Next winter's Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race will start a week earlier in February, making the possibility of a grueling back-to-back double with the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race more feasible than ever.

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This year's Quest, won by Sebastian Schnuelle of Whitehorse, began on Feb. 14. Schnuelle crossed the finish line in Fairbanks 10 days later to claim both the fastest and the closest Quest in history. He nipped Skagway's Hugh Neff by four minutes.

Eleven days later, Schnuelle harnessed his dogs on Fourth Avenue in Anchorage to begin the Iditarod.

Schnuelle finished second to Lance Mackey in the race to Nome, extending the trend of back-to-back excellence that Mackey pioneered by winning both the Quest and Iditarod in 2007 and 2008. Mackey sat out this year's Quest, ending his streak of four consecutive victories.

Next year's Iditarod starts March 6.

If the Quest is a 10-day race again next year, it will end Feb. 16 -- allowing 18 days between the mushing marathons.

Spurred by Mackey's success, a handful of mushers have attempted the double. Four tried in each of the last two years, and five in 2007.

Schnuelle said he's glad to see the change in the Quest starting date. He's completed the double four times and lobbied Quest officials to make the change.

"I'm very happy they finally listened," he said. "Moving the Iditarod back would have been difficult, because there's a chance you'll get into warmer weather (later in March)."

Wendy Morrison, executive director of the Quest, said a group of mushers sought an earlier Quest start date. "We'd like to see our numbers go up, and I think there's growing interest in doing both races," she said. "Some (mushers) felt an extra week would give mushers more time."

Last year, Schnuelle said, he attended the Yukon Quest banquet on a Sunday night in Fairbanks and two days later had to be in Knik for the Iditarod vet check.

The Iditarod has always dwarfed the Quest in the size of its field, the number of finishers and its purse.

Over the last five years, the Iditarod has averaged 81.4 mushers at the starting line, compared with 24.8 for the Quest. Lance Mackey earned $69,000 and a new pickup for capturing the Iditarod. Schnuelle took home $30,000 for winning the Quest, less than half of what he earned for finishing second to Mackey in the Iditarod.

Neff of Skagway, runner-up to Schnuelle, said the change in the Quest start date might boost the size of the field for the race staged on a course between Fairbanks and Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada. The starting line and the finishing line alternate between the two cities every year.

"They're trying to get more Iditarod people doing the Quest," Neff said. "The more Iditarod people who do the Quest, the happier I'll be."

In February, Neff seized control of the Quest in the latter portion of the race but was then slowed by a storm and penalized four hours for running his dog team too long on a roadway instead of an adjacent trail. Those things opened the door for Schnuelle to snatch the victory. Neff plans to try again in his 10th Quest in 2010.

"Somewhere along the way," he said, "the Yukon Quest stole my soul. I just love to be out there on that part of the river. I feel sorry for Iditarod folks who've never seen it, because that part of the Yukon River is gorgeous.

"I love it. It's like going back in time and being alive in the 1800s."

Even so, the Iditarod has its own appeal -- and not just its larger purse.

"With all respect to the Quest," Neff said. "I've done both races the last five years and without question, the Iditarod is much more difficult."

Some mushers contend that the bitter cold temperatures and vast distances between some checkpoints make the Quest tougher, but Neff said nothing compares with the vicious winds of the Norton Sound coast.

Back in March, Neff arrived in Nome with frost-nipped cheeks seared by the wind and cold.

"The wind has just been ferocious every day, everywhere," he told an Iditarod Insider videographer in Nome. "I learned my lesson, cover up well or you'll have a little" cold injury.

Neff has been talking up the Quest to such Iditarod veterans as Ramey Smyth of Willow and Ray Redington of Wasilla, who have never tried the 1,000-miler between Fairbanks and Whitehorse.

Smyth's wife, Becca Moore, was next to last in the Quest this year -- and may have planted the seed with her husband.

"It's a like a bad addiction," Schnuelle allowed.

Reach reporter Mike Campbell at mcampbell@adn.com or 257-4329.

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