By Jason Small
Star Reporter
The dream of a long-distance sled dog race between Fairbanks and Whitehorse started in 1983. The planning for the 1,600-kilometre odyssey was led by Roger Williams and Leroy Shank, a former Iditarod musher.
The race was conceived in August 1983, after conversations Shank had
with other former Iditarod mushers. The consensus was the mushers wanted a long-distance race other than the Anchorage-to-Nome race, the Iditarod. They didn't like the changing philosophy of the Iditarod. "We decided there had to be something for long-distance racing other than the Iditarod," Shank told the Star in October 1983. The race would create an opportunity for those who couldn't afford a 50-dog kennel.
At the time, organizers had no idea how long the race could take to complete. They speculated it could take anywhere from 12 days to a month.
Shank and Williams took their plans for the race to the Fairbanks business community. Within five months, they had raised $50,000 in prize money and tustled up 400 volunteers for the very first race, which began on Feb. 25, 1984.
1984 - The very first Yukon Quest made its way to Whitehorse with 26 mushers starting from Fairbanks. The first musher to arrive in the Yukon capital was Sonny Lindner of Johnson River, Alaska. He arrived at the finish line in the warm mid-afternoon sun with his sunglasses on and to a waiting crowd.
In the end, 20 of the mushers completed the race.
Lindner raced in the Quest four more times, finishing as high as second
and as low as eighth. After a nine-year absence, Lindner is back to run in the 2001 Quest.
The top Canadian in the inaugural race was Atlin, B.C.'s Bruce Johnson,
now deceased. The top Yukoner was Lorrina Mitchell, in 11th.
1985 - Joe Runyan of Tanana, Alaska claimed the second Yukon Quest, bettering his finish of fourth in 1984. This was the first race which went to Fairbanks from Whitehorse.
This would be Runyan's last Quest. He would go on to win the European
Alpirod in 1988 and the 1989 Iditarod. Runyan sold his kennel in 1993. He currently lives and trains working animals in New Mexico.
Runyan won the race by overcoming a 13-hour lead held by Rick Atkinson of Scotland. Atkinson was overtaken because a bad batch of food gave his dogs diarrhea. Without the bad dog food, Atkinson felt he would have won. Instead, Runyan won by 40 minutes in 11 days, 11 hours and 55 minutes. Atkinson's second is the highest-ever finish by a European. He would finish in the top five twice more.
The top Canadian was Johnson, once again, this time in eighth. The top Yukoner this time around was Jon Rudolph of Jackson Lake, who finished 14th.
1986 - Atlin's Bruce Johnson became the first Canadian winner of the Quest when he arrived in Whitehorse with the slowest-ever winning time of 14 days, nine hours and 17 minutes. The race took so long mainly because of huge amounts of snow which forced lead mushers to do a lot of trail-breaking.
Johnson would run one more Quest, in 1993, where he finished second, before his tragic death on Nov. 22, 1993. That day, Johnson headed out with his dogs along the shore of Little Atlin Lake, where he and the team fell through the ice. At the beginning of the 1994 Quest, two minutes of silence were observed as the first start position was left empty in his memory.
1987 - Bill Cotter of Nenana, Alaska won the fourth edition of the Quest by the second-smallest margin of victory when he beat David Monson into Fairbanks by 10 minutes. The rest of the front pack was not far behind, as the difference between first and fourth
was just over 30 minutes. Cotter was able to pull off the win despite being one of four mushers to receive a six-hour penalty for taking the wrong route into Dawson City.
After running the first four years of the event, Cotter hasn't run the Quest since his win. However, he still lives in Nenana and has entered the Iditarod over the last few years, including this year.
The top Canadian in that race was Francois Varigas of Dawson City, who
placed seventh. He was the only Yukoner of three to complete the race.
1988 - Following a second place the year before, David Monson of Manley, Alaska, moved up to top spot in the 1988 Quest. Monson, who is married to four-time Iditarod champion Susan Butcher, took the lead leaving Eagle and held onto it all the way to the finish line in Whitehorse. Monson won in the race's largest-ever field, when 47 took to the trails. Thirty of those mushers would finish the event. Monson is a lawyer and now operates a kennel in Fairbanks along with his wife.
The top Canadian and Yukoner in the race was Frank Turner of Pelly Crossing, who crossed the line 12th.
1989 - As one of only two mushers to have run all of the first six Quests, along with Yukoner Frank Turner, Jeff King of Denali Park, Alaska finally won the 1,600-kilometre race. King arrived in Fairbanks in 11 days, 20 hours and 51 minutes. He finished just 20 minutes ahead of Vern Halter. King led at different times during the race, including in Dawson City. Before winning the race, King had finished in the top five four times (including a second in 1986) and scratched once.
King would go on to win the Iditarod three times (1993, '96, '98). He is entered in that race again this year.
Dawson City's Varigas was top Canadian again, finishing about six hours
behind King in seventh place.
