Husky News

It’s hard to figure out exactly who is ahead in the Copper Basin 300 sled dog race, but defending Yukon Quest and Iditarod champion Lance Mackey was the farthest down the trail as of Sunday evening.

Mackey was the first musher to reach the Sourdough checkpoint at 4:26 p.m. Sunday afternoon, followed shortly by Sigrid Ekran at 5:05 p.m. Brent Sass checked in at 6:27 p.m. and defending champion Allen Moore pulled in two minutes later.

Seven other mushers — Sven Haltmann, Braxton Peterson, Ann Ledwidge, Sam Deltour, Linwood Fiedler, Sebastian Schnuelle and Aliy Zirkle — arrived between 7:05 and 7:47.

As of 9 p.m. Sunday, none of the mushers had checked out of Sourdough and all but one of the other 26 mushers who started the race were on the trail between Paxson and Sourdough.

That doesn’t necessarily mean Mackey is the leader. Layover rules require mushers to take one mandatory 8-hour stop at any checkpoint along the trail and an additional combination of 12 hours at any of the other checkpoints.

While most of the leaders had taken their eight hours, they were at varying stages of their 12-hour rest. For example, Mackey had only taken 3:31 of his 12 hours before arriving at Sourdough, while Ekran had rested 5:05, Sass had rested 4:57 and Moore had rested 5:52.

A winner is expected to reach the finish line in Glennallen late this afternoon or this evening.

Source: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner