Neff blazes to early lead in Yukon Quest despite chilly conditions

As the weather began to chill, nothing was cooling the early pace of defending Yukon Quest champion Hugh Neff of Tok early in the 1,000-mile sled dog race to Fairbanks.

Conventional wisdom is to ease a dog team into the race and conserve energy for the 900 remaining miles. Usually, that means resting at least once in the first 100 miles. But Neff is known for pushing hard early in the 1,000-mile race between Whitehorse and Fairbanks, and he's adopted the same strategy this year.

Sometimes it works. Neff won last year's Yukon Quest and was also the 2012 champion.

By Sunday night as temperatures sunk top minus 20 in the Yukon Territory at Carmacks, Neff had extended his lead over Katherine Keith of Kotzebue on the trail headed to the next checkpoint, according to the race's online tracker. Closing in on McCabe's Creek, Neff had forged a 12-mile lead over Keith.

Neff's time into the previous checkpoint of Carmacks was 1 day, 1 hour, 23 minutes — about an hour ahead of Sass. Keith was more than four hours back at that point, but spent little time resting in Carmacks.

Brent Sass, the 2015 champion from Eureka, was running third, with two-time winner Allen Moore of Two River in fourth enroute to McCabe's Creek.

Canadian Rangers reported excellent trail conditions on the eve of the race, which began Saturday in Whitehorse, despite some hazards from open water and low snow cover in areas.

Sgt. John Mitchell, a former Quest musher who coordinates the trail breaking on the Canada side of the border, described it in a written statement as "one of the best trails I've seen in the history of the Quest."