OPINION: The Yukon Quest has a future as an all-Alaska dog sled race

Most Alaskans are aware of the Yukon Quest. It has been called the “little brother of the Iditarod.” And, indeed, it was. Colder, darker, and with fewer teams entering — it was indeed the little brother; the younger brother you thought would grow up mean and tough. But the woes struck. Originally, the Yukon Quest was a 1,000-mile event between two countries, in Alaska and the Yukon. The COVID-19 pandemic came, and conflicts between members of a race board split between Alaskans and Canadians put an end to the Yukon Quest as we once knew it. Today, the Yukon Quest is a shadow of the race it once was. There is a Canada event and a separate Alaska one. Both race organizations have been striving to craft meaningful races that will attract competitive teams.

The Yukon Quest Alaska has been attempting a 550-mile Quest for the past four years. Each season, something thwarts that plan. Mostly, the issues relate to a weak purse, a lack of teams interested or poor trail conditions. To be sure, the Yukon River between Circle and Eagle can always be a rough section of trail for the race crew to tackle. Jumble ice, recent late freeze-ups and cold pre-race temperatures have been a problem in recent years. However, the biggest single issue is the lack of dog teams and mushers who have the means and fortitude to tackle a long sled race that traverses some of the toughest terrain in Alaska.

Dog racing has fallen on hard times in the past few years. Keeping the numbers of dogs to field a team for a major mushing event is an expensive and time-consuming enterprise. We are all aware that the price of dog food, and everything else, has increased. The premier long-distance mushing event, the Iditarod, has seen the number of teams entered drop from a high of 96 teams in 2008 to fewer than 40 in the past few years. The Yukon Quest, which fielded 45 teams in the past, had three sign-ups by mid-October. The Canadian side of the Quest, which is intending to run a 450-mile race in 2025, had about the same. It isn’t easy to find a trail crew who can be motivated to spend a couple weeks establishing a trail for just a few dog teams.

My goal, as the race marshal for the 2025 Yukon Quest Alaska, is to have a minimum of 15 teams entered by January; accomplishing that is a matter of credibility. The 2025 Quest route is a good one; Fairbanks to Circle to Eagle and then on to a finish in Tok. That’s 550 miles, much of it near the highway system. Teams will be bringing their own food drops to the checkpoints other than Eagle and Chicken. There aren’t too many road miles involved for dog trucks and handlers. The entry fee is $1,000. The purse is set at $30,000, split among the top 10 finishers. This makes for an attractive and relatively inexpensive 500-plus mile dog race. In addition, a five-day run, a full month prior to the Iditarod, will make this an ideal tune-up for that race.

Believe me: We can put together a Yukon Quest on the Alaska side of the border that is a premier event. The future of the Yukon Quest is in Alaska. A return to a 1,000 mile race, with a loop entirely in Alaska, with a start and finish in Fairbanks, is not out of reason. Dog mushing is the Alaska state sport; Interior Alaska is its headquarters. However, first we need to be able to show that the little brother has recovered from his woes and has grown up, ready to be a driving member of the dog-sledding community.

John Schandelmeier is a longtime distance musher, past Yukon Quest champion and race marshal for the 2025 Yukon Quest Alaska.

The views expressed here are the writer’s and are not necessarily endorsed by the Anchorage Daily News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)adn.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Read our full guidelines for letters and commentaries here.