Thread by @Kobuk440

Short Award Banquet Thread

Three mushers were withdrawn: Philip Hanke, Nic Petit, and Jeff King. Reese Madden is still on the trail.

Derek Starr says thank you to everyone who supported him along the way. He won a beautiful birch bark basket and a cash prize. He actually drove by snowmachine from Huslia to Kotzebue to participate. 8th place.

Hugh Neff thanks his dogs. He thanks a dog that is retiring. A team with a lot of rookies. Emily is the leader. "Never seen a race like this A magical experience. It's not about what place, or how much money you win. But the love of the race and the Kobuk Valley. [Paraphrased]

Hugh chokes up a bit, talking about Tony Browning. (This is his last race.) He thanks Lolo from Ambler, and the Coffins. People like that are why "we do what we do." He'll see y'all next year, he says.

Dempsey: Thank you to everyone for showing up. Thanks to the mushers, Paul, Hannah, everyone who helped when the weather changed. "It's just what people do here. [...] It's tough out there." He thanks his family.

Dempsey Woods is receiving another award. Jessica Klejka is presenting this award. She was very impressed with how well all mushers took care of the dogs, but two teams stuck out in particular. Runner up: DJ Starr. Dempsey wins the @AlaskaAir Humanitarian Award.

He wins a beautiful gold pan and two round trip tickets, wherever @AlaskaAir flies! What a prize!

Dog care is so important. Congrats, Dempsey!

Sam Brewer placed fifth. He says: Shout out to everyone back at home, hope you didn't lose as much sleep as I did. Not everything played out the way I wanted but the dogs don't care, just gotta get up and do better tomorrow. [Paraphrased]

Kevin Hansen says the trail was physically and mentally draining but there were a lot of smiling faces at the checkpoints. Special shoutout to Sam Brewer, who picked up Kevin's sealskin hat after he had dropped it. Thanks to the checkpoints for being flexible.

He especially wants to shout out to Ambler checkpoint. He says "I think every five minutes, Lolo was trying to get me to eat more."

(Laughter)

He thanks his family, his parents, and Jerry McCall. He wins a birch bark basket.

Gunnar Johnson wins a trophy made out of Kobuk Valley jade. He says he's a lawyer, so of course, he has notes. "It was a brutal, amazing race." There's a lot of people he wants to thank. He doesn't own any dogs, so he thanks the kennel that let him borrow them for the race.

Gunnar gives credit to the dogs, who he says he saw do things out there that amazed him. He wants to thank Nic Petit for loaning two dogs. Nic is also a mentor to him.

He and Nic shared a room in Ambler. Gunnar hung up his fox tails up in the room, and it dripped on Nic's hat all night. Nic said, "Smell my hat." (It smelled awful.) To rub it in, Nic said "AND you snore!"

He tells a story of Jeff King and himself out in the storm. Jeff says "Let's hunker down." and get in his tent. He opens his bag to look. Turns out, Jeff forgot the tent back in Ambler. So they spent some "quality time on the tundra."

He wins Rookie of the Year award.

Tony Browning says it's his last year of racing dogs. He's passing the baton to a younger dog handler. He thanks family, friends and supporters. Thanks to Northern Air Cargo, Kobuk 440, and people up and down the Kobuk Valley.

Ryan Redington is the only musher that ran the entire length of the trail this year, Paul says.

Ryan says for those who haven't come up to race here, you're missing out on one of the best races up here. There's so much laughter, he never laughs as much as when he's up here.

He thanks family, friends, supporters. He acknowledges a dog named Whip and a peer who loans dogs to him. He thanks his sponsors.

He enjoys the social media interaction throughout the race. Thanks everyone he may be forgetting. He'll be back next year!

Birch bark baskets and frames were made by Lula Sheldon. Hannah thanks Lula for her craftsmanship and sending them in.

Tony Browning wins an award for oldest musher. There's a red lantern award given to Reese, who's still on the trail. Nic wins an award for first musher (presumably to a checkpoint, wasn't stated). Reese won a fur hat.

Checkpoint of the Year is Ambler!

The Sportsmanship Award goes to Ryan Redington.

Ryan shouts out to all the other racers. So much laughter. So much that they get to enjoy. Visiting with others at the checkpoints is one of the best things about the race.

Junior races are coming up this month.

And with that, the banquet is over.

Earlier in the program, there was a wonderful video shown that featured messages from the super volunteers out in certain villages, along with pictures of racing and rest time.

Thank yous and acknowledgments were given to sponsors and volunteers.

There was some discussion of how unprecedented the weather and course changes were in this year's race, along with a nod to the unusual calculation of final placing. An unprecedented race for an unprecedented time.

Goodnight!

P.S. I think I missed the specifics about Ryan donating to a young musher. If anyone has the deets, share 'em please!

2021 Kobuk 440 Final placements

1. Ryan Redington
2. Tony Browning
3. Gunnar Johnson
4. Kevin Hansen
5. Sam Brewer
6. Dempsey Woods Sr.
7. Hugh Neff
8. DJ Starr

Still on the trail: Reese Madden

Withdrawn: Philip Hanke, Jeff King, Nic Petit

Note: with the exception of first place, the placements are based on run times from Kotzebue to Ambler and the return from Ambler to Kotzebue. Ryan Redington wins first place for being the only musher to complete the entire course.

This decision was made upon the return of the trail crew to Kotzebue. The trail crew and Board of directors agreed that there was no sufficient time adjustment given the number of factors for teams racing in extreme conditions.