The 2026 Yukon Quest Alaska 750 sled dog race got underway in downtown Fairbanks Saturday, with 6 Interior based mushers hitting the trail: Jonah Bacon, Jeff Deeter, Keaton Loebrich, Josi Shelley and the father son duo of Jason and Patrick Mackey. As of early Sunday, some teams were already over a hundred miles out, but as KUAC’s Patrick Gilchrist reports, just getting to the start posed familiar and unique challenges.
There’s a lot to say about what’s different in the 2026 Quest. For starters, it’s longer than it has been in recent years, and there are fewer teams. But there’s also a lot to say about what’s been the same.
On the morning of the race, mushers pulled in their trucks and prepped their teams. Dogs napped, jumped, whined, barked, sat, stood – and then sat and stood again, waiting their turn for harnesses or booties. And Fairbanks musher Jonah Bacon said he felt how he normally does ahead of a race.
“Yeah, it’s lotta anticipation and a lot of things to do to get here. So it’s just nice to be here, and now everything is ready to go, so just get out on the trail and go have fun.”
But for one musher, Keaton Loebrich, the morning held a complicated mix of emotions.
Loebrich beamed when he talked about the dogs he’s hitting the trail with. And at first, he wasn’t wearing nerves, anxiety or sorrow in his expression. But that doesn’t mean they weren’t there.
The thing is, not everyone could come along.
“It was really hard this morning. We got a dog who was here last year. One of our really good lead dogs. He’s got bone cancer, you know. And it was really hard leaving him.”
Petty was diagnosed in October. He’s named after Tom Petty, the American singer and songwriter.
Petty ran in Loebrich’s team in last year’s Yukon Quest 550, and Loebrich recalls an especially tough stretch of that trail after Eagle that went up, and up, and up, like it would never end. He says it was Petty who got them through it. And not just physically.
“I had like 50 more miles and just calculating how long it was gonna take. Just really, really down in so many different ways. But there was this incredible sunrise – or, I think it was a sunrise – that was just gorgeous. And we got to the crest, and just seeing him looking at it. ”
“It put me in a lot better mood, I mean.”
Loebrich says it’s gonna be a challenge without Petty this year. But he also says it’s a reminder to cherish each race with his team.
“Puts things in perspective. Just trying to go out and have as much fun with these guys as possible because you never know when it’s gonna be their last run, so.”
He says that might be the case for one of his lead dogs this year: 10-year-old Rambo, the loudest of the bunch.
Rambo led Loebrich’s team for the entirety of the Iditarod last year – alongside Miss Y. And Loebrich says they’re up front for the Quest this year – at least long enough for photos to capture the moment. (Patrick Gilchrist)
