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Sass and Moore Talk Dogs During Their 36 Hour Layover

Emily Schwing
/
KUAC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-h6Nu_Mais&list=PLFSW2m24N7A80BrOF9DoWmayP9kDsankp

Dawson City, YK - Brent Sass and Allen Moore will head out on the second half the Yukon Quest Trail later today (Thursday).  According to trail reports, mushers are facing smooth but extremely hard, icy trail with a few road crossings, overflow, downed trees and other obstacles. KUAC’s Emily Schwing caught up with Sass and Moore during their layover in Dawson City to find out whether they think their dogs are ready for the second, arguably more competitive half of the race.  

It’s not often that competitors are also compatriots.  But Allen Moore and Brent Sass are exactly that.  For the last three years, Brent Sass says they’ve been running their dog teams close together in the Yukon Quest. “We are competing," says Sass, "but I think that’s one of the greatest things about this race especially and dog mushing in general is that we’re competing at the highest level it gets in dog mushing and yet, we’re out there having a good time and talking as friends, and there’s not a lot of sporting events that allow you to do that.”

Both Sass and Moore have camped in the same spots along the trail.  They’ve arrived at checkpoints close together. When they do have some time off the runners, Sass says it’s likely they’re talking about their dog teams.  “We talk dogs all the time," Sass smiles.  " That’s what we do, that’s what we do for a living."  Allen Moore jumps in. "It would be unusual for us not to talk about dogs, so we’re going to talk about dogs,” smiles Moore.

So, what about the dogs?  Allen Moore says his team is the most veteran he’s ever driven.  It’s made up of dogs who’ve run at least one other 1000 mile race, if not many and they’re led by a small female who’s run back-to-back Yukon Quests and Iditarods for the last four years. “Her name’s Quito, she’s great," he says.  " She just does everything you want her to do, but she never would run through water," Moore says that always bothered him.  "Every year you’d get to any little water crossing she’d stop.  Well, this year she changed," Moore says.  "Every water crossing she hit it like it was nothing.  This year, we would hit it just wide open and my feet got wet because the splash was so big. So, I finally have a dog who will cross water, which is been rare for me.”

The vast majority of Brent Sass’s team is out of a dog named Silver, who’s well known in the mushing community as a strong leader and a heroic canine. This is also a mostly veteran team. Sass says it’s the best team he’s ever driven. “It’s real fun to watch them," says Sass.  " So much of this glare ice and sub-par conditions – it’s fun to watch the leaders just take ahold and get you through these section. When you’re like oh this is going to be a pain in the butt and you go through and it wasn’t bad at all, it’s because of your dog and it’s pretty gratifying, it’s pretty awesome," he says."

Credit Emily Schwing / KUAC
/
KUAC
Allen Moore checks his gear before he leaves the start line of the 2014 Yukon Quest

But the two teams are nearly exact opposites.  Brent Sass is running large, powerful, thick coated dogs.  Allen Moore’s team is petite, small boned and quick.  But Sass says it’s not as simple as power versus speed.
“I think it’s a bigger picture thing, because on any given run it can be a little bit different," explains Sass.  "Speed and power are the first things you see, because you see the littler dogs on his team and the bigger dogs on my team and those are the two things you automatically think but at certain times in the race -" Allen Moore cuts in.  "Both of them have their positives whether they’re big or small."

Moore explains the differences between the two teams. “I think small dogs can go up hills better I really believe that," he says. "I think because they have shorter legs, they have better turnover.  What do you do when you go uphill?  You take small steps.  The weakness in my small dogs is when we get out on the flats, his dogs have longer legs, so if we’re all trotting, he’s going faster.  If mine’s loping, I might be going faster, but it’s hard to keep a loping dog team for a long time.”

Both teams will do their fair share of trotting and loping in the second half of the race.  In  a briefing, trail breakers told Moore and Sass to expect a hard, fast trail, open water and lots of rock and glare ice… challenges both mushers faced in the first half of the race.