1990 - Vern Halter, of Trapper Creek, Alaska continued the tradition of mushers who finished second before winning the Quest. After finishing second to King last year, Halter was able to defeat the defending champion this year as he arrived in Whitehorse in 11 days, 17 hours and nine minutes - over three hours ahead of King. The two racers stayed close to each other as the race wound down. When he left the last official checkpoint in
Carmacks, Halter had a slim, four-minute lead. But he lengthened the ad- vantage nicely to win by more than three hours.
Halter has had careers as a kennel-owner and an attomey. Over the past few years, he has raced in the Iditarod. That has included a third-place run in 1999.
Another musher who led parts of the race was Dawson City's Varigas. He
became the highest-ever finishing Yukoner when he finished in third place after 12 days and 32 minutes.
1991 - A trapper and fisherman with a distinctively large, grey beard, Charlie
Boulding of Nenana, Alaska broke the record for the fastest Quest run to Fairbanks when he took the 1991 edition in 10 days, 20 hours and 12 minutes. Boulding was in a pack of three at the front who travelled together through the latter part of the race, along with Bruce Lee of Denali Park, Alaska and John Schandelmeier from Paxson, Alaska. All three left the final checkpoint at Angel Creek together. In the end, Boulding topped Lee in the closest finish ever by five minutes in a then-record of 10 days, 21 hours and 12 minutes. Schandelmeier was 51 minutes behind Boulding.
Pelly Crossing's Turner finished as the top Canadian in 11th place and over a day behind Boulding. However, a couple of other Yukon mushers had led early
on in the race - both Ned Cathers of Lake Laberge and Varigas.
1992 - A close-running front pack of four arrived within three minutes of each other at the Carmacks checkpoint, 240 kilometres away from the finish in Whitehorse. But John Schandelmeier was able to separate himself from former champions Lindner and Boulding, as well as Linda Forsberg to win the race in 11 days, 21 hours and 40 minutes. He finished 1 1/2 hours ahead of Lindner. Boulding arrived in Whitehorse 2 1/2 hours later and Forsberg was just seven minutes behind him, in fourth place.
Schandelmeier, a fisherman and trapper, had about two hours' sleep from
Dawson City on. Because of that, he dreamed of Lindner's lead dogs coming up and hitting him on the back of the legs while he napped on the sled as it headed toward the finish line.
Pelly Crossing's Turmer was the top Yukoner when he finished sixth in 12
hours, seven minutes, and six minutes.
1993 - Boulding became the first two-time winner of the Quest when he crossed the finish line in Fairbanks. Boulding, who was a trapper and fisherman like Schandelmeier, set a then-record with the fastest-ever finish, taking 10 days, 19 hours and nine minutes to cover the 1,600 kilometres.
While Boulding hasn't run the Quest since, he still mushes dogs and will enter the Iditarod again this year.
Atlin's Bruce Johnson, running his final Quest before his untimely death,
was the top Canadian as he finished one hour and 21 minutes behind Boulding in second.
The next Canadian was Atlin's Hans Gatt in seventh. The top Yukoner was,
once again, Turner, who finished 10th in 12 days, five hours and 20 minutes.
1994 - Since the inaugural Quest, no rookie had won the event. That is, until 1994. Lavon Barve, a former Iditarod participant and a 30-year musher, won in his first, and only, Quest. Barve, of Wasilla, Alaska, arrived in Whitehorse after 10 days, 22 hours
and 44 minutes, shattering the existing Fairbanks-to--Whitehorse record by over 18 hours. He started deep in the pack, leaving Circle in 21st. He slowly moved up the pack. Barve was 13th in Eagle and by the time he hit Dawson City, he was in seventh.
Two women, Kathy Swenson and Linda Forsberg, led the way into Dawson City, arriving just one minute apart. Barve had moved up to third, behind Forsberg and Jim Wilson, by the time he hit Carmacks. He eventually forged ahead of the pack to defeat
Wilson by over 2 1/2 hours. Forsberg was six minutes behind Wilson in third.
Dawson City's Cor Guimond was the top Canadian and Yukoner, finishing in seventh place in 11 days, nine hours and 33 minutes.
After finishing sixth in the 1997 Iditarod, Barve sold his dog team and
got completely out of mushing. Barve is now a preacher in prisons, as well as working with native Americans and Mexicans through a mission service.
1995 - The Yukon finally had its first winner of the Quest when Frank Turner of Whitehorse crossed the Fairbanks finish line in a record time of 10 days, 16 hours and 20 minutes. Turner's time still stands as the fastest-ever race.
A pack of five teams led for most of the race. The front pack left Eagle within 40 minutes of each other. By Central, one of the members of the pack, Fort Yukon's Jay Cadzow, felt the race belonged to Larry "Cowboy" Smith of Dawson City. But Smith was done in by the 1,125-metre-high Eagle Summit. Because his dogs were exhausted, Smith took a break. Turner was able to charge by and win the race by 49 minutes over Alaskan Jim Wilson. Cadzow was third and another Dawson City musher, Cor Guimond, finished fourth. Smith was fifth, almost five hours behind Turner.
