LINCOLN — Jessie Royer is this year's Race to the Sky 300-mile champion. Royer has been mushing for 31 years and this is her 7th Race to the Sky 1st place finish.
Royer, of Seely lake, finished under the Hi-Country Snack Foods Archway in Lincoln on Monday evening at 7:40 pm, placing first, once again, in the Race to the Sky.
While it's no surprise to see Royer glide through the finish line first. It was the conditions this year that was a key factor that helped her and her young team take first.
"Last few years have been really hard, which is kind of like riding on concrete. So it's kind of nice to have a little softer trail, which is easier on the dogs, especially under their joints. Not quite so much pounding," said Royer.
All four of the mushers, and their dogs, finished the 300-mile race, which took them from Lincoln, to Seeley lake, to Owl Creek near Condon, then back again.
One of the newer mushers in this year's Race to the Sky, Erik Oline, finished in second in the 300-mile, right behind his mentor, Royer.
Oline is learning about mushing and racing Alaskan huskies under Royer's wing. He has been racing for two years and is part of J Team Kennel.
"I don't think there's anyone in the lower 48 that I could learn as much from as Jesse. She's she's definitely I mean, she's been doing it 31 years and she's got a lot of top ten Iditarod finishers. So I don't think, in my opinion, I think was a better teacher in the entire world," said Oline.
Even though Royer qualified for the Iditarod last year, she ended up not participating in the race.This year, however, she's qualified for the Iditarod and plans to compete with her huskies.
Royer's finished 3rd in the Iditarod on multiple occasions and has competed in the race around 20 times. While this is a younger team going to Alaska than she's used to, she says the team's future is bright.
"I've got one veteran leader and I'm going to have like 13 rookies. So I just want to get as many miles on them as much, you know, race, simulated experiences to the young dogs as possible. So when we head up to Alaska next week, actually it's coming up fast. We're just going to go have a fun race and maybe, maybe race a little bit more conservatively than we have in the past. Just because they are young dogs, still building them up with the looking looking forward a year," said Royer.
Alaska's world-famous Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is scheduled to start on March 4th.
Here are the results to the Race to the Sky 300-Mile:
- 1st place: Jessie Royer, Seeley Lake, Montana
- 2nd place: Erik Oline, Missoula, Montana
- 3rd place: Charmayne Morrison, Bozeman, Montana
- 4th place: Clayton Perry, power, Montana
