45th Annual Kuskokwim 300!

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Welcome to 2024!

The 45th annual Kuskokwim 300 is about to get underway and last night was the kick off of what appears to be a cold one.

Temperatures are expected to be really cold for this year’s race, but Pete, Richie, or any other of the mushers seemed to have much of a worry about it. For the experienced mushers, they have been through it before. The K300 is known for weather issues– from rain to cold temperatures, the race generally is all about extremes.

The field of Teams this year includes several K300 champions. Pete and Richie of course are here, as is Matt Failor and others. Iditarod champ Ryan Redington is here so we have a couple of Iditarod champs as well in the field. There are quite a few Iditarod notables including Ramey Smythe and Travis Beals, but the really notable Teams are the local group that have been burning up the trails all season. Kwethluk’s own Raymond Alexie and is on a ten (YES TEN!!) race winning streak in cluding the 2023 Bogus Creek 150 and Akiak dash. He’ll be one to watch as well as Jason Pavilla, Fr. Alexander Larson and long time musher, Isaac Underwood. Local veternarian Jessica Klejka is also returning home to compete this year.

K300.org has a nice listing of all of the Teams here.

Weather is expected to be brutal. Richie and Pete were thinking that up near Aniak this weekend may have some cold spots into the -40’s. Whew! That’s a cold one for sure!!

This year’s race will be using the Aniak first route that then travels around the Whitefish loop after Aniak. It will be interesting to see time strategies this year given the cold weather. As fans will remember, Teams have 6 hours of rest to spend between Kalskag UP, Aniak, and Kalskag down. It’s always fun to see mushers play this game of rest as they run the upper part of the race.

In the K300, mushers get to choose starting position based on sign up. Pete was the second to sign up for the race and chose the 2nd position. Teams will leave in two’s out of the starting line at a later 8pm from Bethel. Pete and the Team will leave in the first duo tonight.

The trail is very icy for the first 20 miles. After a warm spell that melted most of the snow, a recent freeze has everything pretty slick. The upper part of the trail is better, but it is going to be a cold, hard, fast trail.

Pizza and words from the man himself, Myron Angstman, and race manager Paul Basile were the order of the evening as well as cookies and other goodies from the kids at the local Mikelnguut Eltinaurviat primary school. It was a fun evening. Here are the photos and the video! Go Team Kaiser!

Pete Kaiser takes Second Place in 2023 Iditarod

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Good Evening Team Kaiser!!

Iditarod 2023 lived up to the expectation of drama, competition, and excitement that fans have come to expect year after year. Though Pete and the Team did not arrive under the famed burled arches in first position, Pete was very happy with the performance of the Team. The dedication to competition, but also to fantastic dog care was exemplified by many officials and fans that commented as such as I spoke with them after the finish. “That’s one heck of great dog man!” one told me. “I have a great respect for him and his program.”

Pete arrived to the Iditarod Finish line to complete the 2023 Iditarod in second place at 13:36:40 with 8 dogs in harness. Team Kaiser posted a second best of his career elapsed time of  8 days 22 hours 36 minutes and 40 seconds.

The run into Nome from White Mountain was uneventful until approaching Safety. The area is known for “Blow Holes” that come out of nowhere with extreme winds and poor visibility. Several times over the years as fans waited at the finish line, just 20 miles away, the weather was just crazy windy. Pete described the experience later as we gathered to hear a few stories. He related that he could see the winds moving out of the hills toward the beach that they traveled. “One minute it’s 15-25 mph wind and the next moment you go through this almost wall of violent wind of 50-60mph and blowing snow. You’ll be traveling through it and then just like another wall the team will pass through and it’s over. Sometimes the leaders will be out of the wind while the sled is still in the wind. It’s crazy!”

Richie Diehl described it as well, “It’s the first time I’ve had to use my headlamp to see the trail markers in broad daylight!”

Amazing that White Mountain can be fine and Nome can be fine, but somewhere in the middle the weather is out of control. Pete said it was probably the most challenging portion of the race.

Both Pete and Richie had nothing but good things to say about the race and the fact that a Redington musher had won the race that grandfather Joe Redington had put together 51 years ago. They also related how good this is for the mushing community to have Rural Alaskan Mushers and Alaska Native Mushers at the forefront of this race.

