Erik Oline took home a trophy for his effort — finishing dead last won him the ‘Red Lantern’ award
Community submission
Erik Oline, a 2017 graduate of Ashland High School, finished the Yukon Quest 450 dog sled race Feb. 6. The race started and finished in Teslin, Canada, and covered 450 miles through the beautiful wintry Yukon Territory. Erik brought home the “Red Lantern” award, which is given to the final finisher of the race.
The race began the afternoon of Feb. 2 at -17 degrees and never went above double-digit negatives during the four days out on the trail. He finished at 8:14 a.m. Feb. 6. After the race, Oline reported that “the cold was challenging” but that the experience on the trail with the dogs was “incredible…and (the terrain) very beautiful”.
Oline fondly remembers studying the Iditarod and writing to mushers in Candace Palmesano’s third grade class at Bellview Elementary School here in Ashland. Little did he know that one day he’d be a musher himself.
Oline moved to Missoula, Montana, to attend the University of Montana in 2018. He began mushing in 2022 under the mentorship of Jessie Royer, an Iditarod veteran many times over, when he began working at her kennel giving dog sled tours out of Seeley Lake, Montana.
Three weeks after beginning mushing, he raced the 100-mile “Race to the Sky” in Montana, placing third. Oline races Royer’s young dogs, giving them race experience, while Royer leads with her best and more experienced dogs.
In 2023, he completed the 300-mile Idaho Sled Dog Challenge (finishing in fourth place) and the 300-mile “Race to the Sky”, placing second, while also taking a full load of classes at the University of Montana. Both races were canceled due to lack of snow in 2024, so he traveled to Alaska for the T-Dog 200 to complete his Iditarod qualifiers.
Oline has qualified for the Iditarod by finishing these long-distance races. While it remains to be seen whether he’ll race the 1,000-mile Iditarod, he says that the bond he develops with his dog teams make the cold conditions, the dark nights on the trail, and the sleep deprivation during races all worthwhile.
Submitted by Kim Lockett, a retired secondary school teacher and Rogue Valley resident since 2001 — and Erik Oline’s proud mother.
