Pete Kaiser has been crowned the winner of the Kuskokwim 300 dog sled race for the third straight year. Kaiser crossed the finish line in Bethel at 10:37am Sunday morning. He spoke to KYUK’s Lillian Michael about the similarities between this and last year’s race. Both times, he rested for four hours in Kalskag, one hour in Aniak, and another hour in Kalskag on his way back to Bethel.
“Yeah, I guess since they’ve changed the way they format the rest, that’s the only way I’ve done it,” said Kaiser. “It seems to be working, so I’ll probably do it again next year.”
The similarities between the past two races don’t end there. Brent Sass finished in second place for the second year in a row. And Richie Diehl finished in third, slightly better than his fourth place finish last year. Rounding out the top five finishers were Ray Redington, Jr., in fourth, and Jessie Holmes in fifth.
According to the GPS tracker, 18 teams have crossed the finish line, with Roger Lee of Wasilla arriving last in Bethel earlier Monday morning.
Out of the 20 teams that started the race, two K300 rookies did not finish. Victoria Hardwick scratched in Aniak on Sunday morning, and Rob Cooke scratched Saturday morning in Kalskag. K300 Race Manager Madelene Reichard, speaking over the weekend, explained why they left the race.
“She left Kalskag, and she was on the trail for quite a while, so we had two people from Aniak go out,” said Reichard of Hardwick. “The vet decided at a certain point that, for the safety of the dogs and of the musher, that it was going to be best for Victoria and her team to be back in Aniak. So we made arrangements for that.”
Regarding Cooke, Reichard said, “Rob Cooke had three dropped dogs up in Kalskag, and the vet in Kalskag decided that it would be best if they had further veterinary care in Bethel, so Rob decided to scratch to be down with his dogs.”
The remaining 18 teams will each receive prize money from the biggest purse in K300 history: $150,000. $25,000 of that goes to Pete Kaiser for coming in first. The leftover prize money, totaling $14,000 and intended for the 19th through 25th place finishers, will be split between all 18 teams.
Although the 2017 K300 has come to a close, race season is just getting underway. KNOM will continue to bring you the best in race coverage. Coming next is the Yukon Quest, which begins in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, on February 4th.
