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The world’s most well-known sled canine race has been hit by scandal after claims of violence in opposition to girls by mushers.
The race — Alaska‘s Iditarod — has seen officers disqualify two high mushers this week after which rapidly reinstating one in every of them on Friday, days earlier than the beginning.
The upheaval started final week, when the Iditarod Trail Committee, the race’s governing physique, despatched an electronic mail to all opponents saying it had been knowledgeable of a number of accusations regarding violence in opposition to and abuse of girls inside the mushing group.
“The ITC Board can not tolerate such conduct by anybody affiliated with the Iditarod,” the e-mail stated.
On Monday, the committee held an emergency assembly and disqualified the 2023 rookie of the yr, Eddie Burke Jr. Burke had been dealing with single felony and misdemeanor assault costs after his then-girlfriend instructed police in May 2022 that he had strangled her to the purpose she almost misplaced consciousness, in accordance with the Anchorage Daily News.
The committee provided no clarification of Burke’s disqualification past noting a rule that mushers “will be held to a high standard of personal and professional conduct.”
Two days later, the State of Alaska dismissed the charges because the former girlfriend declined to participate in the case, Alaska Department of Law spokesperson Patty Sullivan said Friday in an email to The Associated Press.
“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,” she wrote.
Iditarod winner Brent Sass poses for photographs with lead dogs Morello, left, and Slater
On Friday, Burke was reinstated. He didn’t instantly reply to messages looking for remark.
“Additional information was provided to the Iditarod Trail Committee Board today regarding Eddie Burke Jr.,” the committee stated in a information launch. “Upon reviewing this information, the Board voted to reinstate Mr. Burke as a competitor in the 2024 Iditarod.”
In the meantime, although, the committee on Thursday evening disqualified 2022 champion Brent Sass — once more, with out providing any particulars about why. No felony circumstances in opposition to Sass seem in on-line Alaska court docket data.
“I am beyond disappointed with the decision the Iditarod has reached to disqualify me,” stated a press release posted Friday to the Facebook web page of Sass’ kennel. “The anonymous accusations that have been made against me are completely false.”
It was not instantly clear what accusations Sass was referring to. But on Friday, an Anchorage lawyer, Caitlin Shortell, issued a press release saying, “More than one Alaskan has sought legal advice and representation from our law firm based on their reports of sexual assault by a dog musher who was disqualified today by the Iditarod” — an apparent reference to Sass.
“Our clients retained counsel and sought to remain anonymous because of the high risk that disclosure of their identities and experiences would subject them to retraumatization, invasion of privacy, litigation, and potential violence by their assailant or others,” the assertion says.
Eddie Burke Jr. is photographed on the 2023 Iditarod musher banquet in Anchorage, Alaska
(Anchorage Daily News)
This yr’s 1,000-mile (1,609-kilometer) race throughout the Alaska wilderness begins March 2 with the ceremonial begin in Anchorage. The aggressive begin comes the subsequent day, about 75 miles (121 kilometers) north of Anchorage.
Sass’ elimination leaves 39 mushers remaining on this yr’s subject. Last yr, 33 mushers began, the fewest for the reason that Iditarod was first held in 1973.
It’s not the primary time Sass has been disqualified from the Iditarod.
In 2015, he was faraway from the race after officers discovered he had an iPod Touch with him on the path, a violation of race guidelines barring two-way communication units. Even although the iPod Touch was not a cellphone, he might have communicated with others when it related to the Internet, officers stated.
