Husky News

Ava Lindner seems to be following in her father’s footsteps.

Lindner, a 17-year-old junior at Lathrop High School, captured the Junior Yukon Quest sled dog race on Sunday, crossing the finish line 11:44 a.m. with a full complement of 10 dogs in her team.

Her father won the inaugural Yukon Quest with a nine-dog team and all nine made it to the finish line in Whitehorse, Yukon, some 1,000 miles from the start in downtown Fairbanks.

While the Junior Quest isn’t quite the same distance, Lindner. from Two Rivers, was the only musher among the five finishers who didn’t have to drop a dog at one of the checkpoints along the route.

Cody Cadzow and his dog team pull into Fairbanks for a third-place finish in the 2008 Junior Yukon Quest Sled Dog Race Sunday afternoon, Feb. 3, 2008, on the Chena River at the Cushman Street Bridge. Ava Lindner won the race. Photo by John Wagner

Her total trail time for the 145-mile run from Fairbanks to Twin Bears Campground on Chena Hot Springs Road and back was 11 hours, 23 minutes.

That was just 5 minutes ahead of Wade Marrs of Wasilla, who won the Junior Cantwell Classic early this year. Marrs crossed the finish line at noon and had a total elapsed time of 11:28.

Cody Cadzow of Fort Yukon took the third spot, crossing the finish line on the Chena River at the Cushman Street Bridge at 12:37 p.m. with nine dogs in harness. It took Cadzow 12:07 to complete the course.

Charlie Allison of Talkeetna was fourth, finishing fourth at 1:30 p.m. with nine dogs. He had a trail time of 13:12.

Yuta Takagi of Anchorage was the final finisher. The 14-year-old crossed the finish line at 9:14 p.m.

The top four finishers arrived in Fairbanks in time for Sunday night’s finish banquet at the Elks Lodge.

The Siwash Skills and Humanitarian awards went to Cadzow, who received a parka from Apocalypse Design. Allison was honored with the Sportsmanship Award.

Two mushers — Kristen Crain of Talkeetna and Meredith Mapes of Wasilla — scratched from the race.

All of the participants received mushing related gifts from Cold Spot Feeds.

The race began at noon, Saturday, when temperatures were about 5 below. The temperature began dropping after teams arrived at the midway point at Twin Bears where they were required to take an 8-hour layover. Temperatures were between 20 and 30 below along some portions of the trail Sunday.

Source: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner