Pete and the Team win the 2024 Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race arriving with all 12 dogs in harness at 9:25am. Total Elapsed Time – 37hrs 25 Minutes!
This makes 8 championships for the reigning 2023 champion and he will need one more to tie the 9 win record set by Jeff King.
Thank you so much to all sponsors, family, and friends as well as those who stop by just to say a kind word of encouragement!
Go Team Kaiser!
Good Morning Race Fans!
If you checked the tracker you’ll see Pete and the Team in the Akiachak area with about 18 miles to go and about a 4 mile lead on Matt Failor and crew.
It’s a cold one out there, so dress warm and start your vehicle early to welcome Pete and the Team to the Finish Line!
It’s -22 degrees with the windchill standing at -46!!
Go Team Kaiser!!
Finish Prediction Time!
So Pete and the Team are about 11 miles from Tuluksak. If they were to reach Tuluksak at 12:30 (the earliest) they could leave the checkpoint at 4:30am (the earliest) which after a record run (4 hours) would put them into Bethel at the earliest at 8:30am. So if it were me, I’d set my alarm for 7:30 and check the tracker and see how it’s going.
Comment your prediction!! Either way, we should see a finish between 8:30 and 9:30am.
(And that’s why the Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race started the race a bit later so we could have a leisurely finish on K300 Sunday!)
Pete is making gaining on his lead with Matt Failor, the moon is full, and the trail is good.
Go Team Kaiser!
Team Kaiser is burning up the trail!
After their 4 hour break in Aniak, Pete and the Team began overtaking Teams that had left early.
Ryan Redington, who left Aniak without a rest was the apparent leader this afternoon, but with all rest complete, Pete and the Team checked in and out of Kalskag at 7:27pm leaving Redington only to watch them go by.
Incredibly, Redington had an hour lead heading into Kalskag last night from Tuluksak. Over the next 100 miles from Kalskag through Aniak and back, Pete and the Team have made up all that time and now have a 1 hour 5o minute lead.
The big story is the duel that we have seen a few times with Pete leading and Failor right behind. Tonight though, Team Failor is only 2 minutes behind! Pete passed Matt just before Kalskag, but this isn’t over! Anything can happen.
It’s going to be exciting tonight and closer than we have ever seen! These two K300 champs fighting for the 2024 Championship!
WOW!!! What a great race!!
Go Team Kaiser!!
Aniak Weather Cam
Good afternoon Race Fans!
After a 4 hour break, Pete and the Team are out of Aniak at 2:38 with all of their mandatory rest on the books.
Pete and his 12 dog Team were followed a few minutes later by Fr. Alexander Larson as they headed out for the 48 mile run over the Whitefish loop towards Kalskag.
We are seeing several different strategies play out this afternoon in terms of rest. Ryan Redington who lost 15 minutes to Team Kaiser over the Kalskag to Aniak run this morning, didn’t take a break in Aniak and will have to take 3 hours once he reaches Kalskag.
It should be an exciting afternoon as all these Teams make their way into Kalskag. Once Teams leave Kalskag it really will start to play out in front of us in terms of who will be at the top of the leaderboard.
It’s a heatwave up in the Aniak area- Haha! It’s a balmy -19!! Thank goodness there is no wind to speak of which will make it a pretty run over the tundra this afternoon. Skies are clear an the sun is super bright! Perfect weather, some mushers would say. There were reports of a rough trail on the Whitefish loop, to which Richie Diehl laughed- “It’s a whitefish trail!!” In other words it’s always this way.
More to come this Kuskokwim 300 evening! Stay tuned!
Go Team Kaiser!!
Good Morning Race Fans!
It’s a cold morning on the Kuskokwim as Pete and the Team are out of Kalskag on the trail to Aniak. Comparing the last several years races, this appears to be a really fast one. Ryan Redington is the apparent jack rabbit with a time of 4 hours 36 minutes from Tuluksak to Kalskag. Comparing other past races, Nicolas Petit made the run in 2019 in the same time.
