Yukon Quest upholds decision to ban musher Hugh Neff

Musher Hugh Neff is definitely out of the 2019 Yukon Quest after he failed to convince a review board that he should be allowed to compete.

The two-time Quest champ from Alaska had requested an informal hearing with race officials, after he was barred in April from competing in the sled dog race next year.

That decision to censure Neff was related to the death of one of his dogs — named Boppy — during the 2018 race in February. A necropsy found the dog had a number of health issues, and race officials cited a "lack of dog care" on Neff's part.

According to a Yukon Quest news release on Tuesday, Neff's hearing was held before a third-party review board in Fairbanks, Alaska, on June 14 and 20. Race officials had earlier said it was not a formal appeal process.

John Dixon, the race's board president for Alaska, said the review board was comprised of three volunteers who were selected by race officials with some input from Neff.

"We had more than we needed, so then [Neff] had the opportunity to choose who he might want to have on the board, and not," he said.

"We had one dog musher, one veterinarian, and then another community member that was sort of new to the dog mushing world, just, you know, to add some impartiality."

The hearing was held behind closed doors, so Dixon could not say how Neff tried — with no success — to make his case.

"After two days of confidential testimony, the review board concluded that Hugh Neff did not provide clear and convincing evidence to overturn the censure," states the Yukon Quest's news release.

The review board voted unanimously to uphold the earlier decision to bar Neff from competing in 2019.

A first for the Yukon Quest

Dixon said the independent review board was a first for the race.

"We wanted to put together a process that was fair to Hugh. Not only to Hugh, but to the race also," he said.

"I think we have a good model now going forward, for how we might handle these informal hearings. Certainly I hope that we don't have to use this process often, or ever again."

Besides being barred from next year's race, Neff is now required to run the shorter YQ300 race at least once before again entering the 1,600-kilometre race. The earliest he could compete in the YQ300 is in 2020.

Neff has competed in the Yukon Quest 17 times, and won the race twice.