Fishing

Headed for Canada, Sass opens up a 3-hour Yukon Quest lead

Canada, here they come.

The top four racers in the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race pulled out of the small Alaska town of Eagle on Tuesday morning, bound for the Canadian border and the second half of the international race from Fairbanks to Whitehorse.

And just like that, a 1,000-mile marathon that a day before had looked like a three-racer scrum saw a three-hour gap open between leader Brent Sass of Eureka and a chase group of three.

Sass returned to the trail around 8:30 a.m., but two-time champion Allen Moore of Two Rivers didn't pull his snow hook until 11:28 a.m. The 2012 winner, Hugh Neff of Tok, following 65 minutes later and 24-year-old Matt Hall, also of Two Rivers, was just four minutes behind Neff.

They're bound for the first checkpoint in Canada — Dawson City, 144 miles away from Eagle and the spot where all mushers will take a 36-hour layover.

Sass, 36, is the defending champion who crossed the Fairbanks finish line a year ago in 9 days, 12 hours, 49 minutes. He finished with a rush, surging past Moore, who owned a narrow lead out of the Two Rivers checkpoint, just 45 miles from the finish. The victory was worth $24,000.

Sass may be looking for a little less self-imposed drama this time. Last year, he built a 10-hour lead on Moore before over-sleeping on the trail between Circle and Central. That allowed Moore to catch and pass Sass, at least briefly.

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The youngest musher in Tuesday's chase pack was Hall, the 24-year-old head of Smokin' Ace Kennels who is one of Moore's neighbors in Two Rivers — and a thorn in Moore's side so far this winter.

Hall kicked off his season with a surprising victory over Moore (third) and his wife Aliy Zirkle (fourth) in the Copper Basin 300, the middle-distance race that launched the season.. Hall's run denied Moore his third consecutive victory in that race.

Now Hall had closed an early gap between him and the frontrunners in the Quest. It made sense: Hall was headed into familiar terrain.

Hall grew up in the village of Eagle, where parents Wayne and Scarlett Hall had an interest in sled dogs they passed on to their son, who first got on a sled at age 4, according to the biography on his kennel's website.

"By the time he was old enough to control his own 8-dog team, his father would take him out to work their trap lines. During this time of year the family would hunker down in a dry cabin located on top of American Summit (along the Quest trail). The trails in this area were some of the most technical trails they would see, forcing them to run their dogs in single file in order for them to fit down the extremely narrow, snow swept paths.

"Not only were the trails difficult, but Mother Nature was also a force to be reckoned with in the heart of the frozen north and father and son would experience her test of survival skills on more than one occasion. Many a time, an emergency shelter would be quickly fashioned due to unforeseen weather, forcing Wayne and Matt to hunker down on the trail to wait out the storm. Matt was 12 years old the first time this happened.

"Once the trapping season was over, they would mush 15 miles back to the town of Eagle with their 40 dogs, then 6 miles over the frozen Yukon River and a mile through the woods to reach home."

That familiarity may help Hall close the gap, but Hall knows there's no rush in a 1,000-mile race. And he knows dog care typically pays off. Though he scratched last year, in 2014 he picked up the coveted Yukon Quest Veterinarian's Choice award while finishing third.

Mike Campbell

Mike Campbell was a longtime editor for Alaska Dispatch News, and before that, the Anchorage Daily News.

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