The top two mushers in last year's Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race may withdraw from this year's race, according to Alaskan newspaper reports.

Four-time Yukon Quest winner Lance Mackey talks to reporters after crossing the finish line in Whitehorse on Feb. 20, 2008. (Cheryl Kawaja/CBC)The Anchorage Daily News and the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported Saturday that four-time Quest winner Lance Mackey is planning to skip the U.S.-Canadian race this year.

Ken Anderson, who trailed Mackey by only 15 minutes in last year's Yukon Quest, told CBC News he is also thinking about whether to sit out this year's race.

"What I found last year was that racing those dogs hard in the Quest kind of took the edge off them for the Iditarod.… I can't speak for Lance, but I think he's seeing the same thing," Anderson said Monday.

"Last year, you know, he and I pushed pretty hard in the Quest and he wound up not taking as many of those Quest dogs to the Iditarod as he had done the prior year where he wasn't really pushed that hard."

This year's Yukon Quest, a 1,600-kilometre journey which runs through the Yukon and Alaska, is scheduled to begin Feb. 14 in Whitehorse.

Both Mackey and Anderson are also signed up to run the Iditarod, which begins on March 7.

Anderson added that next year's Quest will start a week earlier than this year's, meaning his dogs would have more time to rest up in time for the Iditarod.

Anderson said money may also be a factor. Organizers of the Yukon Quest emailed mushers Friday to say they could only guarantee $125,000 of the $200,000 purse, meaning there may be smaller prize payouts to the winners.

Neither have officially pulled out of race

In Whitehorse, Yukon Quest officials said neither Anderson nor Mackey have officially withdrawn from the event.

"I don't think it has any concern at all for the organization. I think both Lance and Ken — in their interviews and conversations that we've had with them — they've both really appreciated the Yukon Quest," Stephen Reynolds, the race's Canadian executive director, told CBC News.

"They love the trail," he added. "I'll bet you that both of them will miss the trail this year if they don't decide to run the race."

The deadline for Yukon Quest mushers to withdraw from the race, and get most of their entry fee back, was extended from Friday to Jan. 23.

Losing star mushers would mean others would get a shot at winning the top prizes, Reynolds said. He added that in the meantime, Quest staff are fundraising to top up the purse.

Mackey was competing in another sled-dog race in Alaska over the weekend and was not available to comment Monday. He made history last year by winning the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod races back-to-back, for two consecutive years in a row.

Mackey told the Anchorage Daily News that he has other obligations this year, as he has leased 24 of his dogs — almost half of Mackey's team — to another musher who is trying to qualify for the Iditarod.

The Alaska Army National Guard is paying Mackey $50,000 to lease the dogs and train the other musher, according to the newspaper.

Mackey said that as a result of the arrangement, he would not have enough dogs to run both this year's Yukon Quest and the Iditarod.

There are currently 37 mushers — including Mackey and Anderson — signed up for this year's Yukon Quest, which will start in Whitehorse and run towards Fairbanks, Alaska.