Race to the Sky dog sled race

Barron “Mushters” Another Race to the Sky Win

By Scott Poniewaz, 2-08-06

	Photo by Scott Poniewaz John Barron, this year's "Race to the Sky" winner, gets his sled inspected by race officials in Seeley Lake Tuesday morning before setting out on the final leg of the race.

After warm weather created poor snow conditions last year and the race was cancelled, John Barron, a musher from Helmville, Mont. was set to defend his 2004 title and managed to mark another tally in the ‘W’ column at the 20th annual “Race to the Sky� dog sled race Tuesday night. Barron, however, has no time to rest, since he has his eyes set on the Iditarod that will kick off in less than four weeks. “I’ll lay the guys off for four or five days, then go back to training. This is a good training run for them,� an exhausted Barron said after the race.

Barron last won the race in 2004, also the last year it was held, but he holds on to a family tradition, keeping the champion title in the family for four years running, also the number of years he has competed in the race. He hasn’t won them all though, he fell to his daughter-in-law Harmony in 2002 and her husband and his son Jason in 2003 after a race Jason described as “neck and neck.�

This year’s “Race to the Sky� got off to a tricky start Saturday after snowmobile tracks confused the competitors and led them off the planned course. Due to the confusion, there was a restart on Sunday.

John Barron arrived this morning at the Seeley Lake Community Center checkpoint at 5:10 a.m., which required a mandatory six-hour rest period before the musher took back to the trail right around 11:20 a.m. Setting out on the 72-mile homeward stretch, he was in the position to win with his nearest competitors about an hour and a half behind. “A lot of other people knew that it was going to take something like a meteorite to knock him off his sled,� his son Jason said.

He knew that when he left Seeley Lake this morning, the real race was running behind him for second and third place, with four racers leaving within fifteen minutes of one another.

Though the race is continuing into today, at press time, only the second and third place winners had arrived at the finish line in Lincoln, Mont. by Tuesday night as Rick Larson, a Sand Coulee, Mont. construction worker, finished up around 9 p.m. and Jon Bunderson of Soda Springs, Idaho finished in third at approximately 10:30 p.m. Larson is also signed up to compete in this year’s Iditarod. The 1,150-mile race will begin March 4 in Wasilla and finish in Nome. The “Race to the Sky� is used as one of several qualifying races for some of those wishing to compete in the Iditarod, the Super Bowl of dog sledding.

Click here to view the slideshow and listen to interviews and the sounds of the race coming to a close.

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