There will be more photos and video coming, but here’s a taste of the action from Pete and the Team’s awesome run into Nome.

Go Team Kaiser!

Iditarod 23- Early Morning Takeoff

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Good Morning Race Fans!

I grabbed the phone at 04:30 just in time to watch Pete and Riche take to the trail, their 8 hour layover completed.

Both Teams looked great and ready for the final stretch of this year’s Iditarod.

Leader Ryan Redington, who at one point was thought to extend his layover, left right on time after midnight.

At this hour Redington is approaching Safety, while Pete and Richie are about 25 miles back on the trail.

This race, as per usual, has been filled with great excitement and drama, but that is all about to end by early afternoon today when the top three Teams should be passed those famous burled office.

There will be photos and more, so stay tuned and Quyana for all of your support for Team Kaiser through the Race!

Go Team Kaiser!!

 

Iditarod 23- Big News from White Mountain!!

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Big news from White Mountain! It looks like Ryan Redington is going to spend a couple of extra hours in the checkpoint.
Pete was into White Mountain at 20:29 just 8 minutes before Richie at 20:37.
According to Bruce Lee in White Mountain, Pete took the extra time in Elim readying for just this scenario. Both Teams had been pushing hard pretty much from Kaltag. Pete is looking at scenarios as is Richie, where if the leader falters, they are right there, ready to pounce.
This is something that I haven’t seen before. The leader not leaving a checkpoint to gain added rest because the Team has enough lead in the mandatory checkpoint to leave pretty much any time. For all intents and purposes, Ryan can take 3 hours more rest and still have a hour lead on Pete and Richie.
Wow! What an amazing twist to this race! Just like I’ve been saying– Anything can happen and generally does!!
Go Team Kaiser!!

Iditarod 23- Together Again!

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Good Afternoon Race Fans!

As you read this story, just hum to the great Buck Owens tune, Together Again! Pete and Richie are traveling together again!

Something Pete saw early this morning made him decide the Team was going to need more rest. Running with Ryan Redington wasn’t a problem, but not taking rest that he is used to must have taken a toll on the him and the Team. Always on a musher’s mind is the health and well being of the Team. A good long rest to get back on track is always a good thing.

In the meantime, Richie Diehl was on the trail to Elim after a 4 hour break in Koyuk. Richie arrived into Elim took a nice break in Koyuk and continued on the trail and checked into Elim at 12:06. A friend is a welcome sight on the trail and after Richie spent an hour or so snacking his Team, the duo left the checkpoint together, Richie at 14:18 dropping one dog and Pete at 14:22 with his 8 dogs in harness.

While all this was happening, musher Matt Hall was steadily making progress towards Elim as well. Not to be discounted at all, Matt’s runtime into Elim was a full 23 minutes faster than Richie that had the fastest time of the three front runners. Matt took 4 hours rest in Koyuk and did not stop in Elim but to check in and return to the trail.

The excitement is far from over in this race. I would suggest that even first place isn’t a done deal, however Ryan Redington should have about a 5-6 hour lead on the next group. Driving my insecurity of a Redington finish is how little accumulated rest his Team has had since Unalakleet. It is a really nice dog Team, but stress could be an issue for the Team leaving the 8 hours in White Mountain. It has happened before, so let’s just see what happens here.

The race for second is a barn burner, however, after Pete’s long rest. Any one of the three traveling together could make a play for the finish line. All Teams are running 8 dogs except Richie with 7. There won’t be any time to gain in the checkpoint, so it will just be a sprint race of sorts to the finish. Mushers will want to allow their Teams to work a little faster than they are do during the initial parts of the race as there are so few miles to go, but at this point there really isn’t much more a Team can do. They have been pacing for many hundreds of miles and are pretty much set into a groove.

With regard to the finish, the faster years show a 9 hour run from White Mountain to Nome. Ryan should be getting into White Mountain by 4 and leave by midnight. That will put the leader into Nome about 9-11 tomorrow morning. The group of three following for 2-3-4 should be arriving about 5-6 hours after that.

What a race it’s been for 2023!

The excitement isn’t over, so join us as we wish Pete well on his last 100 miles to Nome!

Go Team Kaiser!!