Pete left the regrets of the 2012 Kuskokwim 300 on the trail as he crossed the finish line this afternoon. A good crowd of well wishers were there to meet Pete and the team to offer support and congratulations. Pete looked in good spirits, but undoubtedly he really wanted to win this thing. His fans, though, would have nothing of it and offered nothing but support and kind words for the young musher. He finishes the race in 11 place. I don’t have the official time yet.
The dogs looked great! Jen Peeks remarked that they looked ready for another run. I followed the team to the dog yard and the well behaved team ran into the barn on their own to find straw and a place out of the wind. The dog yard has a small barn that dogs are allowed to stay in after a race or a long run. The Doggie Hilton is a welcome treat for these great athletes. Their manner was surprisingly upbeat and I was amazed and how spry most of them were.
I set out to interview Pete after the race, but after a bit I realized that he needed a break and a disconnect from this race which he had intended to best last year or even win.
I left him with my words of encouragement and soon we will sit down so his fans can hear the stories from the trail. I told him how proud I was that he stuck with it after losing the trail. He kept racing and putting the best foot forward. As I told him, that’s why we all are supporting him– He’s a class act!
Go Team Kaiser!!
Here are the photos from the finish line-

Richie beat me to the finish line! I looked at the tracker and finished an update only to hear that he was already at Brown’s Slough!! So I raced across town in record time to catch the finish line activities, but my apologies for not getting him crossing! Congratulations Richie Diehl!!

The whole team was raring to go. It started with Jenn’s team– They were really excited to be heading out. Then came Pete and the First String. They were all happy and just seemed ready to head out. Pete and the family were also in good spirits. Janet’s nephew showed up by surprise from Illiamna to help out with chores and such! What a great surprise! In any case, they left without problems. The Kusko Boys from the Iditarod, Mike Williams Jr. and Pete Kaiser left the chute together. Kind of a neat thing after the last couple of years running together on the Iditarod.