The 2026 Yukon Quest Alaska concluded Friday with an awards banquet in Fairbanks.
As KUAC’s Patrick Gilchrist reports, the final 2 of the 4 mushers who completed the 750-mile race crossed an improvised finish line on the Parks Highway just in time for Friday night’s banquet.
Small paper booklets mark place-settings on the tables at the Yukon Quest Alaska finishers banquet, held at the Elks Lodge in Fairbanks. The final standings appear inside the booklets, inked in a sans-serif font.
First place in the 750-mile race – that’s Josi Shelley. Second place – Jonah Bacon.
But third and fourth place? To be announced, the booklet says.
Fourth-place musher Patrick Mackey, who ultimately took home this year’s Red Lantern, finishing just hours before the banquet started.
“I love mushing, and when I’m out there, I don’t want it to end. So, the further it is, the better it’ll be.”
Patrick and his father, Jason Mackey, stuck together for the entire 750-mile trail. They completed the race a little less than four days after Shelley, this year’s winner – and about two days behind Bacon, the runner-up.
When it came to the end, the elder Mackey edged out his son for third place. But they say the final order didn’t matter to them.
Like other teams on the Quest trail, the Mackeys were training and conditioning dogs for the Iditarod next month. Patrick Mackey says they were also enjoying themselves. And he figured they’d be running a day or two behind the leader. But not more than that.
“It turned into an expedition. Like, we would be a step behind the weather every time. So, yeah, it never mattered.”
More than 700 miles into their race, and with every other musher already off the trail, weather changed things once more.
Heavy snowfall from a winter storm piled up on the last stretch between Nenana and Fairbanks. Jason Mackeys says their teams were attempting to plow through three feet of snow that was layered on top of two feet of overflow.
“So they were just floundering in the deep, you know? It just got to the point where we were like, ‘This is it. We’ve got to stop.’”
He says they were just 27 miles from Fairbanks at that point.
“That was a little disheartening, but I can tell you right now, I wasn’t snowshoeing it. It might’ve been 2,700 miles by then.”
Race officials said trail breakers were also encountering challenging conditions. Race Marshal John Schandelmeier decided to have the Mackeys backtrack about 20 miles to Nenana Friday morning “in the interest of safety.” The reroute wasn’t at the request of either musher, officials said, and the end of that run counted as their finish line.
The Mackeys race concluded the same day as the banquet, where the father-son duo got the Spirit of the North Award for their collaboration.
According to organizers, Red Lantern Patrick Mackey got about $4,500 [$4,550] for his race. The elder Mackey’s cut of the race purse was just over $6,000 [$6,300].
For his second place finish, Bacon earned about $8,000 [$8,050], and he was given the Challenge of the North Award Friday, in part for snowshoeing his way into the Rampart checkpoint.
Champion Josi Shelley leaves with almost $10,000 [$9,800] for her victory. Shelley, who finished with 10 dogs, also received the Vets Choice Award at the banquet.
Organizers had announced a $35,000 purse ahead of this year’s race, and they say any leftover funds will contribute to the purse for next year.
(Patrick Gilchrist)
