Brent Sass announces retirement from mushing Monday after sexual assault allegations | Local news

“I will be stepping away from sled dog racing and social media and focusing on new adventures,” Sass wrote. “Where it will take me, I have no idea, but the opportunities are endless and, as I have done for the past 20 years, I will focus on new goals and dreams and work towards them until they are achieved.”

In February, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race disqualified Sass from the 2024 race just days before it started after allegations were made that he had assaulted several women over several years.

The Kuskokwim 300 asked Sass to withdraw from the race after receiving a letter detailing the attacks, which the musher agreed to do, while the Yukon Quest refused to investigate the issues. Sass won the 2024 Yukon Quest 300.

The allegations were made by Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates Alaska in a November 2, 2023 letter to the Iditarod, Yukon Quest Alaska and other major organizations.

Sass has denied the allegations even though two alleged victims have come forward to speak to Alaska Public, the Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica. The two women detailed how Sass allegedly forced them to have sex during otherwise consensual relationships for more than a decade.

The Iditarod didn’t make a decision on Sass’ disqualification until February, after reporters began asking about the allegations.

No formal charges have been filed against Sass.

Sass did not address the allegations in his announcement Wednesday, only that last season “was unimaginable for me and the dogs in so many ways, but so is every year of my career in one way or another.” .

“If I’ve learned anything in the past 20 years of raising, raising, training and racing sled dogs, it’s how you overcome the challenges you’re faced with that define you as a person,” Sass wrote.

The veteran musher thanked his friends, family and sponsors for his 20 years in the mushing world.

“As the journey of my life continues, it brings changes. Big change, one that I didn’t see coming, but one that I have to face like I have with all other challenges throughout my life…head on and with a positive attitude,” Sass wrote.

Sass won the Yukon Quest in 2015, 2019, 2020 and 2024. He took a record-breaking Iditarod victory in 2022 after his dog sled team pulled him through a snowstorm an hour before Dallas Seavey.