Minnesota Born Musher and Reigning Iditarod Champion Aiming to Defend his Title

(KDLM) — A Minnesota-born musher is leading the charge across the unforgiving Alaska winter scape in the 2023 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, hoping to defend his title.

The race from Willow to Nome, Alaska, began for 33 mushers on Sunday. Now they will travel nearly a thousand miles, climbing over two mountain ranges, frozen rivers and streams, and across the Bering Sea ice.

Brent Sass, a graduate of Minnetonka High School, moved to Alaska right after graduation in the late 90s. He worked as a cabin builder until “One day I saw a dog team go by my feet, and I just said, ‘I want to do that!’ (laughs) and the rest is kind of history. I started to build the dog team, and now, currently, I live in a place called Eureka, about 150 miles northwest of Fairbanks. I live here with 55 sled dogs, and we raise, train and run huskies in the Iditarod, Yukon Quest and other mid distance races.”

He says training for the grind of the Iditarod is a year-round program. “I train them. I’m out there mocking the race for them, and I’m also mocking the race for myself. I’m constantly fine tuning all of my stuff. I mean, I live out here in Eureka on this remote homestead, so that in and of itself is a full time job between cutting firewood and keeping heaters running and just general maintenance. There’s no maintenance man. We do and fix everything here. So just, that lifestyle keeps me moving all the time. I don’t sleep very much in the winter, and sleep deprivation is a really big thing in the quest of Iditarod because you get really tired, and there isn’t a lot of sleep for the musher. So my life is kind of very similar to a dog race. I always I was joke that my life is just one big dog race.”

Saas has competed in about 50 races since moving to Alaska, including 15 runs in the 1,000 mile Yukon Quest where he is a three-time champion. He is in the beginning portion of his eighth Iditarod. He won last year’s race in just over eight days. The winner is expected to drive their sled dog team down Nome’s Front Street to the iconic burled arch finish line in about ten days.

The 33 mushers in the race are the smallest field ever. The first race, held in 1973, had 34 mushers, but the average number of starters in the first 50 races was 63.

Keep track of Sass and the rest of the field by clicking here.

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