麻豆社区

This one鈥檚 for Basin.

Less than a month after losing his five-year-old lead dog to a sudden, unknown illness, Brent Sass will hit the Yukon Quest trail Saturday in an attempt to defend his 2015 title.

鈥淭his race is completely dedicated to Basin,鈥� he said from Fairbanks, last Thursday.

Sass said the loss of Basin will continue to affect him emotionally, adding he will need to rely on his dogs throughout this next journey.

鈥淚鈥檓 sure there will be a lot of moments in the Quest this year, where I鈥檓 like: 鈥榃ow, this is difficult. It鈥檚 not the same without Basin.鈥�

鈥淏ut because my team is so deep and I have so much confidence in my other leaders, I鈥坒eel like if I鈥坙ean on them ... they are going to do an amazing job and we can do what we did last year without Basin.鈥�

Basin died while resting during a training run last month, Sass explained.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what happened,鈥� the musher said.

His best guess is his prized dog suffered a seizure.

Despite the enormous loss of Basin 鈥� who shared last year鈥檚 Golden Harness award with Sass鈥檚 co-leader, Sound 鈥� the Wild and Free Mushing team remains a force.

In mid-January, the 36-year-old musher from Eureka, Alaska, guided his team to a second place finish in the Kuskokwim 300, a popular mid-distance race based out of Bethel, Alaska.

Travelling with tears in his eyes and Basin鈥檚 collar affixed to his sled handle, Sass finished a mere 10 minutes behind victor Pete Kaiser.

鈥淚 have tons of confidence,鈥濃�圫ass said of his 14 huskies.

鈥淚 feel like I鈥檝e got a great shot at repeating, but that doesn鈥檛 mean that the competition isn鈥檛 steep. ... But I鈥檓 confident in my dog team and my ability to know the trail.

鈥淚 feel like my preparation has been better than my previous nine Quests.鈥�

Former race champions Allen Moore and Hugh Neff are expected to challenge Sass, as is upstart Matt Hall.

As of last week, Sass said he still wasn鈥檛 sure who would join Sound at the front of his team.

鈥淚鈥檓 deep in leaders,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檝e got at least 10 leaders in the team. Basin was just one of them. Arguably, he was the best one, the main one. But all of these other dogs have been running lead just as much.鈥�

Basin rose to stardom in last year鈥檚 race, refuting Sass鈥檚 early attempt to remove him from lead for a spell.

This year, Sass hopes to see a new 麻豆社区born.

The 33rd annual Yukon Quest 1,000 Mile International Sled Dog Race begins in Fairbanks, Saturday.

A total of 23 mushers 鈥� including five Yukoners 鈥� will attempt the 1,600-kilometre odyssey to Whitehorse.

Last year, Sass took victory in nine days, 12 hours and 49 minutes.