Karin Hendrickson commented on the post, "nowhere did we say we that the decision was made due safety concerns. The trails are fine, the creek crossings are solid, and we run dogs all the time in rain."

Many fans and mushers were quick to comment words of encouragement while also sharing their disappointment that it would not happen this year. Organizers further commented, "we fully support mushers being concerned for their dogs! It's the less-than-kind words we've received that hit harder." Many mushers defended the race saying that they appreciated their hard work and dedication to make a race happen in less than ideal conditions.

"We want to support the ENTIRE community," wrote the Su Dog, "not just those that agree with us. We are committed to being a community event, for everyone!"

The race promises to try again next year. This will be the second weekend in Alaska without a premier mid-distance race.

Thoughts on today's news? Comment below.

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John Beargrease 40th run canceled due to lack of snow

As the Midwest continues to experience a historically whacky winter of no snow nor freezing temperatures, the mushing community has anxiously watched their season disappear. Most teams were still training teams with ATVs instead of the traditional sleds over the Christmas holiday. Races preparing for late January and Early February starts made statements warning that decisions would be announced after the new year.

Gunflint was first to announce a postponement of their race. With a race date of January 6, they had to announce a change of date as soon as possible. December 23 they announced that they would postpone the race until February 10, saying they took into account dates of other races so as not to take from anyone. Race officials say they need at least two feet of snow and frozen lakes to be able to pull off a race and will be watching weather reports obsessively.

Then today, January 2, the news broke with the release of the statement by the John Beargrease board that there would be no Beargrease in 2024. They could not find a future date that would not interfere with other races and so they've chosen to postpone the 40th running for a year citing the new date as January 26, 2025.

"For Immediate Press Release:

RE: John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon 2024 Race

January 2, 2024

After months of waiting for the weather to cooperate, the Board of Directors for the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon has made the decision to postpone the 40th running to January 26, 2025. This was not an easy decision. But, with concerns over the weather, safety of the dogs, mushers and volunteers it was the only decision that we felt comfortable with.

There have been many discussions about postponing to a later date this winter but the weather is unpredictable. Likewise, in the effort to find a postponement date and in the spirit of sportsmanship, there was not another date that didn’t impede on another established race.

The Beargrease will continue to have several fundraising events so stay tuned to our socials and website for how you can continue to support this amazing race that we all love so much."

Mushers in the region had already made alternate plans seeing the writing on the wall that their winter season was in jeopardy. Ryan Redington and Wade Marrs posted over the weekend that they were on the road with a full dog truck headed for Knik Alaska to run the Knik 200. Redington also announced he was on the roster for the Kusko 300 - replacing Brent Sass who has chosen to focus on training for bigger races this season. Any team from the Midwest facing no snow for the season who plan to run the Iditarod will no doubt have to make similar decisions to head north earlier than originally planned - with no Beargrease to run in January those moves could happen at any time.

With no winter weather in the forecast for the foreseeable future, races are now asking everyone to "think snow!"