CASCADE, Idaho — According to Idaho Sled Dog Challenge founder and organizer Jerry Wortley, women have won all but one race since the event made its debut in 2018.
This year, the trend continued as Montana mushers Josi Thyr and Nicole Lombardi won the Idaho Sled Dog Challenge's (ISDC) 300-mile and 100-mile races, respectively.
Brett Bruggerman - a fellow Montana musher - is the lone male to ever win an Idaho Sled Dog Challenge event when he claimed the 300-mile race title in 2019.
The ISDC is the only 300-mile Yukon Quest qualifier in the contiguous continental U.S. and one of the three such events for the Iditarod in the lower 48. It is also viewed as one of the longest and toughest sled dog races in the world.
The race is part of the Rocky Mountain Triple Crown, which includes the Eagle Cap Extreme in Joseph, Oregon, and the Race to the Sky near Helena, Montana. The challenge was canceled last year due to COVID-19.
The ISDC 2022 300-mile race results are listed below:
- Josi Thyr (Olney, Mont.): 61:52:28 - 9.03 mph average
- Bailey Vitello (Milan, N.H.): 62:46:16 - 8.30 mph avg.
- Jed Stephensen (Sandpoint, Idaho): 71:33:41 - 7.87 mph avg.
- Clayton Perry (Power, Mont.): 78:48:55 - 6.89 mph avg.
In addition to the 300-mile Iditarod and the Yukon Quest qualifier, this year's event also featured a 100-mile race for those newer to the sport. The Junior race did not take place this year, organizers said.
The ISDC 2022 100-mile race results are listed below:
- Nicole Lombardi (Lincoln, Mont.): 16:52:30 - 9.57 mph avg.
- Scott White (Snohomish, Wash.): 18:35:23 - 8.39 mph avg.
- Wade Donaldson (Coalville, Utah): 19:26:40 - 8.38 mph avg.
- Morgan Anderson (Power, Mont.): 20:53:37 - 7.25 mph avg.
- David Ray Bush, Jr. (Bend, Ore.): 21:34:18 - 7.26 mph avg.
- Anna Mumford (Preston, Idaho): 21:50:35 - 6.94 mph avg.
- Bryce Mumford (Preston, Idaho): 21:50:40 - 7.13 mph avg.
- Rex Mumford (Huntsville, Utah): 21:50:45 - 7.54 mph avg.
- John Kunzler (Vernal, Utah): 22:14:31 - 6.56 mph avg.
- Meghan Forrey (Durango, Colo.): 22:22:01 - 7.61 mph avg.
- Jesse Flory (Hesperus, Colo.): 22:23:02 - 7.29 mph avg.
- Steve Madsen (Cougar, Wash.): 22:24:45 - 6.73 mph avg.
- Jane Devlin (Bend, Ore.): 23:12:16 - 6.73 mph avg.
- Jeneen Loeliger-Myers (McCall, Idaho): 25:00:33 - 6.19 mph avg.
- Elizabeth Nevills (Middleton, Idaho): scratched -- 5.40 mph avg.
Lombardi also claimed the 2022 Eagle Cap Extreme 100-mile race title earlier this year. Lombardi's 16:52:30 race time set a new record for the ISDC previously held by Council, Idaho native Laurie Warren in 2020. Warren finished the race with a 20:55:00 time two years ago.
Some mushers who finished lower in this year's race standings averaged higher speeds than those finishing ahead of them. Race marshal Rick Katucki explained how these numbers pan out.
"The average speed is calculated using running time," Katucki said. "In a continuous-format race, which the Idaho Sled Dog Challenge uses, mushers may rest their teams as long as they want. A faster team that stays in the checkpoint longer can finish later than one that rests less. Sled dog racing has a large management and strategy component, and in this instance, the mushers with the faster teams finished later because they miscalculated how long they needed to stay, or perhaps their checkpoint routines were not as efficient and they didn't return to the trail as quickly as they might have. This is similar to a race car spending too much time at a pit stop."
In 2018 - when the race was called the McCall Ultra Sled Dog Challenge - Montana musher Jessie Royer won the sole event, which was a 237-mile course. Royer also won the 300-mile race in 2020.
Canada musher Jennifer Campeau won the 150-mile race in 2019 when the event changed its name to the Idaho Sled Dog Challenge and first joined Montana's Race to the Sky and Oregon's Eagle Cap Extreme to create the Rocky Mountain Triple Crown.
According to ISDC officials, this year's event brought in teams from seven states across the U.S. Vitello, who finished second in the 300-mile race, was the first musher east of the Mississippi to compete in the event.
The race is considered one of the most grueling mushing competitions in the world due to its topography, according to Dave Looney, one of the primary volunteers and spokespersons for the event.
"Mushers will tell you this is a very, very atypical race," Looney said. "Our elevation change is 36,000 feet, which is greater than the Iditarod. They call it a 500-mile race packed into 300 miles. So the dog care and the pacing and the attention they have to pay to the terrain is really important because there's a lot of up and down. One musher said the Idaho Sled Dog Challenge is like climbing Mt. Everest -- twice."
Next year's event and the fifth annual Idaho Sled Dog Challenge are set for Jan. 29 - Feb. 2, 2023.
Visit idahosleddogchallenge.com for more details on the race and this year's cash, silent auction, raffle and in-kind sponsors. Visit idahosleddogchallenge.com/volunteers to sign up as a volunteer for the 2023 race.
Members of the future USS Idaho submarine slated to be commissioned in 2023 are pictured below, lighting the race lantern. The lantern is kept burning until the last musher crosses the finish line, according to the ISDC.
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