Weather permitting, the 29th annual Kuskokwim 300 (K300) dog sled race will begin in Bethel, Alaska on Friday January 18th. The start of the race has been delayed four times in the past due to frigid temperatures. This race is regarded as a premier middle distance event and often used as an Iditarod tune-up for elite mushers. The $100,000 in prize money with $20,000 going to the first place finisher helps attract a strong field as well. This year’s field has plenty of Iditarod racing veterans including Jeff King, Paul Gebhardt, Mitch Seavey, Martin Buser, Ed Iten, Dee Dee Jonrowe, and Hugh Neff. Among the favorites to win is 4 time Iditarod and 8 time K300 winner, Jeff King. King finished last years K300 in second place in an epic duel with winner Martin Buser.
Also predicted to finish high is last year’s K300 winner and 4th place finisher, the father-son teams of Martin and Rohn Buser. Rohn will hope to use this as a qualifying run for a shot at the Iditarod this year as an 18 year old rookie, and certainly showed us in last year’s K300 as a 17 year old that he can run with the leaders. Another father-son duo entered in the race are Akiak mushers Mike Williams Sr and Mike Williams Jr. Once again, the race route passes Crow Village twice at the 133 mile mark on the out leg and at the 187 mile mark on the return leg. Last year, race leaders Martin Buser and Jeff King both elected to feed their teams on the Crow Village shore on the return leg shortly after they abruptly left the Aniak checkpoint. The course promises to be fast this year as some early season freeze and thaw cycles smoothed out the river ice and some recent snow fall added some cushion. As usual, the weather can easily become a factor.
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