NOME, Alaska — After leading the entire race, Paul Hansen won the Nome-Council 200 by a landslide on Sunday. The Kotzebue musher crossed the finish line hours ahead of the competition, clearing one qualifier on his way to racing in the Iditarod next year.
At the mass start Saturday, four mushers hit the trail in crisp, clear weather. It wasn’t long, though, until conditions took a turn for worse.
“We had some unforecasted and unexpected winds at Solomon and all the way through the Blowhole and actually into Council itself,” said Race Marshal Diana Adams. “It sounded pretty brutal, but this is an Iditarod qualifier. This is the exact trail and the conditions they would come through during an Iditarod. It was good training for an Iditarod.”
That’s exactly what Paul Hansen was looking for when he registered to race in his first Nome-Council 200. The Kotzebue musher and Kobuk 440 veteran said his goal is to run the Last Great Race next year.
“I’d like to do it before my legs get too old,” he laughed.
Hansen won this year’s Nome-Council after spending one day, eight hours, and five minutes on the trail. That’s about five hours faster than second-place finisher, Diana Haecker of Nome. But Hansen said the real victory is getting another Iditarod qualifier under his belt, especially so close to home.
“It fell perfectly for me,” he said. “It was a race in western Alaska, so I could just come down from Kotzebue. Not very far, not too expensive, and it was good.”
Hansen will race the Kobuk 440 again next month to prepare further, but he said he’s already pleased with the way his dog team is shaping up.
“It was windy all the way up there, and they did a really good job of just sticking on the trail and marching on up there,” he said. “The whole way, I was just really happy with the way they performed.”
Behind Hansen and Haecker, Nome’s Stephanie Johnson scratched out of the race at Topkok. Race officials said Reese Madden of Nome also appeared to scratch along the trail near White Mountain.
KNOM’s Mitch Borden contributed to this story.
