PELLY CROSSING, Yukon — Almost by accident Tuesday, Thomas Tetz came from behind to win the Yukon Quest 300.
Quest 300 winner
Tetz, a six-time Quest 1,000-mile finisher from Carcross, Yukon, entered the 300 at the request of friend Hans Gatt, a three-time champion and perennial Quest contender.
“There was no strategy to the race,” said Tetz, a native German. “Hans wanted these dogs trained for Iditarod and told me I shouldn’t run them longer than eight hours (straight).”
Tetz said he mushed conservatively before running 10 of the final 12 hours, with a six-hour concluding push that gobbled up a one-hour deficit to vacationing Swiss musher Roland Waldispuehl.
Tetz, 42, almost ran out of rest estate however, reeling in Waldispuehl about five miles from the Pelly Crossing finish and arriving to minimal fanfare at 9:50 a.m. Tuesday, seven minutes before Waldispuehl.
“The longer runs before today were five hours or even shorter,” said Tetz, adding that he stood on the sled’s drag for more than half the race to prevent his eager team from going too fast. “I didn’t plan to win.”
But he did, taking in a prize of $1,225, small change compared to the $60,000 combined he earned for three Top 3 Quest finishes between 2000 and 2003.
Tetz, who no longer has a kennel but wouldn’t say he’s retired, isn’t sure who gets the money, him or Gatt.
Quest 300 winner
“I think he has to reimburse me for sure. I’m using my truck even to drive around,” said Tetz, who had not taken a single training run with the 12-dog team and did not know some of their names upon starting Saturday evening from Whitehorse. “I’ll send him a bill, a big one.”
Tetz has little time to savor the win. He’s trading in his mushing parka for a blue Quest official’s coat, and will spend the next week in that capacity on the 1,000-mile trail.
While Tetz may not have been racing seriously, Waldispuehl and Jeremy Matrishon, of Whitehorse, certainly sought to win.
Matrishon seemed in command of the race before his team stalled in the last six hours. Matrishon left Stepping Stone — 40 to 50 miles from the finish line — at 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, 2 hours and 10 minutes before Waldispuel and 3 hours and 15 minutes before Tetz.
But a few hours later, Waldispuel encountered Matrishon and his team stopped off the trail.
“I saw him camping between Stepping Stone and Minto,” said Waldispuehl. “It looked like the dogs quit on him so he had to catch a rest there.”
Suddenly Waldispuehl was in the lead (he’d snuck past Tetz as the German camped briefly at Stepping Stone) and victory was within grasp.
“I was thinking about winning and suddenly ‘Whoosh’ came Thomas from behind,” said Waldispuehl. “He just went by and in like 10 minutes I couldn’t see him anymore.”
But Waldispuehl was not disappointed with being runner-up.
“Second place is already better than I expected. I mean, that’s not bad for a tourist,” he said.
Waldispuehl met Quest musher Sebastian Schnuelle nine years ago, and though he owns two cats and no dogs, he’s been bit by the mushing bug.
“We became good friends and ever since I’m returning every winter over here for a couple weeks,” said Waldispuehl, who was also training dogs Schnuelle hopes to enter in next month’s Iditarod.
Matrishon, 32, finished in third place more than four hours after Tetz at 1:56 p.m.
A record 17 mushers started the Quest 300. Seven mushers had scratched — including Tammi Rego of Two Rivers and Zoya DeNure of Maclaren River — and another was disqualified. Five others were still on the trail Tuesday afternoon.
Contact staff writer Matias Saari at msaari@newsminer.com.
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