Leader of the pack

Durango native Ryne Olson is officially top dog. On Monday, Olson, 28, crossed the finish line first in the Copper Basin 300, a 300-mile sled-dog race in Alaska.

Olson, the daughter of Mike and Katie Olson, moved to Alaska in 2010 to pursue mushing. She was introduced to the sport when her parents gave her a sled-dog trip for her 13th birthday.

The experience stuck, and seven years later, Olson left college to pursue her mushing dream. After racing in Montana and Michigan, she moved north to train and race with SP Kennel in Two Rivers, Alaska. In 2012, she ran her first Iditarod with the SP puppy team – coming in 31st – and after that started her own kennel, Ryno Kennel. Three years later, in 2015, Olson completed the 1000-mile Yukon Quest, considered the most difficult sled dog race in the world.

In her most recent win, Olson over came SP Kennel owner – and former mentor – Allen Moore in the final stretch to Glennallen, an outpost 3 hours north of Anchorage.

This year, on a snow-blown course, Olson left the last checkpoint at 9:11 a.m. Monday, two days after starting and 26 minutes behind Moore. But her dogs were “energized and frisky,” according to a report in the Alaska Dispatch News. She closed the gap and passed Moore with 50 miles left.

“My leaders didn’t want to pass him, so he actually had to help my leaders past,” Olson said.

Monday’s win marks Olsons’ biggest victory to date –$7,000 in prize money. “It was definitely a real thrill,” Olson said on the Copper Basin 300 Facebook page. “We were breaking snow trail and having a good time.”

Another notable accomplishment came out of this year’s Copper Basin 300: for the first time in a major distance mushing race, female mushers swept the podium. Veteran Paige Drobny, of Fairbanks, finished second; and Michelle Phillips of the Yukon Territory took third.

Moore finished fourth.

The win concludes Olson’s march up the Copper Basin standings – she took third as a rookie in 2015 and second last year. “This is pretty much the same team I had when we finished third and when we finished second,” Olson said.

And in case you wondering what Olson does in the off-season, the self-described “glutton for adventure” enjoys backpacking, fishing and hunting. In 2012, she earned her pilot license. She also returned to school to finish her undergraduate at the University of Alaska, graduating magna cum laude with a bachelor’s in accounting in December.

Photo: Olson with her dogs at the 2015 Yukon Quest./Photo by Scott Chesney