Copper Basin 300

Sunday Morning: Mushers are leaving Chistochina, headed across country to Paxon.
CB300 Trail Map
Some great photos
The latest race updates
Lance headed for Paxon at 6:04. Folowing him out of Chistochina just after 8 am were Braxton Peterson, Harry Alexie, Brent Sass, and Sven Haltmann.
There's discussion of the race happening on the Sled Dog News group.

Update Saturday Evening: 1st into Glennallen checkpoint: Allen Moore, followed closely by Hans Gatt and Lance Mackey! Check the Copper Basin 300 site for times and information on all the teams into Glennallen!


Minus Forty at Lake Louise


The Race Announcers


Lining out the team


Getting Ready to Go


Harry Alexie doing some last minute packing


Braxton Peterson with a big smile


Lance Mackey heads back to his sled at the start


Colleen Robertia


Can we go yet?


Aliy Zirkle


Sven Haltmann


Lance Mackey signs in at Glennallen


Race Headquarters in Glennallen


Updating the standings

The 2009 Copper Basin 300 Sled Dog Race started Saturday, January 10 at 10:00 am, at the Wolverine Lodge on Lake Louise, northwest of Glennallen, Alaska. With a poster tagline of “Twenty years of the toughest 300 miles in Alaska,” this well-respected mid-distance race has once again drawn an impressive line-up of mid-to-long distance mushers, including the defending champion, Allen Moore of Two Rivers, Alaska, who also won in 2005 and 2007. Iditarod and Yukon Quest champion Lance Mackey, who won the CB300 in 2006 and came in second last year, is also racing again this year. Follow this link for Northern Light Media's opening coverage of the race.

Jessica Hendricks wins Sheep Mountain 150

Judy Currier of Fairbanks, Alaska at the Sheep Mountain 150 on Saturday, Dec. 13. Photo: Helen Hegener

The Go Mush site reported the Two Rivers musher Jessica Hendricks won the Sheep Mountain 150 at 12:30 pm Sunday:

...with 11 strong dogs and a smile on her frosted face.

An article by Jillian Rogers in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner also reported Hendricks' win:

The 26-year-old Iditarod veteran won the race with a total running time of 12 hours, 52 minutes, beating out Allen Moore of Two Rivers by six minutes and Whitehorse, Yukon’s Hans Gatt, who was just two minutes behind Moore. Kasilof’s Jon Little was a minute behind Gatt, the three-time Quest winner. Jeff King, who has won the Iditarod four times was fifth in his first Sheep Mountain 150 with a total time of 13:17.

The News-Miner article reported more about Whitehorse musher Hans Gatt:

Gatt is mentoring Jamaican musher Newton Marshall with the goal of getting the rookie dog driver through the Yukon Quest in 2009. Marshall entered the Sheep Mountain race with some of Gatt’s top dogs for more practice before the 300-mile Copper Basin in January and the Quest in February. Marshall finished the 150-miler in 21st place.

Complete race statistics for the Sheep Mountain 150 are available at the Go Mush site, and photos of the race are available at Go Mush, with additional photos in separate albums from photographers Helen Hegener and Donna Quante.

Sheep Mountain 150

Ken Anderson, photo by Helen Hegener

Initial reports from the Go Mush news team on the start of the Sheep Mountain 150 provided news, numerous photos and a race update scoreboard:

Mushers started rolling into Eureka Lodge, 50 miles, at 5 pm today, with Jessica Hendricks in first place, Sebastian Schnuelle second, and Allen Moore third. As of 8:54 pm all mushers arrived at Eureka for their first 5 hour layover. Trail breaker Stan Smith said "the trails are in great shape this year, we have a good amount of snow for the mushers, and we are out there working on them to be sure they are well marked and trouble free."

In an article titled "Hendricks leads Sheep Mountain 150 pack," with the subtitle "Schnuelle, Moore, Gatt and Little are right behind," the Anchorage Daily News staff noted:

The talented young Hendricks has finished as high as 15th in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Two years ago, she finished second at Sheep Mountain, just 21 minutes behind winner Lance Mackey.

Initial photos from the race start can be found at the Go Mush gallery, and discussion of the race is going on at the Go Mush forum.