Jason Pavila took an hour’s rest and will be the first Team into Aniak, while Fr. Alexander Larson, and Pete took 2 hours. Ryan Redington took 3 hours and dropped two dogs. It will be interesting to see how these strategies will play out. Many times in fair weather, Teams will split the runs into 2 hours at each checkpoint. That gives time to feed the dogs and give them a good break at each location. Since the breaks must be to the hour that means that Ryan will need to short rest one checkpoint or maybe even skip Aniak and rest again in Kalskag. It is going to be interesting to be sure!!!
Temperatures this morning are -24 with light wind which is good news for Teams as they head into what is going to be a beautiful sunrise this morning. Skies are clear and it’s going to be a beautiful run. The full moon last night that should be at their backs this morning must have made a really awesome experience for Teams last night. Aniak is reporting -29 with a high temperature to day of -22! BRRR!!! Skies will be clear and sunny with light wind.
In Pete’s early days he wasn’t as strict on checkpoint time management. He learned over the years, however, that wasted minutes in the checkpoints can bite you down the trail. He is exact in his out times and generally is waiting for the checker to say he is clear to go. This morning was no different as Pete paced back and forth waiting for his out time. When Pete takes a 2 hour break, it is EXACTLY two hours. This morning he had to wait a few minutes to take care of the differential time that is added to compensate for different start times. Watch for yourself when Pete is ready to go, you’ll see him checking his watch- He’s ready and no minutes will be left in the checkpoing. As soon as the checker says go, they are off!
I mention this because if you watch other Teams, especially the younger mushers, you will see a more loose checkpoint schedule and those minutes really can add up.
The Team looked great as we watched the first ever livestream from the Kalskag checkpoint. It is a tremendous addition to see and experience first hand what the mushers, Teams, and other conditions are present. It’s truly a front row seat! Thanks to SpaceX and Starlink and other technologies that are finally making their way to our region, we can finally get the most out of this technology! Check it out here!
Lots of action today! It’s a bit cold, but there’s hot action out on the trail!!
Go Team Kaiser!!
The 2024 Kuskokwim 300 is underway and already we have excitement on the trail! Raymond Alexie’s Team has been burning up the trails for the last year. Those Kuskokwim bred dogs like nothing more than to run like the wind! Well it was time for Raymond and his Team to give the K300 a go and wouldn’t you know it but those leaders took off so fast that they left the rest of the Team behind! Next thing you know, they passed Pete and the Team on the way to who knows where, but luckily Team Kaiser’s own Sterling Rearden caught them and waited for Raymond to catch up and get reorganized for his first Kuskokwim 300. He’ll always remember this one!!
As per usual, it was a huge celebration of mushing as the 23 Teams gathered on the river to leave the K300 Starting Line for the 300 miles on the Kuskokwim. This is the 45th run of this historic race and the field is really the best of the best. We’ve got Iditarod Champs Pete Kaiser and Ryan Redington as well as Kusko champs Ramey Smythe, Matt Failor, Richie Diehl, and a whole host of newcomers. It looks to be a real nice run for all of the Teams.
The only weather this year is the temperatures. It is going to be pretty cold especially up near Aniak as temps could reach down in the low 3o’s below zero.
Tonight was expected to be very cold and windy, but though it was cold the wind was not to be found. A full moon rising over the Kuskokwim started the festivities and a real nice fireworks show ended the evening.
Everyone got off without a hitch except for Raymond, who I’m sure will have a great story to tell at the banquet on Monday.
Tonight Teams will make their way up to Kalskag via the Tuluksak checkpoint. It is a long 100 miles, but both Pete and Richie have described the trail as not too bad.
Here are photos of tonight’s festivities– Go Team Kaiser!
Check out the Kaiser Super Dogs in Mushing Magazine!
