Lex Treinen

Brent Sass has won the Quest 350.

Front runners in the Yukon Quest 350 are more than halfway through this year’s out and back race trail. Mushers started in Fairbanks Saturday, headed Two Rivers, Mile 101, Central and beyond and the leaders are now retracing the route.

The 2022 Yukon Quest got underway on the Chena River in downtown Fairbanks at 11 Saturday morning. Seven mushers, all Quest veterans, are in the 350 mile race: including past thousand mile race champions Brent Sass and Matt Hall. While this year’s race is again shorter, it still traverses the challenging terrain along the stretch of the standard Quest trail from Fairbanks to Central, plus an added 70 mile loop outside of Central, before heading back to Fairbanks. KUAC’s Yukon Quest reporter Lex Treinen talked with mushers about the challenges ahead.

For the second year in a row, the Yukon Quest will not run the traditional one-thousand-mile race between Fairbanks and Whitehorse Yukon Territory. This year there are 4 shorter events: 2 in Alaska and 2 in the Yukon. The longest race covers 350 miles: running from Fairbanks to Central and beyond, then heading back to Fairbanks. Among a small group of mushers registered to run the 350 is Brent Sass, a 3-time Quest champion known for his positive energy.