Northern Lights 300

The Northern Lights 300 is on this weekend and, for the first time in kennel history, SP Kennel is fielding a team. Chris will be taking a very young Red and Black (R&B) Team on this adventure.



The race starts at Martin Buser's Happy Trails Kennel in Big Lake on FRIDAY* at 11am. The route is an "out and back" to the Finger Lake checkpoint, one of the Iditarod checkpoints. The route is Happy Trails Kennels (HTK) to Yentna Station (75 miles), Yentna Station to Talvista Lodge (45 miles), Talvista Lodge to loop up Skwentna River and back to Talvista Lodge (50 miles), Talvista Lodge to Yentna Station (45 miles), Yentna Station to HTK (75 miles).

There is a mandatory 6 hour layover (+ start differential) at Yentna #1 (outbound) and a mandatory 6 hour layover at Yentna #2 (inbound). An additional 6 hours of layovers must be completed prior to leaving Yentna Station inbound for a total of 18 hours.

From the race website: "The Northern Lights 300 Sled Dog Race (NL 300) is organized and managed by volunteers and is recognized by both Iditarod and Yukon Quest as a qualifying race. The race is designed to test mushers’ preparedness, endurance and skills in a remote, wilderness setting. The race assesses their ability to care for themselves and their dogs, and complete a challenging course in a competitive manner. The NL 300 relies on musher camaraderie, volunteerism, and excellence in dog care; promoting the sport of distance mushing in South Central Alaska."

We're very excited to add this race to his team's resume!

To follow along we will be watching the race website and Facebook page.

We'll post the race roster shortly - expect to see a lot of youngsters!

(*edit: originally said it started Saturday)