Exciting Action on the Upper Kuskokwim

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Pete is out of Aniak with all rest completed. Teams are following his lead and going to make the run into Tuluksak from Aniak with all rest completed.
There are two teams into Kalskag that didn’t rest and will need to stay their 3 hours before returning to the trail. It’s looking like the Kalskag Teams will return to the trail within a few minutes of Pete checking in and out of Kalskag.
What’s really noticeable is how professional this group of mushers is operating. Note that EVERY musher signed out EXACTLY on time. Not a minute to spare. Every minute counts in this race with Pete only a few minutes ahead of the next Team.
Fun to see 17 year old Robinson Racing Kennel Emily up there with the top Teams on her first outing. She’s a rookie of this race, but this young gal has LOTS of mushing experience! Fun to watch!!
At this pace, I’m thinking we are looking at a 1am-3am finish. The fastest time from Aniak to Bethel was last year by Team Kaiser with 18:47 (According to my friendly AI asssitant)

Mushing Weather Forecast-
Currently Aniak is reporting 20 degrees with light South wind.

Bethel Forecast-
Today: A chance of snow before noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 33. East wind around 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Tonight: Increasing clouds, with a low around 32. East wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.
Sunday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 37. East wind 20 to 25 mph.

Go Team Kaiser!!

Fastest to Aniak!

Good Morning Race Fans!

Lots of action on the trail last night! Pete has the fastest time into Aniak, but it’s a barn burner as the top 6 teams are within 6 minutes of elapsed time. Great times. Cim Smyth and Mike Williams Jr. only took 2 hours rest of the 6 total they will need to take for the three checkpoints KLG UP, ANIAK, KLG Down. Riley Dyche and Cody Stathe didn’t rest in Aniak. Let the Games Begin!! Fun strategy always in this section of the race! We won’t see the true leader until the first Team leaves Kalskag bound for Tuluksak.
Go Team Kaiser!!

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2025 Kuskokwim 300 Start! A Beautiful Day!

Good Afternoon Race Fans!

It was a wonderful day at the Kuskokwim 300 Starting Line today! For many years the K300 started at midday before Teams became so high performance that leaving at midday meant arriving at the Finish Line in the wee hours of the morning. Later races start in the evening so spectators can see both the start and the finish at a “reasonable time.” Due to the threat of stormy warm conditions, it meant that we had a midday start. IT WAS GREAT!!

After all of the weather drama this year, it was great to have sunshine, mild temperatures, and virtually no wind! Everyone was just happy, happy, happy! As I’ve said before, dogsled racing is the celebration of these great dogs and those that care for them and today was truly a party!

Fans and the 17 Teams in this year’s race all gathered at the Starting line and before too long Pete was at the chute and ready to go! Pretty cool to see two Iditarod Champions set to leave in the first pair. Ryan Redington chose bib 1 and Pete was bib 2.

The dogs really were charged up by the atmosphere as well and soon it was 3-2-1 GO~!

The trail is hard and fast and the weather forecast shows it to be like this for the next two days before a warm storm hits the Delta.

Good luck to all of the Teams and GO TEAM KAISER!!

 

2025 Kuskokwim 300 Drawing

Howdy Kaiser Racing Fans!

The 45th running of the Kuskokwim 300 is upon us and 17 of the World’s Finest Teams have joined us in Bethel for 300 miles on the Kuskokwim!

The drawing is always a great get together seeing old friends as well as new faces to start the festivities of this great race.

It has been a really tough year for training in the Bethel area as well as South Central Alaska. I spoke to mushers from across the state and basically the Northern Teams had it pretty good, but everyone else had it tough. Two weeks ago it was raining and running water everywhere in the Bethel area. The Kanektok river went out in Quinhagak!! I actually saw whitecaps on one of the lakes. Then last week we had very cold temperatures that reached -27 in Bethel. As it warmed we got a dumping of snow like we haven’t in years and then it warmed up again. It was definitely YO-YO weather to be sure.

All of that weather action has made it too dangerous for some parts of the trail and the race committee has decided to drop the Whitefish loop. Richie Diehl, recently retired from mushing, but still very active on the race committee, came up with a plan to run the trail up through Aniak slough. The race mileage should be pretty similar when all tolled.

The monkey wrench in all of the planning is that another warm spell is headed our way. Organizers decided the best thing was to get the Teams out and on the trail as soon as possible. Reverting to the old starting schedule, Teams will leave the starting line in Bethel at 1:00pm. The hope is with the fast trail conditions, hard pack and warm, Teams should arrive into Bethel late Saturday evening and early Sunday.

As per usual, Myron Angstman read through the rules with the mushers, described the changed trail, and answered any questions. One new rule is that mushers will carry a Vet Book form thoughout the race, similar to the Iditarod. The amazing K300 veterinarians will log any comments about the Team and veterinarians in the following checkpoint will be able see those notes for anything extra they might need to check on a dog. Only the best for our four legged friends!

A $200,000 dollar purse will be shared among the Teams with the winner garnering $30,000 for their bank account.

Pete selected Bib 2, so Team Kaiser will be leaving out of the chute in the first pair as they go out two by two. Go Team Kaiser!!

A few items of note: Happy 70th Birthday to Jeff King! A perennial favorite, Jeff said he’s had a pretty good year of training and looking forward to the race.

Rookie Emily Robinson and recent winner of the Knik 200 is out in Bethel for her first Kuskokwim 300. Mom, Dad, and brother are here as well. Welcome to the Robinsons! Always Kaiser Racing Fans!

Here’s the photos!!

 

K300 2025 Schedule

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Big news from the Musher’s Drawing!

From Kuskokwim 300 Race Committee

“Due to impeding warmer weather forecast for Sunday we are moving up the start time of the 46th Annual Kuskokwim 300. The race will now begin at 1pm tomorrow, Friday February 7th.”

K300 Race Start is 1:00pm Friday, February 7, 2025!!

Tell your friends!