Yukon Quest front-runners Brent Sass, Hugh Neff head for Dawson City
4 mushers scratch from the race Monday, challenging conditions reported
The two front-runners in the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog race are close.
Tracking results Monday afternoon show Brent Sass and Hugh Neff within several kilometres of each other at the front of the race.
Both mushers passed through the Stepping Stone hospitality stop near midday on Monday and are en route to the halfway point of the 1,600-kilometre race, Dawson City.
Sass says this year is one of the most competitive fields in years.
"It's really exciting," he says. "It's awesome for the Yukon Quest having multiple champions back."
The competition includes four former Yukon Quest winners, among them Allen Moore and Lance Mackey.
Meanwhile, on Monday four mushers scratched from the race.
Race officials say Reynolds and Smith scratched, citing the well-being of their dog teams.
Angelo initially left the Carmacks checkpoint with his dogs but returned to the checkpoint to withdraw.
Similarly, farther up the trail, Matt Hall left the Pelly Crossing checkpoint at 1:43 p.m. with eight dogs but made the decision to turn around and scratch.
According to Reynolds, the conditions on the trail are difficult and her dogs were stressed by the time she arrived at Carmacks.
"I feel like I had 14 great dogs leaving Braeburn and just the section of trail from Braeburn to Carmacks was pretty challenging, not a lot of snow and there's a lot of downed timber through there," she says.
She says there is also terrible jumble ice on the Yukon River.
"It was pretty hard crashing though and ended up with some limping dogs and different issues," she says.
That leaves 22 mushers still in the race. The first third of the field was through the Pelly Crossing checkpoint by early Monday afternoon.
The front-runners are expected to begin arriving at Dawson City on Tuesday.