Schnuelle finds himself as unlikely Yukon Quest leader — expected to arrive at 9:30 a.m.
Published Tuesday, February 24, 2009
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TWO RIVERS — Winning the Yukon Quest never crossed Sebastian Schnuelle’s mind when he started the 1,016-mile race on Feb. 14.
“It wasn’t even the wildest dream of my mind, I have to say,” Schnuelle said. “You know how I approached this. I said I want to go camping.”
How then does Schnuelle explain being 35 minutes ahead of Hugh Neff and 57 minutes in front of Jon Little as the trio sets off for the finish line this morning?
“I’m not dawdling along, but very obviously for a long time I wasn’t pushing as hard. ... This happened at the end. It’s luck. It’s pure luck,” said the German, who has run five Quests and never finished higher than sixth.
What happened is Schnuelle left Central 8 1/2 hours after Hugh Neff and William Kleedehn, and 6 1/2 hours after Jon Little.
That trio, however, experienced major problems on Eagle Summit on Monday morning. Schnuelle passed Kleedehn on Eagle Summit, overtook Little on Rosebud Summit and stayed within 85 minutes of Neff by the time they reached Twin Bears Campground. Schnuelle now will leave Twin Bears in first place after a mandatory eight-hour layover because a two-hour penalty Neff received in Central will be assessed at Twin Bears.
Schnuelle was well aware of his standing against Neff as he mushed 115 miles with no significant breaks on Monday.
“I asked people along the way, ‘How long ago did (Neff) come by?’” Schnuelle said.
Schnuelle can leave Two Rivers Checkpoint at 5:02 a.m. today, followed by Neff at 5:37 a.m. and Little at 5:59 p.m. If Schnuelle travels a speedy 10 miles per hour, he will cross the finish line below the Cushman Street bridge by 9:30 a.m., which would shatter Lance Mackey’s 2007 record.
Neff said he won’t be able to reel Schnuelle in today during the final 45 miles.
“It’s already over. The race is over,” Neff said. “A half-hour lead is pretty much impossible (to overcome).”
But the Quest is known for its unpredictability, so Schnuelle isn’t counting his $30,000 prize yet.
“I’m afraid that one wrong turn or one wrong something and it’s gone, so I’m definitely not confident,” Schnuelle said.
Neff complimented Schnuelle for having a “great dog team” but believes his time penalty cost him the race.
“I personally think even if Sebastian wins the race ... (that) I still have the winning team, and I’ll stand by that,” Neff said.
Neff finally had a chance Monday night to tell his side of the story regarding the penalty he was assessed Sunday night in Central for mushing on the road for more than five miles instead of on the adjacent trail.
“I saw (dog) poo on the road, and I was figuring (Kleedehn) was going down the road,” Neff said, adding that the assumption turned out to be false. “ ... When I saw William off on the side trail, I grabbed my team and pulled them over into the side trail.”
Neff said he “messed up” but deserved to be fined instead of given a severe time penalty by race marshal Doug Grilliot.
“Basically they found what was going to hurt me the worst and they basically took the race from me,” Neff said. “I have no issue with a penalty. I have an issue with what the penalty was. ... For five minutes, two hours seems a little out there.”
Neff said penalties should be specified in the race rules and not determined arbitrarily by race officials.
The whole thing has left a sour taste in Neff’s mouth.
“I love the Quest. I love the Quest trail. I just have issues with a lot of the way the Quest is run,” Neff said, adding that he doesn’t see himself returning without better race organization.
Contact staff writer Matias Saari at 459-7591.
Community Discussion
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it was mentioned if you go off trail and realize it you can go back to where you went off and continue with no penalty, could have done that. assumption is the mother of all F&*%ups
go Schnuelle!!!!
I'm sure the Quest won't miss him too bad.
Go Neff Go there's got to be shortcut somewhere along the trail. You can reel him in just race like a mad man.
It's Not Like Neff was Penalized "arbitrarily".........He was Off the Trail for over FIVE MILES, NOT "FIVE MINUTES".....the TIME PENALTY is Completely Justified!!
Well that explains it. Dog poo mistaken for trail marker.At least he didn't mistake it for trail mix.
Getting off onto the wrong trail is certainly a possibility in Two Rivers. On the other hand, the Quest crew has apparently done a great job of trail marking. So long as the snowmachiners haven't knocked over the markers Mr. Schnuelle should be just fine, and you couldn't ask for a better guy to bump a cheater out of the winner's circle. It's almost like one of those old melodrama's (you know, with Snidely Whiplash as the villain).
Everything I've read so far this year indicates the trails were terrific - congrats to the Quest crew, great job.
THIS type of finish is why the race remains so fresh after all these years - you just never know what'll happen (and Eagle Summit is the toughest spot in the toughest race in the world).
Congrats to ALL the mushers who've taken care of their athletes (the dogs) themselves and each other - well run!
With the extra two hours of rest Neff could catch up Sebastian... should have given him the two hour penalty at Fairbanks at the finish line... Local dogs and dog teams run down that central road so there was no reason for Neff to assume that Kleeden was running down the road...he should have been able to see where Kleeden's fresh tracks left the road.
Dog poop...really?? You had all day on your sled to think of a good excuse and thats all you could come up with?? This Neff guy sounds like a joke to me, and I agree with Fourchords, the race wont miss him at all.