Since the win, Turner has not finished below fifth.
1996 - The Quest's second two-time champion crossed the line in the form of John Schandelmeier in 12 days, 16 hours and 47 minutes. A pack of four front-runners led through the race. Rick Mackey of Nenana, Alaska, came in second, 58 minutes later.
Whitehorse's Bill Stewart was the top Yukoner with a third-place finish.
He could have finished higher but was delayed at least four hours by a couple of hallucinations which had him heading the wrong way. He left the Braeburn checkpoint fewer than 30 minutes behind Schandelmeier but finished over eight hours back of the winner.
Two more Yukoners were in the top six, Frank Turner was fifth and Doug
Harris from south of the Annie Lake Road was sixth.
1997 - A front-pack of four mushers developed in the race to Fairbanks. The pack included former champions Turner and Schandelmeier, as well as Alaskans Mark May and Rick
Mackey. About 80 kilometres before Dawson City, the other three mushers left a stop while Mackey continued to sleep. He lost a few hours before being awakened by another musher. Mackey was able to make up the time and arrived in Central in the lead by over an hour. But then the pack caught back up to him and he left the final checkpoint in Angel Creek only 15 minutes ahead of Schandelmeier.
In the end, Mackey, of Nenana, Alaska, was able to win the race by one
hour and eight minutes over Turner, who moved up into second. Schandelmeier was third and May was fourth.
Mackey became the first musher to win the Quest after winning the Iditarod, which he took in 1983. While Mackey has not run the Quest since 1998, he is still mushing dogs. He finished sixth in the Iditarod last year.
1998 - Instead of starting in Fairbanks, the 1998 edition was changed to start in Whitehorse to commemorate the centennial of the Gold Rush. While the field consisted of 38 mushers, it quickly became a race of two. Veteran musher Bruce Lee of Denali Park, Alaska, was nipped at the finish by Charlie Boulding by five minutes in 1993, the last time he ran the Quest. This time around, he spent much of the race chasing rookie Andre Nadeau of Ste. Melanie, Que.
The 42-year-old Quebec musher was completely unknown to the experienced Yukon and Alaskan mushers. But before long, people knew who Nadeau was as he marched out in front. By Pelly Crossing, Nadeau was out to a four hour-lead over Lee. By Circle, Lee had reduced the lead to 16 minutes. That's when the game of cat and mouse between Lee and Nadeau began. Lee had the faster dog team; Nadeau and his team had the ability to travel
longer on less rest.
At the Mile 101 checkpoint, between Central and the final stop at Angel Creek, Nadeau played some mind games on Lee. Lee arrived at the checkpoint first. Nadeau pulled in shortly afterward as Lee was heading to bed. The Quebecer talked to reporters,
ate and then made it look like he was going to sleep as well. Instead, he quietly harnessed up his dogs and took off, with Lee thinking Nadeau had gone to sleep.
But the trick would not be enough to defeat Lee's faster dogs. The Alaskan won the Quest in 11 days, 11 hours and 27 minutes. Nadeau was three hours and
46 minutes behind.
While Nadeau was the top Canadian, Turner was the top Yukoner again,
finishing in fifth place with a time of 12 days, one hour and 25 minutes.
1999 - Four days into the 16th Quest Ramy Brooks of Healy, Alaska, took the race lead somewhere between Circle and Eagle from another Healy, Alaska musher, Kris Swanguarin. From there, Brooks never looked back until he crossed the Whitehorse finish line first.
In Dawson City, Brooks held a lead of more than 3 1/2 hours over Mark
May. But slowly, May caught up to Brooks and at Carmacks he had whittled the lead down to 16 minutes. But despite having the Alaskan veterinarian breathing down his neck, Brooks fended off May to win the race by 10 minutes. With the win, the 30-year-old Brooks became the youngest-ever winner of the sled dog race.
Brooks has not raced in the Quest since his win, but is still racing. He finished fourth in last year's Iditarod and is entered in this year's edition of that race.
The top Yukoner and Canadian was, once again, Frank Turner, who finished
fifth, 11 hours behind Brooks.
2000 - Despite the fact each Quest has had at least two female mushers, no woman won the race until Aliy Zirkle led the way into the makeshift finish at the Takhini Hot Springs last year.
At the beginning of the race, the possibility for another new winner of the Quest was there since the only former champion in the race was Turner. But the veteran from Whitehorse stayed within reach of his second title for much of the race.
Alaskan Jack Berry led the pack in Dawson City. The other four - Thomas Tetz of Tagish, Yukon, Zirkle, Turner and Alaskan Peter Butteri - were just over an hour behind. The pack spread out somewhat as Zirkle was able to win the title by 30 minutes over Tetz. Turner was third, 4 1/2 hours behind the winner.
Zirkle took the victory in her third Quest after finishing 17th in 1998 and fourth in 1999. Tetz was also in his third race as he finished with a 24th in 1998 and a seventh in 1999.
Zirkle will not be here to defend her title as she has decided to take on what she has called the "other" race, the Iditarod.
