Eleven mushers have signed up so far for the oldest sled dog race in Alaska, the All Alaska Sweepstakes first contested a century ago.
The 408-mile race from Nome to Candle and back offers a $100,000 winner-take-all prize — far more cash than the Iditarod champion earns. It begins March 26.
“Everything is going great,” said Howard Farley of Nome and the vice president of the Nome Kennel Club that organizes the race. “People are interested, the funds are starting to come in.”
Among those entered are four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King of Denali Park and defending Iditarod champion Lance Mackey of Fairbanks, the first musher to win the Iditarod and Quest in the same season.
Others entered are Mike Santos of Cantwell, Sebastian Schnuelle of Whitehorse, Yukon, Aaron Burmeister of Nenana, Jim Lanier of Chugiak, Jeff Hermann of Chickaloon, Ed Iten of Kotzebue, Hugh Neff of Skagway, Sonny Lindner of Fairbanks and Shane Goosen of Wasilla.
The entry fee is a sum of money plus one ounce of gold. The sum of money is $1,750 through the end of November and then increases to $2,000 on Dec. 1 and $4,000 on Feb. 1.
Five-time Iditarod champion Rick Swenson and 1984 Yukon Quest champion Lindner combined their Iditarod teams to win the 75th anniversary Sweepstakes in 1983.
“It’s a historic event and on a scale from 1 to 10 it’s probably an 11,” Swenson said in a statement. “It’s an 11 on historical significance, it’s an 11 in difficulty to finish and it takes an 11 in dog care to win.”
Swenson and Lindner have indicated that they will use the same strategy of combining their teams next March, but Lindner is expected to be the driver this time around.
The original sweepstakes was run in 1908 and won by John Hegnes. The race was an annual affair through 1917 and then took a hiatus until organizers resurrected the event in 1983 on the 75th anniversary.
Leonhard Seppala (1915, 1916 and 1917) and Scotty Allen (1909, 1911 and 1912) were three-time winners. John “Iron Man” Johnson set the race record in 1910 with a winning time of 74 hours, 14 minutes and 37 seconds. Johnson also won the race in 1914.
When Swenson won the race, and $25,000 in 1983, he recorded a time of 84:42:04,. Twenty-three mushers entered that year.
Source: The Anchorage Daily News
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