William Kleedehn had no problem seeing the trail markers, and none of the mushers following have complained of an issue finding the trail. Neff admitted that he purposely stayed on the road rather than the side trail.
Personally, I think he should have been given the option to return to the point where he deviated form the marked trail and come in on the proper trail or been disqualified. Either way, he still remains a cheater and the race and Mr. Neff's dogs will all be better off if he chooses to stay off of the race trail in the future.
There was never any doubt y'all that they would let that ol' hippy have a shot at their title. There's some that would o' died before letting that happen.
Poor William. Go Saaaabbbbbb.
"Neff said penalties should be specified in the race rules and not determined arbitrarily by race officials.
The whole thing has left a sour taste in Neff’s mouth".
Well Neff, you left a pretty sour taste in my mouth with you too.
I had best pick up the dropping my dog left this morning in my yard or I'll find you cruising through my yard on the way through. I've heard of some pretty dumb explanations, but this is the candle on the cake, or poop pile.
This shows no remorse, or brains, and he should have had a stiffer penalty. Cry a river elsewhere, preferably on a trail this time.
Too many new school "mushers" complain about other trail users. They often refer to the trails as mushing trails, rather than the multiple use that the trails are.
It's not just snowmachiners that may knock down trail markers.
I detect bias there, swanny. Again.
Okay, here's one. It may just be an error by who ever is putting the up dates on the Quest web site.
It shows Mr. Neff was given another 2 hour penalty at the Two Rivers Checkpoint.
www.yukonquest.com/site/race-updates/
This is a race folks. I hear a lot of comments on here about Neff not being the sharpest then you add in the fact that he is probably exhausted. Probably realized he was wrong after a ways down the road and once again he was probably too tired to care. Most of us that comment on here never had a chance to ride a dog sled ten miles let alone day after day for hundreds. Not to excuse him but I could see how a mistake could be made. To me he brings drama and character of the funny kind to the Quest. I watch just to see what he is going to do next. Just like most folks who watch car racing to see the crashes.
I hope Huge doesn't quit running the Quest. He is allways the life of the party! I mean that in a good way. Just think how boring the race could be without a little controversy once in a while!
I just came from the Twin Bears Checkpoint and interestingly enough NONE of the mushers there: Schnulle, Little, Sass feel that Hugh is a low life cheater. In fact it seemed quite the opposite.
I think that the reality of the situation is that all of those other mushers KNOW that that 5 mile run on the road probably gained Hugh 1 or 2 mph on all the rest of the mushers. Which would equal about 5 minutes of difference.
I would imagine that it seems trivial and political drama compared with their #1 concern. JUST RUNNING THEIR DOGS.
If they really thought that this was huge impact on their race, do you think that everyONE of those mushers would have attempted to help "Poor William" up Eagle Summit, when his bombing team needed it. That took a whole lot more time off their competitive edge than 5 minutes.
I just watched all 3 teams Schnulle, Neff, and Little leave the checkpoint, and again 10 miles into the run and all 3 teams looked great!
You all can focus on all of this BS, but I am going to focus on more important and INTERESTING parts of the race. Like dogs, and schedules, personal triumphs, etc.
I am sure that Hugh was exhausted by the time he got to the Hot Springs, but that said, this is not his first rodeo. He has run that trail a half dozen times at least. The trail is obvious and everyone knows it runs in the ditchline along the highway!! I am not a musher, but I have riden a snowgo on that trail a number of times, and like I said, EVERYONE knows where the YukonQuest trail runs from Crabb's to the Hot Springs. Sorry Hugh, you knew better. But hey, like was said yesterday, that is not nearly as bad as some of the oldtimers would do in the old days....like moving trail markers, taking shortcuts, all sorts of things to gain competitive advantage. Congratulations Schnuelle, now just don't miss a turn on the way in.
I tend to agree with Lucky Dog. This is a race with drama and it's share of charactors.
Come on Snidley, I'm rooting for ya boy. Dudley of the Canadians is up ahead. Don't get distracted by any more dog poo in the trail.
This is turning into the storylines from the WWE. Bad, cheating musher VS. the good standup hard racing musher. All we need now is someone from the Quest putting the "fix" in.
I just looked on the ArcticCam. It looks like there is no one much down there yet. I think a 10:00 would be about the fastest we would see someone come in. I did see Charlie Boulding run 18 MPH along Nordale Rd. back in the early 90s, but he is a different kind of musher. I would be surprised to see them average more than 8 MPH. although today is absolutely perfect for running.
Charlie Boulding is the best. I loved his tee-shirt I'm Charlies homeboy. Charlie brought a lot to the Quest. Now if we could have Hugh Neff win perhaps the Yukon Quest dog race will be big again. Nothing sells better then drama and scandals.
Right on Mike, Hugh has worked hard and you are absolutely right about them not wanting him to win. The reason is they do not think he is polished enough to be in the public eye or he would be an eye sore for the Quest. Man I would buy you a Canadian beer over Springhill for having the guts to say the truth. Your the man. I want Hugh to win cause he desires to win, he's a hard driver because it is a RACE after all.
Here's a comment from Lance Mackey (from YQI website).
"That incident outside of Central could cost him the race but there's no excuse for running off the trail for that long...it happens, but it will be disappointing if it costs Hugh the race."
Everyone is somewhat biased in their assessment of Neff - but the majority of the opinion is that he cheated.
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