Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Yukon Quest: And the Winner Is....

Dallas Seavey checked into Fairbanks at 23:05 Tuesday night (I think that's about 3:05 EST) to become the winner of the 2011 Yukon Quest. The 24-year old Dallas is a "Rookie" in the eyes of the Quest folks, but he's been around. As a teen, he ran the Quest Jr. four times as he helped his father, Mitch (the 2004 Iditarod winner), train sled dogs, and in 2005 he became the youngest musher to run the Iditarod. Dallas' official elapsed time was 10 days, 11 hours, and 53 minutes.

A half hour or so later, Sebastian Schnuelle arrived to claim second place. An hour after that, Ken Anderson ended his run in Fairbanks. And Brent Sass should be the fourth man into Fairbanks barring any unforeseen disaster. Sass is currently about 30 miles from the finish line in the vicinity of North Pole, AK. (Brent Sass is not listed as participating in this year's Iditarod. The other three will be lining up in Anchorage on March 5th.)

Of course, having a winner does not mean the race is over! Even after Brent Sass gets to Fairbanks, there will be ten teams still out on the trail and, as Yogi might have said, it ain't over 'til it's over. (Current Standings are here.)

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