Husky News

Kevin Turnbough was just a 29-year-old Midwesterner in search of adventure when he heard through the mushing grapevine about the inaugural Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race.

“I figured if those guys can do it, a kid from Minnesota can do it,” said Turnbough, who was fresh off a win at the 350-mile 1984 John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon.

However, the Alaskan and Canadian mushers, many of them grizzled veterans, had little faith Turnbough would be able to handle the challenges the 1,000-mile event was sure to present.

“They were taking bets at the (start) banquet if I’d survive, if I’d live,” recalled Turnbough, now 53. “I thought maybe I underestimated how hard this race is.”

Turnbough not only survived, he finished ahead of all but eight of his doubters, arriving in Whitehorse, Yukon, in just under 13 days.

Less than two years later, Turnbough moved to Fairbanks, and he’s been here ever since.

Turnbough entered one other Quest in 1987. He finished 15th after getting stunning, but exciting, news from his wife 10 minutes before the start — she was pregnant.

Those were just a few of the stories told downtown at a Legends of the Quest reception Tuesday night at the Fairbanks Community Museum, which houses a dog sledding history exhibit among its artifacts.

The social kicked off events preceding the start of the 25th running at 11 a.m. Saturday on the Chena River near the Cushman Street bridge. A Meet the Mushers gathering will be from 7 to 11 p.m. tonight at the Wedgewood Resort while the Quest start banquet begins at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Carlson Center.

In addition to Turnbough, many other participants from the original Quest showed up.

Race co-founder LeRoy Shank and wife Kathleen were there, along with co-founder Roger Williams and wife Jocylynn, who returned from Mississippi for the first time in 14 years. Sonny Lindner, the first champion, surfaced, as did Murray Clayton, the first person to sign up for the race (the proof, a copy of the check for $500, is in one of Shank’s scrapbooks). Trailbreakers, checkpoint staffers, other early racers and Quest fans also mingled in a room filled with mushing memorabilia, a fair amount of it relating to the Quest.

“It surprised me, some of the first (Quest) people that were here,” said Shank. “I heard a lot of new stories. I saw a lot of people I haven’t seen in a long time.”

Jocylynn Williams, who ran the original Quest store downtown, said the experience of returning to Fairbanks was “overwhelming,” and she was referring to more than just the 107-degree drop in temperature compared to back home.

She remembers vividly her reaction to learning about her husband and LeRoy Shank’s idea for an epic race with few checkpoints that would serve as a tough alternative to the Iditarod.

“I was out of town when he called me and told me about it,” Jocylynn said. “I thought he had lost his mind.”

She’s grateful, though, that hard work from many volunteers made the race a reality.

“We didn’t have children. We didn’t have dogs,” she said. “The Yukon Quest was our child. That’s the way we felt.”

The Quest also had a lasting effect on Turnbough, who said it “cemented my relationship to Alaska and the community of Fairbanks.” For the last 15 years, he’s helped run the Upward Bound program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

But because of some struggles the race had early on, Turnbough didn’t always believe the Quest would find a way keep on running.

“I never dreamed it’d be going 25 years later,” he said.

Source: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner