Former Iditarod champ Brent Sass/Wikimedia Commons
Update: This story has been updated with Brent Sass’s statement that false accusations have been made to try to destroy his career.
Disqualification unexplained, rumors abound
Former Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race champion Brent Sass from Eureka has now been disqualified from the 2024 race while it is reported that Iditarod Rookie of the Year Eddie Burke Jr. is back.
Burke was in 2022 charged with assaulting a female with whom he was in a relationship, which led to his disqualification from the Iditarod just days ago. But the charges were yesterday dropped by the state of Alaska. Burke announced today on his kennel’s Facebook page that he is now back in the race.
Sass, meanwhile, is out apparently because of a report of unconfirmed claims from unidentified women that he made unwanted sexual advances. There have been no charges filed against Sass, and there is no known law enforcement investigation underway.
He added that he “cannot afford to back out,” given the investment mushers back in preparing for Iditarod races, and that to do so would be a disservice to his “120,000+ fans that are eagerly waiting to watch me race in this year’s Iditarod.”
Rule 53 is the same rule the Iditarod used to disqualify Burke, and it was used to disqualify Sass on the same day that the Alaska Department of Law dropped the assault charges against Burke.
The Iditarod has so far remained silent on the details of all of this, but Burke’s statement on Facebook said he’d been informed his disqualification has been lifted.
“While I have maintained my innocence throughout this process, I should have informed the race of the allegations against me sooner. Neither I, nor the Iditarod, will be associated with perpetrators of abuse in Alaska, the Iditarod is committed to taking action to address these very serious social issues in our state, as am I.
“I join the Race in its condemnation of violence and abuse against women, and support its commitment to action. I have assured the Iditarod that my conduct, both in the race and out, will reflect these principles and this commitment to action.”
Emails to the official Iditarod spokeswoman have gone unreturned, and the race appears to be doing its public communication via Facebook. It offered no details whatsoever on the Sass disqualification there. There have been no reports of Sass publicly doing anything that might be considered “recklessly injurious” to the Iditarod.
District Attorney’s explanation
After a 24-hour delay, the state Department of Law today issued a statement saying the charges against Burke were dropped because “the victim declined to participate in the prosecution. After a thorough review of the evidence in this investigation, the Department of Law determined that it would be unable to prove the assault charges beyond a reasonable doubt to a trial jury.
“The dismissal date was based on the timing of court proceedings.”
The charges against Burke were first filed in May 2022, and court files reflect a case that dragged on and on with the case being repeatedly shuffled between assistant district attorneys in Anchorage. In those more than two years, the alleged victim – a mother with young children – distanced herself from Burke, left Anchorage, and settled into what appears to be a healthy relationship with another man.
In such circumstances, it is not unusual for women involved in domestic violence cases to want to close the door on the past to avoid any possibility of public attention. And the National District Attorneys Association in 2020 advocated for dropping cases in which women don’t want to participate rather than trying to force them into court as witnesses.
In this case, there are no indications that Burke made any threats against the woman since he was charged. The court files themselves paint a picture of an argument that spun wildly out of control with the woman involved first throwing her phone at Burke, Burke throwing it back and everything escalating from there until he got her in a chokehold.
Since Burke was charged, he seems to have stayed far from the woman, but she could easily be worried about being publicly outed and threatened by what might be called “Iditarod nation.”
A young dog handler who in 2017 reported neglect in the kennel of five-time Iditarod champ Dallas Seavey was widely attacked on social media and vilified as a secret operative for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), an organization that believes the Iditarod race is animal abuse and is trying to stop it.
There was no evidence the woman had any connection to PETA before she came to Alaska or that she had any sort of animal-rights agenda. But after she filed a complaint with the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, then-Mayor Vern Halter, a veteran Iditarod musher, quickly issued a statement claiming that “the person who complained gave the complaint to PETA before filing it with (Mat-Su) Animal Care. PETA, an international animal rights activist group, emailed Animal Care first.
“This complaint is absolutely false.”
The 22-year-old handler subsequently fled the state in fear she might be physically attacked in the Valley where much of the Alaska sled-dog racing community is based. Not long after, it emerged that there had been abuse in the Seavey kennel as reported by Dallas’s then-wife, Jen. Mat-Su investigators revealed the Seaveys fired a handler for his manhandling of dogs. The handler involved was one about whom the young woman had complained.
Some Iditarod fans are wildly protective of Iditarod mushers. When Sass was previously disqualified from the Iditarod in 2015 for having with him a two-way communication device – something then illegal – many of his fans were outraged and took to social media to say so.
Sass, for his part, claimed an error of ignorance, telling Alaska Public Media that “the biggest thing is I want my fans to know I was not cheating in any way or form. I was just stupid and completely ignorant to the fact that the iPod touch has a wifi connection.”
Illegal becomes legal
The Iditarod would later legalize two-way communication devices, and Sass would admit to finding one useful for getting advice from a friend on the way to his first and only Iditarod win in 2022. He had stopped to give his dog team a rest on the edge of the Topkok Hills near the finish of that race and messaged a friend who warned him that “Dallas is 11 miles behind you and moving, so get your ass in gear. Get out of there.”
Sass has not responded to requests from this website about his latest disqualification and is not publicly talking, but according to the Nome Nugget, which followed up on allegations first reported here against Burke and an unnamed musher, Sass has threatened legal action against anyone who accuses him of sexual misconduct.
“As I told the ADN (Anchorage Daily News) today I will take full action to protect myself if anyone publishes these False accusations associated with my name.”
No women have emerged to publicly accuse Sass of anything. The accusations against him first surfaced in a letter Rose O’hara-Jolley, the Alaska director of the Planned Parenthood Alliance emailed the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race last year asking it disqualify Sass from further competitions because multiple women had told her he’d made unwanted sexual advances.
Craigmedred.news received a copy of that email shortly after the Quest got it, and attempted for months to find any woman who could confirm the accusations. None could be found. O’hara-Jolley has not answered phone calls or e-mails.
There is at this time no evidence to indicate Sass has done anything wrong, but there is plenty of gossip driving a lot of back and forth between those who don’t like Sass and his considerable number of fans, including some who are in the media.
Sass has long cultivated relationships with Alaska reporters and has become friendly to most in a world where sports reporting has become more about fandom than journalism.
When he previously told a tall tale about a lead dog named “Basin,” who was killed by other dogs in a dogfight that erupted after Sass parked his team along the Denali Highway and went into a lodge to take a break, most ate it up.
“‘I’m sure there will be a lot of moments in the Quest this year, where I’m like: ‘Wow, this is difficult. It’s not the same without Basin.’
“Basin died while resting during a training run last month, Sass explained. ‘I don’t know what happened,’ the musher said.
“His best guess is his prized dog suffered a seizure.”
Even after the true story of what happened to Basin became known, most in the media ignored the disconnect between the story Sass told and what really happened. Sass is a very personable guy who comes across as an easy-going, fun-loving, friendly and is maybe most of all talkative musher in a sport that tends to attract introverted and sometimes gruff competitors who might be said to like dogs more than they like people.
Most who know him – including a signification number of Central Alaska women who have known him for years – say it is impossible to believe he would attack any woman.
- “He cries at the drop of a hat.
- “He laughs just as readily at himself and at situations; he’s never without a smile.
- “He is just as genuine in person as he appears on video.
- “He acknowledges and appreciates his friends, fans and followers.”
- And etc., etc., etc.
Sass has, without a doubt, become an Alaska mushing favorite. After he drove his 2016 Iditarod team so hard it quit on him at the White Mountain checkpoint just outside of Nome, reporters were sympathetic.
Now Sass finds himself in a situation that truly warrants tears.
After being asked not to compete in the Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race in Southwest Alaska earlier this year because of the accusations aimed at him by O’hara-Jolley, he has now been disqualified from the Iditarod apparently for the same reason.
He may well be an innocent man. There have been no charges filed against him, and no indication any are likely. There is only the email and rumors, lots and lots of rumors.
It could be that there is some substance large or small to accusations against Sass. But it is equally possible that, as Bob Dylan sang in “Hurricane,” Sass is now “an innocent man in a living hell.”
And that is one shitty place for anyone to be.
Love this post! It’s great to see such engaging content in our community. Keep it up! Bomber Jacket
So the guy who actually only got charged, gets booted, but now he is back in after charges are dropped, and as for his extra reward for all of this he gets/forced to read some BS, feel good, bla bla, PC filled line of crap hooey.
So as if, booting one musher before he was actually proven guilty, only to have to bring him back in because charges were dropped, wasn’t a bad enough move, these fools decide to boot another musher over here say, rumours, and absolutely No charges.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahaaaaaa..
What a bunch of clowns, operating inside a big clown world.
It is 1 giant sh*t sammich that Brent has to take a bite out of.
Parents!
Save your children !!!
Teach your sons to respect women 100%
Make certain they know abuse in any manner is not acceptable. Its not acceptable during intimate relations because it adds confusion at all levels.
It puts your son and daughters future in jeopardy.
During conflicts- my mother wisely said just walk away.
My grandmother said if you have nothing nice to say ,say nothing at all. Walk away.
My father believed in 100% self sufficiency but he also believed asking questions of the right people was wisdom. Requesting help when needed is the right thing to do but he always always prepared for any situation so it could be dealt with by himself.
Part of that is preparing children for their lives.
Teach your daughters not to accept abuse in any form!!!
Teach them to be self sufficient and fighters !
Make certain they do not have a victim mentality!!
Fight back . Leave . Inform the law immediately!
Victim mentality is never the answer.
Leave the abuser immediately.
There is always some one willing to help if you inform them.
Parents— you are directly responsible for teaching your children correct behavior.
Especially regarding elimination of victim mentality.
Teach them self sufficiency and compassion.
Brents parents are partially responsible for his mess . Embarrassing. ( obviously he is as well)
The victims parents are partially responsible for their mess . Embarrassing. ( obviously brent is as well)
Give children life tools so they do not end up in this horrible preventable embarrassing disgusting situation .
Never ever allow victim mentality.
Its decay in this world and allows future harm.
Teach the children.
“There have been charges filed against him, and no indication any are likely. ” Craig–I believe you have a typo here. No charges right?
The first paragraph should say 2024 race, not 2023. No?
Thanks. Cloud editing always appreciated. Juggling to many balls.
Thanks for the clarity & fair reporting where there’s been none. (I would just fix the date of Sass’ disqualification to 2024, not the 2023 race in the first para.) I’m just a long-time armchair fan in BC, Canada, so know nothing about the personal lives/handlers/ kennels outside of what is written in the press or on social media. Always thought Sass was an affable kinda guy, but wasn’t pleased he got a tip-off in the 2022 race about Seavey’s position – not knowing where other teams are on the Trail except from checkpoint people is part of the excitement of race & each musher’s strategy, no? Nevertheless, IMO, the committee has got to stop caving to unfounded claims and the hate groups like PETA & now PP, stand by the mushers and ensure the race goes on. They might lose spineless sponsors but if they lose their loyal Insider fanbase, they’re gonna need another diphtheria serum run to get them back, and pray God, we never see that again.
If I read the Nome Nugget article correctly, there is: (1) an affidavit from a victim; and (2) another victim who spoke to the Kusko. So, a bit more than just the original e-mail.
With all due respect, I cannot envision a woman coming to you about sexual abuse. Women in that situation find it difficult to even talk to other women about it, much less a man who is the age of their father or grandfather.
Well, Kathleen, I’ve been in this business a long time, and I’ve had people talk to me about a lot of things you’d never imagine them talking about anyone. Old, young; male, female; straight, gay; white, black, Asian, Indian; short, tall. I could go on. Don’t be an ageist and quit bashing grandfathers. Many young people turn to elders – both grandmothers and grandfathers – when they need someone to talk to.
aka old farts.
Thank you for your perspective. I just know that in the corporate world generally, there are multiple people to whom one can report sexual harassment and there’s always a woman in the mix because some women are uncomfortable discussing the situation with a male. When I used to handle those cases, a number of women came to me because they didn’t want to tell the details to a male. Times may have changed over the past fifteen years, however.
Times have changed. Some of that might still apply. I once found out after the fact becase several of women told me that I had been working in a place so where the management was so bad every woman there was in counseling; it only made me wish they said something sooner becuase I was always into causing trouble in those days. And I once worked in a place where almost eveyrone was uncomforable discussing anything wiht the managers, male or female. One of the males there explained to me that it was dangerous “because the nail that sticks up always gets pounded down.”
I’d say the powe dynamics driving these sorts of issues are just as common, or more common, when it comes to mushers and handlers or remote camp workers given the isolation. most of these people – https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=305782&org=OPP – were supposed to be “professionals” and yet…
Perhaps the problem is … Brent is not one of the cool kids Particularly in the views of dinosaur race director Mark Nordman. And if you are not one of the cool kids, you are a target for gleeful personal attacks, via a weaponized Board of Directors.
Let’s look at some past evidence. Martin Buser sends the required GPS tracker he is supposed to carry to Nome from Nikolai back to Anchorage in a spare sled. Race cop Nordman says no problem. Cool kids get a pass.
Dee Dee Jonrowe takes off from Takotna without the required GPS device. Race cop Nordman says no problem. Cool kids get a pass.
Sass packs an iPod ( remember those) for music. Come to find out, it might be able to communicate if you had a paid cell contract (his did not). And was in a city (he wasn’t). But Nordman gleefully nails him. Not a cool kid, no pass.
So the big problem is likely old guard with ego and control freak problems and a Board of Directors that is spineless and just there for a feather in their resume. Funny how one of the board members that voted unanimously to DQ is married to a state judge. The disregard for the innocent until proven guilty idea is indicative of her bias. And likely a reflection on the current State judicial mindset.
