The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
300-mile Race to the Sky winner Jessie Royer and her team rounds a corner and heads down toward the Cain's shortly after Saturday's race start at Lincoln.
Jessie Royer Crosses the finish line at Hi Country at 9:22 p.m. Monday night.
Charmayne Morrison of Bozeman and her team take off from the starting point for the 100-mile adult race. Morrison, finished third in the 100-Mile Race, behind Scott White of Snohomish, Wash. and Seeley Lake's Josi Thyr, who took first.
A puppy with striking blue eyes takes in the pre-race activity from a box on musher Jed Stephenson's truck. Stephenson, of Sandpoint Idaho, competed in the Race to the Sky for the first time this year.
Steven Thomas gets some attention from dogs in Gabe Dunham's team. Thomas, from Anchorage, finished 8th in the 100-mile adult race. He helped Dunham, who was on track to take second place in the 300-mile race, with her dogs.
Abigail Paul, the dog handler for Minnesota musher Damon Ranamaker, stretches out the gangline before the start of the 300-mile Race.
Kevin Mathis' dog team breaks overs a hill just beyond the Hi Country start point.
Clayton Perry of Power approaches High Chapparel Drive.
Gabe Dunham smiles as she passes spectaoros near the Hi Country start.
Jessie Royer claimed her fifth Race to the Sky win Monday night, crossing the finish line at Hi Country at 9:22, with 11 dogs.
Royer left Lincoln Saturday afternoon, the last of the nine 300-mile teams to leave Hi Country, and was the first to reach Whitetail Ranch that afternoon, having passing all the teams that started ahead of her.
Royer, who left Whitetail ranch for the last leg of the race at 3:19 p.m. Monday, set a determined pace and never gave up the lead. with second place finisher Gabe Dunham of Darby arriving in Lincoln just before 6 a.m. Tuesday morning. Clayton Perry of Power finished third, arriving in Lincoln about half an hour behind Dunham.
Of the nine teams that began the 300 mile-race, six finished, with Jesse Flory of Hesperus, Colo., Patrick Roy of Paradise, Mont. and Jed Stephenson of Sand Point, Idaho bowing out of the race Sunday. All three teams were taking part in their first Race to the Sky.
Royer set a record with her first Race to the Sky win in 1994, when it was still a 500-mile. At 17 she was both the youngest musher and the first woman to win the race. She began her current winning streak with a win in 2015, followed by wins in 2016 and 2018. She missed the 2017 and 2019 races here to take part in Alaska's 1000 mile Yukon Quest.
Royer has competed in 17 Iditarod's, placing third last year and finishing in the top ten several times. She's set to tackle her 18th Iditarod next month in Anchorage, Alaska.
Josi Thyr racked up her first Race to the Sky win, taking first in the 100-mile adult race at 6:48 a.m. Sunday morning. She was followed by Scott White of Snohomish, Wash. at 7:11. Charmayne Morrison of Bozeman rounded out the top three finishers Sunday.
Originally from Cataldo Idaho, Thyr now lives in Seeley Lake and has been working with Royer's kennel. She also took home the "Jack Beckstrom Best Cared for Team" award, in honor of the late Jack Beckstrom who helped first organize the Race to the Sky. Beckstrom passed away last year.
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