Copper Basin finishers look to Iditarod

GLENNALLEN — This year’s Copper Basin 300 saw more than one repeat performance, but also a few firsts.

Allen Moore of Two Rivers claimed his sixth win of the race Monday; Ray Redington, Jr. came in second, after running the race too many times to remember, he said; Nicolas Petit of Girdwood returned for fourth place, displaced by Two Rivers’ Ryne Olson; and young Ben Harper, a 2014 Wasilla High School graduate, finished his second CB300 in the top five.

“I had a pretty consistent race,” Harper said. “I didn’t really push my dogs too hard, just took it easy with them.”

Harper said eight of the 12 dogs he ran in last weekend’s race belong to Sonny Lindner, the very first winner of the Yukon Quest in 1984. The other four dogs belong to Redington.

Needless to say, Harper’s not short on mushing connections. He moved in right next door to Redington in 2011, and started looking into sled dog racing that year, when he was 15.

“I got into mushing because of him,” Harper said of Redington.

Perhaps that’s why Harper was able to enter the Copper Basin 300 as a 17-year-old last year. Technically, the race rules require entrants to be 18 or older, but no one seemed to mind letting him in a few months early, and it paid off — he finished fourth last year, and received the “Rookie of the Year” award.

“I’ve been with the right people for the last couple years,” Harper said.

Redington’s comments on racing with his trainee this year also suggest that, while the Copper Basin is a good training race for the Iditarod, it doesn’t have quite the same level of competition:

“It ain’t no big deal,” he said.

However, given the state of the trails this season — “training’s been rough all year,” Harper said — being able to race at all seems to be something of a luxury.

“We were very fortunate to have that race and to have such a wonderful group putting it on,” Redington said of Copper Basin.

And with the postponements of races like the Knik 200 and Tustumena 200, for example, mushers are worried they might have to skip a few as they prepare for the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod.

“I hate to see it get pushed back, it’s one of the most fun races,” Redington said of the Tustumena.

But whatever happens, Harper said his “biggest goal” is “just to finish the Iditarod.” He took this year off from school but intends to begin his college education next fall in Fairbanks, so this will be his one shot at the race for at least a few years.

“I don’t wanna get too far ahead of myself,” he said. “I wanna make sure I get a good education but hopefully I can come back to mushing (after college).”

Another motivation for him to do well, perhaps, is the fact that he’s running for free. In a drawing at the Iditarod’s Volunteer Appreciation Picnic last summer, Harper won back his $3,000 entry fee, and the opportunity to have first pick of the bibs before the start of the race.

He’s also being sponsored by Louie Ambrose and Lindner’s company, Johnson River Enterprises.

Then there’s the competition within his age group to consider. Three-time Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey’s younger brother Conway has been just ahead of Harper in junior races in the last two years, and as Conway is not signed up for this year’s Iditarod, Harper may have a chance to get ahead.

Harper said he’s already learned a great deal from races like the Copper Basin, making significant headway in mastering the art of operating on little sleep and working quickly and efficiently at checkpoints.

“It all helps,” he said.

Redington said the competition for this year’s Iditarod still looks pretty stiff, but he could see Harper coming in anywhere from 20th to 35th place.

“I’d like to see him surprise me,” he said.

The Yukon Quest begins Feb. 7 in Whitehorse, and the Iditarod begins March 7, in Anchorage/Willow.

Contact Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.