Well only one problem there. There was still a rule against “outside assistance” in the Iditard rule book in 2022. It said this: “Rule 31 — Outside Assistance: No planned help is allowed throughout the Race.” https://cloud.iditarod.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2022-Race-RULES.pdf?0780d1eb
Sass admittedly violated it. He said he texted with a friend providing him tracking information on other mushers during the race. The Iditarod did nothing.
Well, actually the did nothing until well after the race. Instead of enforcing the existing rule that year, they changed the rule for 2023 to say this: “Rule 31 — Outside Assistance: No planned physical help is allowed throughout the Race.” https://cloud.iditarod.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2023-IDITAROD-RULES.docx.pdf?65563778
It’s the Iditarod. There are rules and then are rules and even the double standards have double standards.
They were testing the trackers that year and they were not mandatory. My recollection is that Martin’s ended up on a plane back to Anchorage and everyone got a good laugh out of that, watching ‘his team’ travel 300 miles an hour over the ocean. Both Martin and DeeDee were vocally opposed to GPS trackers. The next year they abided by the rules and carried them as did everyone else. I believe DeeDee put hers inside a tin pot of some sort and then that was declared against the rules too. But they didn’t break existing rules.
What’s your point? You don’t think that there are double standards or that Iditarod isn’t all over the place on rule enforcement? Sass clealry broke the rules in 2022 and won. Instead of enforcing the rule, the Iditarod rewrote it for the next year’s race. Could the latest action be as much to get even for what happened in 2022 as it is for the charges of abusing women, which sadly the Iditarod has worried about much in the past. They let Gerald Sousa run when he was charged in a very ugly case. He came back to be convicted after that Iditarod.
Gives a new meaning to wild and free .
So, after someone in government read your article & saw ADN’s story of Burke getting tossed out of the Irod, they made a phone call down to legal and got the case dropped for fear this might be the final nail in the dog lot coffin. This is only my speculation but seems very plausible given the timing of it all after the case has been churning for two years…Sass on the other hand is facing no charges, no victim willing to give their name at this point and no witness coming forward stating they witnessed an illegal act (firsthand). We all know the Irod board has a long history of placing one musher out in front of the buss at a time to stop bad PR from spreading. Like a good friend in the park service once told me “It’s your time to go but it’s not yet mine.”
What a mess .
The board needs to be replaced.
They knew about all this last fall.
The board acts like they just realized they are responsible for a race in 8 days .
Bunch of weekend wannabes this board is .
Just a disgrace.
How much does Rob Urbach the Ceo get paid for mistakes like this ? Oh for his one weekend a month 1 month a year type effort he rakes in over 200 k
Yeah I forgot hes a reject from outside the state with his own sex harassment allegations.
He gets undressed during zoom meetings.
Mark nordmans fingerprints are all over this milquetoast management effort .
I remember when he told dallas seavey – don’t worry this will all go away .
Rob and Mark you are directly responsible for this mess .
Mark you are directly responsible for putting the Iditarod into a tailspin for pretending to cover Dallas seavey butt .
Amateur hour management . Thx for screwing up a great race .
Reminds me of when they caught dallas seavey and instead of doing the ethical thing – removing all his wins from the record like the tour de france and giving him a long term suspension they fired the head drug tester and defunded the drug testing program.
I hope they all sue their parents for dereliction of duty.
1000% Clearly, you can’t spell Iditarod without I.D.I.O.T! They’ve lost my full respect, as well as my lifelong support. 😡
Craig, for full clarity… is there a typo in your penultimate paragraph? ‘There has been’ or should it read ‘… has not been’ any charges filed…? The context appears to be the latter, but maybe that has suddenly changed on this developing story. Thnx
There was. Thanks to cloud editing, it is fixed. I appreciated the cloud. So thank you for noticing as well and giving me a heads up.
Time for an overhaul of the race’s rules and its leadership. Maybe even time to consider canceling any further races. The arbitrariness exercised by the leadership
Is destroying the public’s confidence in many areas associated with the race. Like many good things, nasty politics have over shadowed the benefits of the event.
There is a mistake toward the bottom.
There have been (NO) charges filed against him, and no indication any are likely. There is only the email and rumors, lots and lots of rumors.
yes, thanks. fixed it.
Craig, for clarity please… is there a typo in your penultimate paragraph? There ‘have been’ or should it read ‘have not been” any charges filed… the context appears to suppprt the latter. I appreciate all your posts and keeping us updated!
Mushers need to put an end to this nonsense.
1000%