Brent Sass wins Yukon Quest 350

Veteran musher Brent Sass won the Yukon Quest 350 at approximately 6 a.m. on Feb. 8, 2022, in Fairbanks, Alaska, with all 14 dogs still on the line.

The team was led into the finish chute by Morello and Lucy, where a couple dozen spectators had woken up early and braved the -20 C temperatures to see the finish.

Sass said his team’s run into the finish from Two Rivers was a good one, and that he had seen nearly a half dozen moose.

“I think I saw five total on the river but nothing came close and they were all pretty far away and just sprinting across the river,” Sass said. “The dogs got all excited and went faster for a bit so that was fun. No real danger, but they were out there.”

Sass and his team arrived safe and sound, but his sled will require a slight repair – his handlebar was half ripped off when he was startled by his team reacting to a moose.

“I was kind of just day dreaming, sitting on my sled, and then all of a sudden the dogs just jerked forward and I grabbed my handlebar and I guess I grabbed it a little bit too hard and ripped it right out,” Sass said.

With the race victory in the books, Sass said he planned to eat and then begin thinking about the Yukon Quest 300 in Whitehorse later this month.

Brent Sass poses with his lead dogs, Morello and Lucy, after winning the Yukon Quest 350 in Fairbanks, Alaska, early on the morning of Feb. 8, 2022. (John Hopkins-Hill/Yukon Sports Report)