DAWSON CITY, Yukon — You weren’t going to find Hugh Neff joining in the late-night party at “The Pit” or the Eldorado Hotel bar during his 36-hour layover here.
No, to track down the Yukon Quest musher who entered Dawson in third place, you would have had to cross the river to the Yukon River Campground, where he mostly stayed with his 10 remaining dogs and girlfriend Tamra Reynolds, eschewing the comforts of Dawson City for the quietude across the Yukon River ice bridge.
The enigmatic 39-year-old, who calls his time in Alaska a “soap opera” and is known as “Huge Mess” in some circles, says he seeks to celebrate the Northern lifestyle and move beyond the controversy that has plagued him in the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race.
Neff has sandwiched a career-best third-place finish in 2005 with a pair of image-sullying races — he was withdrawn from the race in 2001 for inadequate dog care and chose to scratch in 2006 after refusing officials’ demands to rest his team for at least an 16 extra hours in Dawson.
“I thought I knew everything,” Neff said of his embattled relationship with some Quest veterinarians. “They’re actually trying to help you out. All the vets in this race, I have no problems with.”
After last year’s fiasco, Neff said he would never again run the Quest.
“At the time I was fed up,” he said.
Neff then changed his mind in part to give 10-year-old June Marie — a veteran of nine 1,000-mile races — a farewell tour. He got the dog as a puppy from Curtis Erhart for $100.
“Tamra calls her my safety blanket,” said Neff, a self-described nomad who was born in Chattanooga, Tenn., raised in Chicago, lived awhile in Fairbanks and now splits his time between Skagway (summers) and near Whitehorse (winters).
Sitting on a lawn chair in front of a campfire, Neff said Thursday he’s now more interested in breaking Frank Turner’s record for most Quests started (23 and counting) than he is in bettering Turner’s 1995 record time of 10 days, 16 hours and 20 minutes.
Neff’s friend Lance Mackey may very well break the time record this year, but Neff is pleased to be relatively close with a team that includes several dogs from the two-time champion.
“There’s a reason that Lance is faster than me,” Neff said a few hours before leaving Dawson City on Thursday evening 4 hours and 44 minutes after Mackey. “He’s given me the dogs that aren’t fast enough for his team.”
Neff, who said he trusts his dogs more than he trusts himself, says attempting to win races isn’t what drives him.
“That’s not the whole point. It’s about doing your best,” he said.
And part of what keep Neff motivated is trying to prove his naysayers wrong by having a strong performance and healthy dogs.
Eight leave Dawson
The first eight mushers left Dawson City on Thursday, with Lance Mackey leading the way down the frozen Yukon River at 12:23 p.m.
Next was William Kleedehn at 4:23 p.m., followed by Hugh Neff at 5:07, Gerry Willomitzer at 5:40, Hans Gatt at 6:48, Sebastian Schnuelle at 7:41, Michelle Phillips at 10:31 and Aaron Burmeister at 11:04 p.m.
The 147-mile run from Dawson City to Eagle has no dog drops in between and is expected to take at least 30 hours for the front-runners. The Fortymile River joins the Yukon River about 50 miles downstream of Dawson City. Near the end of the trek, mushers must climb 3,420-foot American Summit before dropping into Eagle.
The Alaskan portion of the trail has less snow than the Canadian side and is reported to have considerable stretches of overflow.
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