Husky News

For the third time in four years, Two Rivers musher Allen Moore crossed the finish line first to win the Copper Basin 300 sled dog race on Monday afternoon in Glennallen.

Moore overtook Sigrid Ekran of Norway in the final 20-mile stretch from Tolsona Lodge to the finish line in Glennallen and edged defending Yukon Quest and Iditarod champion Lance Mackey of Fairbanks by 26 minutes.

Moore crossed the finish line at 2:26 p.m. with a team of 11 dogs, while Mackey finished with six dogs in harness at 2:52 p.m.

Moore is an Iditarod veteran, who began sprint racing 15 years ago and has been running mid-distance races for the past six years. In addition to the Copper Basin 300, he has competed in races such as the Tustumena 200, the Knik 200 and the Two Rivers 200.

Iditarod veteran Linwood Fiedler of Willow was third at 3:09 p.m., while Ekran fell back to fourth and crossed the line at 3:26. Yukon Quest veteran Brent Sass of Eureka rounded out the top five finishers, arriving at 4:01.

Moore left the Tolsona Lodge checkpoint and headed toward the finish line at 10:17 a.m. Monday, about 42 minutes behind Ekran. He averaged 4.8 miles per hour on the final leg of the trip, covering the 20-mile distance in 4 hours and 9 minutes.

That was more than enough time to catch Ekran, who took 5:51 to complete the last section of the 300-mile race and averaged just 3.4 mph.

Fiedler, Mackey and Sass all had faster times than Moore on the final stretch of trail.

Fiedler made the run in 3:28 for an average of 5.8 mph, while Mackey posted a time of 3:31 (5.7 mph) and Sass had a run of 3:37 (5.5 mph), according to information on the Copper Basin 300 Web site.

The race offered a minimum purse of $10,000 that was split among the top seven finishers. That figure could be higher by the time the finishers banquet rolls around this evening, according to race officials. That will depend on late musher fees and any other sponsor money and donations that were collected during the race.

Moore will collect a minimum of $3,500 for his effort, while Mackey collects $2,500, Fiedler gets $1,500, Ekran takes home $1,000 and Sass collects $600.

The 300-mile race began at noon on Saturday in Glennallen and followed a circular trail out to Paxson Lodge and then back to Glennallen. Mushers were required to make one eight-hour layover and then take a combined 12 hours of rest at the checkpoints of their choice.

As of 10 p.m. Monday, 13 mushers had crossed the finish line.

Former Yukon Quest champion Aliy Zirkle, Moore’s wife, finished sixth at 4:27, followed by Sebastian Schnuelle at 4:32, Sven Haltmann at 4:48, Jason Young at 5:23, Braxton Peterson at 5:28, Dries Jacobs at 5:35, Sam Deltour at 6:28 and Jean-Denis Britten at 7:49.

Ann Ledwidge and Richard Corcoran were on the trail from Tolsona to Glennallen, while Andreas Moser, Colleen Robertia, Jeff Deeter, Julie Estey, Phil Joy, Darren Lee, Bruce Milne were farther back on the trail.

Four mushers had scratched from the race — Gabrielle Dunham, Martin Jahr, Zoya DeNure and Mike Mayer.

For complete results go to www.cb300.org.

Source: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner