Quick Facts
Capricorn
Biography
Brent Sass (born January 2, 1980 in Excelsior, Minnesota) is an American dog musher who won the 1,000 mile Yukon Quest international sled dog race from Whitehorse, Yukon to Fairbanks, Alaska in 2015, 2019 and 2020. He is well known for rescuing other mushers along the Yukon Quest trail throughout his dogsled racing career. In 2011, the rescue efforts of Sass and his then-lead dog Silver at American Summit in blizzard conditions led to the introduction of the Yukon Quest's Silver Award that recognizes sled dogs that have performed acts of heroism on the trail.
Dogsled racing career
In 2012, Sass participated in his first Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and earned Rookie of the Year honors.
In 2015, Sass won the Yukon Quest in nine days, 12 hours, and 49 minutes. He also competed in the 2015 Iditarod, but his quest to become the second musher to win both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod in the same year fell short as he was disqualified from the Iditarod for possessing an iPod Touch during the race; the iPod Touch was deemed a prohibited two-way communications device due to its built-in Wi-Fi Internet connectivity feature. Sass was in fifth place at the time of the disqualification.
In 2016, Brent Sass was trying to leave the White Mountain checkpoint, 77 miles (124 km) from Nome but his dogs would not leave the checkpoint, and if there is one thing he will not do is make a decision that would negatively affect his dogs.He waited, fed them, and waited until they were ready, took it slow to the finish. He was going to be in 3rd place, but because of this problem he finished in 20th place, losing $44,175 in prize money.
In 2017 Brent withdrew from the Yukon Quest 1000 mile race, at a checkpoint, he also withdrew, prior to the race from the Iditarod.Focus is on health of dogs and kennel.Taking some well-deserved personal time off. Several of the Wild and Free dogs did participate in the Iditarod for other mushers.
In 2020 Brent Sass won the Yukon Quest which he began on Feb.1 and finished on Feb. 11 at 1:51 p.m. AST
Television
Sass appeared in the first season of Ultimate Survival Alaska which aired in 2013.
