Alberta musher hurt in Alaska-Yukon race airlifted to hospital
FAIRBANKS, ALASKA A U.S. Army helicopter airlifted an injured Alberta musher from the Yukon Quest Trail.
The Fairbanks Daily NewsMiner reports that 43-year-old Quest veteran Jason Campeau of Rocky Mountain House was stable Thursday night at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital.
Campeau’s brother says he suffered two concussions, one of them on Tuesday when he went to help rival and two-time race champ Hugh Neff, whose team had become stuck.
Campeau’s sled flipped, he said, and the Albertan was pitched head-first into ice.
There’s no information yet about the second concussion.
After resuming the race and making excellent progress against competitors, he later collapsed on Wednesday, possibly due to complications from that first concussion.
Before that, Jody said his brother seemed dazed at a checkpoint, but insisted on carrying on despite concerns over a severe headache.
Race officials say Campeau pressed the help button on his race-tracking device at 12:28 p.m.
Wednesday about 72 kilometres out of Eagle on the trail to Dawson City, the first race checkpoint in Canada.
The Yukon Quest is a long-distance sled dog race between Fairbanks, Alaska, and Whitehorse, Yukon.
Race officials and volunteers using snowmobiles found Campeau on the trail and moved him to a cabin. Alaska State Troopers requested an air transport from the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center and the helicopter reached the cabin Thursday.
The musher received a CT scan in hospital and was undergoing more tests.
The race has taken a heavy toll on entrants, with a dog dying on Neff’s team and 10 mushers either being scratched or withdrawing from the race as of Friday, including Campeauandhis wife Jennifer.
Sixteen were remaining in the race.