The past two weeks has been a twisted trail for the Last Great Race. If having PETA chasing away sponsors wasn’t enough, the internal politics has been a public relations challenge.
First, on Feb. 19, the race’s governing body met in an emergency meeting and disqualified up-and-coming racer Eddie Burke Jr from the 2024 race, which begins with the ceremonial start in Anchorage on March 3, and the actual start from Big Lake on March 4.
The race organization said that two pending assault charges stemming from 2022 against Burke made him not the kind of guy they wanted on the trail. He had violated the race’s personal conduct standard.
Then, two days later, after the Alaska Department of Law dismissed the charges and closed the case, the board reinstated him, with a terse statement.
The board then turned around and disqualified champion racer Brent Sass, due to unsavory allegations from a couple of women regarding sexual conduct that they said was nonconsensual. No charges are pending in those matters.
Now, just six days before the race start, Eddie Burke Jr. has withdrawn himself. He made his decision known on his Facebook page, explaining that after he had been disqualified, he had agreed to let other racers run some of his team, and he wants to honor the commitments he made.
Burke, a former amateur boxer and truck driver, finished seventh in the 2023 Iditarod, and was named Rookie of the Year.
“Due to recent events, I made the decision to lease out my race team to six individual mushers, competing in this years Iditarod. At the time, my main focus was letting dogs do what they love. Over the past 7 months, the dogs and I have put in over 2,000 miles on the trail and countless hours of preperation. Traveling to Nome is what this team deserves, even if that means traveling the trail without me,” Burke wrote on his Facebook page on Monday.
“After being reinstated, it has been a challenge to gather my team back together and prepare for the race. This has not only been difficult for me but also the mushers I have made agreements with. After tough consideration, I have made the decision to withdraw from this years race and honor the agreements I have made with my fellow mushers,” he wrote.
“This was not a easy decision to make but I am excited to watch my team travel the trail. There will always be another dog race and I never plan to be out of dogs. I look forward to cheering on my friends, running the few dogs left at the kennel, and most importantly, spending time with family. Thank you to all of my fans, sponsors and supporters. Your kind words and support has made it possible to work through these difficult times.”
Meanwhile, Sass has vehemently denied the accusations made against him.
Sass has won the Yukon Quest three times and won the 50th running of the Iditarod in 2022. He received the Vet’s Choice award in 2015 and 2019 for the way he took care of his team.
The two mushers leaving the race this year leaves 38 teams. This is up from the 33 teams that ran in 2023, which was the lowest number in the race’s history, reflecting the hardship many mushers suffered from the Covid pandemic policies. In 2019, before the pandemic, 52 mushers and over 1,000 dogs participated.
Read more about the twisted trail of these recent events at Craig Medred’s website.
