Dog sled racing champion disqualified over sexual assault allegations

Alaska’s biggest sled dog race disqualified a former champion after he was accused of assaulting multiple women.

Brent Sass, 44, who won the Iditarod Trial Sled Dog Race in 2022, was disqualified by the Trail Committee in the wake of the accusations.

Sass isn’t facing any charges, but the decision was made after he received a letter from the Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates Alaska on behalf of a group of women who accused him sexual assault, according to Alaska Public Media.

Sass denied the accusation, claiming it was “all made up.”

“None of this is true,” he said, according to Alaska Public Media. “This is because they want to ruin my career.”

The 1,100-mile Iditarod will kick off March 2 in Anchorage, with 40 competitors racing across the Alaska wilderness, commemorating the 1925 effort by mushers to rush life-saving medicine from Fairbanks to diptheria-stricken Nome.

“You are giving the accusers exactly what they are hoping for and in the end this hurts the actual victims of sexual abuse and the sport of mushing,” Sass said in a statement posted to social media.

The musher also said he would “not be withdrawing” from the 2024 race.

The letter did not identify any of his accusers, but one alleged victim contacted by Alaska Public Media, who worked for Sass and lived at his dog kennel, said he choked her before forcing her to have sex with him, after she told him no. At a different time, he allegedly forced her into anal sex, according to the outlet. She was unable to stop in on both occasions, she claimed.

Another woman who spoke to Alaska Public Media accused Sass of slapping her during sex without her consent, forcing her to perform oral sex on multiple occasions nearly a decade ago, and forced her to have intercourse after she said no, according to the outlet.

Sass’ accusers did not file police reports, nor has the musher been sued.

He maintains his innocence, telling Alaska Public Media: “I have never, ever, ever, ever, ever had nonconsensual sex with anyone. I am a respectful, upstanding human being.”

The Iditarod Trial Committee said its decision followed the race’s rulebook, which states that “musher conduct that is recklessly injurious” to the race, its competitors, or sponsors.

Sass hit out at the committee’s response, saying they are trying to “get rid of the problem instead of facing it” and said it “sets a terrible precedent and gives future false accusers the green light to throw out outrageous and false accusations about anyone they want to destroy.”

Sass was also asked in December to withdraw from the Kuskokwim 300 race due to the Planned Parenthood letter. He did withdraw from that race.

A second competitor, the 2023 rookie of the year Eddie Burke Jr., had his Iditarod disqualification reversed after charges in an unrelated assault case were dropped.

Burke was facing felony and misdemeanor assault charges after his then-girlfriend told police in 2022 that he strangled her to the point of almost losing consciousness. He maintained his innocence.

The Trial Committee on Friday said Burke could compete after the State Department of Law dropped the case, Alaska Public Media reported.

Alaska has one of the highest rates of sexual assault in the nation, according to ProPublica.

With Post wires.