The Yukon Quest is clarifying its rule banning performance enhancing drugs. A press release issued by the Quest last week in light of a positive drug test on dogs in last year’s Iditarod says, “all dog teams are required to be clear of prohibited drugs”.
Quest rules committee chair Kathleen McGill said that means mushers can face disciplinary action if banned drugs show up in their dogs.
“With a sled dog race that runs 1,000 miles, it’s difficult not to put the musher in charge,” McGill said.
“Our rules make it pretty clear that unless they can prove otherwise, they’re held responsible,” Quest head veterinarian Christina Hansen said.
Hansen says urine samples taken from Quest dogs before, during and after the race between Fairbanks and Whitehorse are screened for a broad spectrum of banned drugs, including Tramadol, a pain reliever that was found in samples take from four dogs in musher Dallas Seavey’s team after last year’s Iditarod.
Seavey has denied administering the drug to his dogs, and Iditarod officials have said they couldn’t prove any intent to cheat, raising the possibility of sabotage, a prospect that has been echoed by race icons like Jeff King and Ally Zirkle.
In reaction to the incident, the Iditarod board changed its drug rule this fall: removing a requirement that officials prove intent. Now, similar to the Quest, in the case of a dog testing positive for a banned drug, the musher will be presumed guilty unless they can explain otherwise.
The Yukon Quest’s McGill said race organizers try to protect dogs from any tampering, especially at check points while mushers are sometimes away from their teams.
”We do keep the dog yards separate and control who goes into the dog yard,” McGill said. “So the public just can’t walk into the dog yard at the checkpoints. And we do that with the fence barriers or snow banks. Any reporters have to be escorted, and even handlers aren’t allowed into the dog yard at some of the checkpoints.”
McGill admits that’s more complicated during the Quest’s mandatory 36-hour layover in Dawson, during which handlers are put in charge of dog teams at a campground across the Yukon River from town, while mushers rest at hotels in Dawson. She said Quest officials went over rules in the spring and do not plan any changes.
Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
