EAGLE — Cody Strathe and Joar Leifseth Ulsom expected to finish their Yukon Quest in Fairbanks, but definitely not the way it happened on Saturday.
After scratching from the race at the Eagle checkpoint, the two hooked up their teams on Saturday night and traveled two miles to the airport, where they loaded their dogs aboard a Cessna Grand Caravan. They were dropped off just miles from the Fairbanks finish line they’d pursued for the past seven days.
It marked a disappointing end to a race that had promising moments for both. Ulsom arrived at Eagle in fourth place, Strathe in seventh.
But they both decided to end their race outside Eagle after deciding their teams weren’t up for the remaining journey of nearly 400 miles.
It became clear that Ulsom’s team was struggling soon after he departed the checkpoint at 2 p.m. with eight dogs. He stopped his team just 20 miles from Eagle, then rested for more than nine hours before returning later that morning.
Ulsom, who trains in Willow, said at least two dogs on his team were nursing minor injuries, and he felt it wouldn’t be responsible to push his team on to Circle.
“There wasn’t any point in going down the trail,” he said. “It was probably the hardest decision I’ve made, but it was the right decision for my dogs.”
Strathe had a similar story. He got 32 miles outside Eagle with 10 dogs but only had one leader, Sable, who was willing to run up front. He said he’d been watching his dogs for tics for a few hundred miles and felt the mental fatigue of a long race was starting to get to them.
The Ester musher said he wasn’t certain his team was going to make it.
“They just weren’t happy,” he said. “Physically, they’re very strong … but they’re tired mentally. It was time for them to go home.”
Strathe scratched from the Quest last year, when his dogs stopped running toward the final leg of the race. He said the experience left him determined to finish this year, a goal he said removed too much of his focus from the details of caring for his team.
“I forgot to keep up with the dogs as well as I should have,” he said.
Both Ulsom and Strathe also said they didn’t want to wear out their remaining dogs since the teams are both scheduled to make an Iditarod run next month. Ulsom and Strathe’s wife, Paige Drobny, are each planning to run the race for the third time.
Along with Ulsom and Strathe, Magnus Feren Kaltenborn scratched from the race in Dawson City while in the Red Lantern position. With Saturday’s departures, 10 of 26 mushers that started the Quest have scratched or withdrawn from the race.
Follow staff writer Jeff Richardson on Twitter: @FDNMquest.
Joar Leifseth Ulsom lors de l'Iditarod 2013

La Yukon Quest, course de chiens de traîneau longue distance en Amérique du Nord, a vu deux autres mushers abandonner en quelques heures : le dernier du classement, Kaltenborn, à Dawson, mais aussi l'un des favoris, Ulsom, à Eagle.

Le premier abandon est celui de Magnus Feren Kaltenborn (dossard 23), un Norvégien vivant à Carcross au Yukon. Kaltenborn avait occupé toute la course dans les dernières places. Arrivé bon dernier à Dawson City, le checkpoint de mi-course, avec plusieurs heures de retard sur l'avant-dernier, il avait 24h de repos à y faire, selon le règlement. Le 13 février 2014 dans la soirée, alors qu'il avait désormais le droit de repartir, il a préféré abandonner, son attelage étant encore très fatigué par les quelques  parcourus depuis le départ le 7 février. L'annonce officielle a été faite le 14 février dans la matinée.

Le deuxième abandon est plus surprenant : il s'agit de Joar Leifseth Ulsom (dossard 18) qui lui avait fait jusque-là une très belle course en ne descendant pas en dessous de la 4 place au classement. Cependant, après avoir quitté Eagle, le 5 checkpoint et le premier du côté américain de la frontière (la Yukon Quest étant une course transfrontalière), Ulsom s'est arrêté après seulement une vingtaine de kilomètres. Après plus de cinq heures de repos, il a choisi de faire demi-tour pour retourner à Eagle et laisser ses chiens se reposer encore, dans de meilleures conditions. Finalement, après quelques heures supplémentaires, Ulsom a officiellement abandonné. Ulsom n'avait plus que neuf chiens dans son attelage en arrivant la première fois à Eagle ; l'un d'entre eux semble ensuite s'être fait mal au dos et deux autres auraient de légers problèmes. Le règlement de la course obligeant à un minimum de six chiens dans l'attelage, Ulsom estimait ne pouvoir continuer, surtout pour encore . Il était jusqu'alors considéré comme l'un des favoris de la course.

Avec huit abandons et un retrait, la Yukon Quest est passée de 26 à 17 mushers encore sur la piste de Fairbanks. Cody Strathe, qui a quitté Eagle à 7h24 (heure locale) avec dix chiens et s'en est éloigné d'une petite quarantaine de kilomètres en 5h15, est lui aussi en train de faire demi-tour.