Sass wins YQA550 with "one of the best teams in the world."

Brent Sass crossed the finish line of the YQA550 at 7:45pm with his team of twelve frosty, happy dogs. The team pulled up to the famed Pumphouse met by friends, family, and fans to become the inaugural champion of the 550.

Brent led the race from day one, never truly relinquishing the lead. Sure, as he camped along the trail others would pass him, but not long after Brent would once again take control of the race. Brent averaged over four hours of lead time on the competition.

As the team made their way into the finish, the race had some technical difficulties and they lost their lights! Headlamps from handlers and race volunteers and officials were all that illuminated the champion as he congratulated and praised his dogs, hugged his dad, and took interview questions.

When asked how he feels about his chances for this year's Iditarod, Brent gave a nervous chuckle and began talking about how he is really proud of his team but that Iditarod has a highly competitive field. "My buddy Jessie Holmes is here, he came to watch my finish. I'm looking forward to battling with him out on the trail." He did say that he feels he has one of the best teams in the world, that they're highly experienced and that he feels good about how things will play out.

Brent spoke of several stand out dogs. Slater, one of his lead dogs at the finish, is seven and is "probably the best dog I'll ever get to drive." The high praise wasn't just for the old trail hardened veteran dogs, Brent pointed out a couple of younger dogs who he was on the fence about bringing on the Quest and Iditarod that more than proved themselves this week.

Over all, Sass should be very proud of how he ran this race. The musher told the media that he stuck to his game plan and didn't pay attention to what others were doing, which he says is easy to do on the Quest with the long runs between checkpoints allowing for camping. When asked what advice he had for other mushers Brent simply repeated the mantra he has tattooed on his arm: "Run your race."

The dogs are well fed and bedded down. The next team in should be Amanda Otto but don't look for her to come into the finish until - at earliest - 1am (but more likely between 2 and 3am) Thursday. Wade Marrs is third out of Nenana and barring more trouble he will be into the finish in the next seven to eight hours.

Brent Sass summed up his race best: "It was a hell of an adventure! I'm so proud of these guys-this team."

Wild and Free

Legend has it that Hobo Jim's song "Wild and Free" inspired a young man named Brent Sass to build a sled dog kennel and win the Yukon Quest. The kennel was going to be named after the song by Alaska's Balladeer.

That young man did build his kennel, and did win the Quest (several). But he didn't stop there. Soon after setting his sights on the Quest, he turned his attention to the "more Hollywood" race of Iditarod. His rookie year he was 13th.

Sass would have a somewhat infamous Iditarod career soon after. In 2015 he was disqualified for having a two-way communication device, which at the time was against the rules. It was a wifi capable ipod and fans and other mushers alike disagreed with the ruling but the musher graciously accepted the decision and vowed to come back strong the next year.

In 2016 Sass was poised to take a top placement when in White Mountain his team stopped on him. He had pushed them too far and even after 8 hours of rest they didnt budge. He finally coaxed them to Nome, winding up 20th, but he was met with harsh criticism for how his race ended.

Faced with the humiliation of having done what no musher worth their salt ever wants to do, Brent vowed to do better. The musher from Eureka, Alaska stopped racing. He took the time off to rebuild his kennel and mindset. He got back to just mushing for the fun of it while developing a healthier training program.

He returned to racing three years later running the Quest and winning in 2019. He returned the following year to the Iditarod where he finished 4th after winning the Quest the month prior. In 2021 he came in 3rd for the Iditarod. It seemed the wake up call of 2016 worked.

And worked it has. Brent has completed what many call a magic run. Early in the race he told Insider that his team was scary fast. Faster than he had planned to go, but they were staying on their schedule. When pressed about the competition of faster teams behind him he pointed to his arm where the words "run your own race" are tattooed.

Brent's magic run was still hard fought, though. The 50th Iditarod was going to make him earn it. In his run from White Mountain the 20mph winds from the North turned into 40-60mph gusts as he came out of the hills and into the infamous "Blowhole". He stalled for at least 40 minutes just shy of a known shelter cabin as fans watched anxiously.

As Brent and team hunkered down, Dallas Seavey and his merry band of 8 still charged through the wind. They took a 22 mile gap down to 10 miles. Brent was again on the move but stopped again as wind raged around him. Race fans knew they had seen this before. The same section of trail blew Jeff King so off course he had to scratch just miles from his 5th Iditarod win in 2014. Dallas Seavey won that year. Was history repeating itself?

 Either the winds died down, or Brent's team proved to him they could do it because they started up and took off for the final checkpoint of Safety. From there the continued up over the final mountain, across the beach and up onto Front Street.

Brent's redemption story is complete. Sass now joins a very elite club of champions of both the Quest and Iditarod. As if winning one wasn't hard enough, it is very rare for a Quest champion to win the Iditarod. Brent is the latest champion to accomplish that feat and he did it with style and grit.

This team has truly been Wild and Free.