Eagle, AK - The top five teams are headed for Circle City. It’s the next stop on the Yukon Quest trail. The race course follows a similar route used in the early 1900’s by two brothers who delivered mail by dog sled between Eagle and Circle. It’s a long, flat run on the river, but this year’s competition promises to make it anything but ordinary.
The next 159 miles of Yukon Quest trail could shake up the race permanently. It’s something six-time finisher Brent Sass is well aware of. “I’m looking to kinda start racing now," he says, "So yeah, I got a few tricks up my sleeve so yeah, the Yukon’s gonna be fun.” Sass has run a conservative race so far. He admits daytime temperatures between 20 and 30 degrees could take a toll on his thick-coated dogs if he’s not careful. “There’s no way I’m gonna be able to run in the middle of the day with that kind of heat if that actually comes,” he says.
Sass will try to keep his mind off what’s behind him. It’s an eleven dog team, driven by Rookie Scott Smith, who also says the warm weather could work against him. “There’s no guarantees what we’ll do from here, " says Smith, "but I know what I’d like to do, and no, I’m not gonna tell you that!” After the long layover in Dawson, Smith is the only musher in the top five to run the 100 miles to Eagle in a straight shot. “There was somebody who said you’d have to be crazy to do that coming off of 36 right?" He did tell KUAC exactly that. "Yeah, but I never told you that I wasn’t crazy, so…” he laughs.
Both Brent Sass and Scott Smith aren’t quite sure if their strategies will play out. They say it’s only a matter of hours before they’ll know for sure. "It should be pretty fun, you'll see," laughs Sass. "I'll talk to you in Circle or Central or 101 or maybe none of those." "Yeah, you're either gonna say 'wow, what a dumb-dumb, or wow, he's got big cojones!'," laughs Smith. "Stay tuned!" he jokes. There is a hospitality stop at Trout Creek, roughly forty miles down trail from Eagle. Mushers also have the option to drop dogs at the historic Slaven’s cabin, halfway to Circle City.
musher