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Royer scores 6th Race to the Sky win

Lincoln-based musher Lombardi takes 2nd in 100 mile

Jessie Royer of Seeley Lake racked up her sixth

300-mile Race to the Sky win Monday Feb. 14, crossing the finish line at Hi Country Snack Foods at 6:33 p.m with 10 dogs.

Royer, who has been mushing for 28 years, won her first Race to the Sky in 1994 at just 17-years old, when it was still a 500-mile race. She went on to win the 300-mile races in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2020.

Josi Thyr of Olney, Mont. took the second place finish in the 300-mile, arriving back in Lincoln at 11:08 p.m. Cindy Gallea of Wykoff, Minn., a veteran musher with 35 years of experience and multiple Iditarod's under her belt, came in third. The 70-year-old retired nurse practitioner was the oldest musher in the race.

Four mushers – Bino Fowler, Rex Mumford, Morgan Anderson and Wade Donaldson – withdrew from the 300-mile race.

Christina Gibson of Carleton, Wash. took first place in the 100-mile race Feb. 13, with Lincoln musher Nicole Lombardi coming in second place.

Despite her second-place finish, Lombardi, who had previously won both the Idaho Sled Dog Challenge and the Eagle Cap Extreme 100-mile races, received the 100-mile Rocky Mountain Triple Crown trophy that's awarded to the highest placing musher of the three races.

Now in its 37th year, this was the 36th running of the Race to the Sky following last year's COVID-19 related cancellation. The race saw the largest turnout in both teams and spectators in years at the start Saturday, Feb. 12.

This year saw 12 teams in the 300-mile race and 14 teams in the 100-mile race. Race to the Sky Vice President Pam Beckstrom said the cancellations of races in the last year may account for the number of teams this year, adding that mushers and teams were excited to get back out on the trails.

Before the race started, Beckstrom honored the memory of Race to the Sky co-founder Dave Armstrong, who died last year at 100 years old. Beckstrom detailed Armstrong's history with sled dogs dating back to Camp Rimini during WWII and his role in founding the Governor's Cup Sled Dog Race with Jack Beckstrom in 1985. The Governor's Cup was renamed the Centennial Sled Dog Race in 1989 and became the Race to the Sky in 1990.

Warm weather in the week before the race affected the snow conditions, with soft snow and some bare patches of grounds at the start at Hi Country Snack Foods, while the cooling temperatures in the evenings made for icy conditions through the nights.

According to the final Race to the Sky press release, mushers took their time, and paid close attention to their dogs. The International Sled Dog Veterinarians were on hand to assist the mushers and answer questions.

Gallea, who finished the race with ten dogs, took home the Jack Beckstrom Best Cared for Team Award for the 300-mile race, while Alexandra Ness of Trego, Mont. took home the award for the 100-mile race.

Jed Stephenson of Sand Point, Idaho earned the Jack Beckstrom Sportsmanship Award this year for catch-ing Morgan Anderson's team when she lost it the first night of the 300-mile race. Charmayne Morrison of Bozeman, Mont. won the award for the 100-mile race for helping other mushers on the trail.

"Weather and snow conditions this year made the race challenging. We want to thank the mushers for taking such good care of their teams, the veterinarian team for their incredible knowledge about sled dogs, the race officials for sup-porting the teams and the army of volunteers that donate their time and talents to this race," an earlier race press release said.

 

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