After a snow free December, snow blew in and along with it came frigid temps in January. Early season races were cancelled for lack of trail and too warm conditions. Fans and participants alike worried if this would be another season with races few and far between. But, since the new year the weather has turned to make races possible. The first big race of the season is upon us this weekend with the Copper Basin 300 race starting on Saturday.
Weather forecast is calling for clear skies and temps between -25 and -35 degrees Fahrenheit. It is going to be a cold race and as such some teams are making the decision to withdraw from the race. Depending on where teams have been training can impact how teams run in these conditions. While most of Alaska has been under these very cold temps, not all teams have experienced it for days on end while training. At this time, there are at least four teams that are still listed as racing have made public statements saying they will not race this weekend. **Update 5pm, January 10: the roster is down to 30 teams now.**
Until the bib draw Friday, there's no real way to know just how many teams plan to make it to the start line, but the roster is a healthy number and even a few more withdrawals won't hinder a very difficult, yet promising race. A quick scan of teams' social media pages (ones that are known, anyway) it looks like most plan to race this weekend. Let's take a look at some of the top players in this weekend's race.
Aliy Zirkle - If you've followed mushing at all in the last two decades (wow, she won the Quest a long while ago!) you know who Zirkle is and what the SPKennel dogs are capable of. Zirkle trains in the Interior of Alaska and is no stranger to plunging temps. In fact, Aliy made a point to acknowledge the negative temps in a
recent blog post. This is a great weekend for Yukon Quest like weather training. While most of the top names in mushing use the mid-distance races as "training runs" for the bigger races like the Quest and Iditarod, they are still competitive.
Brent Sass - Another Interior musher who also has a couple of Yukon Quest titles to his name. No stranger to cold, Sass's Wild and Free team will be a formidable team charging down the trail. The Interior has seen temps close to fifty below, so -30 will probably feel like a heat wave. Sass is coming off a fairly successful 2019 season (he won the Yukon Quest). Look for Brent to have some strong pushes along the trail.
Matthew Failor - The 2019 Kuskokwim champion can no longer be called an "up-and-comer", Matt Failor is another team that has the goods to be a spoiler to the "more experienced" teams out on any trail. Having a decade of mushing under his belt, Failor considers himself the "17th dog" (which I guess now that the Iditarod is down to 14 dogs per team he's the 15th dog?) Don't expect Matt to just be along for the ride. He'll run with his team to the finish. (In Nome for the Iditarod finish he actually picked up the sled because it had too much drag on the pavement. Quite the feat after a week on the trail with little to no sleep.)
Michelle Phillips - Girl power on the trail! in 2017 the top three teams to finish the Copper Basin were women. Phillips came in third that year, beating out Allen Moore. Phillips is a consistant competitor on the Yukon Quest and Quest 300 coming close to finishing first several times. Another team that's used to "brutal cold" this weekend should shape up nicely for them.
Mitch Seavey - The three time Iditarod Champion is known to use the mid-distance races as training runs. Doesn't mean he can't win them, just that it isn't the goal for the weekend. Mitch has won the Copper Basin several times... in the nineties. He's been around a while. Look for a strong run from Team Seavey, but don't expect him to have the dogs to balls to the wall.
Nicolas Petit - The speed demon of the trails, Petit will once again go for the win. Petit is known to "let the dogs" choose how to run. "Dad" is just there to make sure everyone does it safe. Petit and "the kids" have won before, and I wouldn't expect anything short of going for another win this time around.
Ryne Olson - Ryne was the woman to win the race in 2017, and has also seen some pretty cold temps in the last week or more. Olson's posts seem confident about her race weekend, and it wouldn't be surprising to see her post some good runs and make a push for the front. Ryne's positive approach to racing is always good for the team, and she'll need it with temps reaching -33 by weekend's end.
How to Follow
Unlike the bigger races like the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod, there is very little promise of any video coverage. With the temps dropping so low, even the facebook live feeds we've grown accustomed to cannot be guaranteed. Cold air zaps batteries faster than lighting, and who has the time or ability to keep their fingers exposed long enough to even press "start"?! So, how can race fans follow along when a race doesn't have Iditarod Insider like coverage?
GPS Tracker
Real time updates will come through the trackers as always. With the cold there may be more glitches than we'd like (I blame the aliens!) but there's not much we can do. Cold and technology don't get along. You can follow the
trackers here, but they won't go live until closer to go time on Saturday.
Radio Broadcast
KCAM Radio will broadcast the start beginning with musher interviews at 9:30am. If you're in the area you can listen to the broadcast on AM 790, or
online through this link.
Social Media
Updates will most likely be posted on the race's
facebook page, and possibly their
twitter account. There may even be live video feeds, but again with the cold don't count on it. If you are tweeting, instagramming, etc. the traditional hashtag is #CB300.
KCAM is also posting updates on
their facebook page, starting with the musher meet and greet Friday night.
Schedule of Events
Friday, January 10
9am-3pm Food Drops
10am-4pm Vet Checks
3pm-5pm Community Dinner and Musher Meet and Greet
Saturday, January 11
10am - Race Start
Will you be watching? Who are you hoping takes the win? Comment below with your thoughts!
