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For The 2018 K300, Race Organizers Remember Rudy Demoski

James Barker

Without musher Rudy Demoski, the Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race might not exist. On Thursday, Demoski died at age 72, leaving behind a legacy of mushing that outlives him.

The chain of events from Demoski to the K300 began in 1979. That year, Demoski lent his dog team to his mushing and hunting buddy Myron Angstman to run the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

 

“And I was all excited about that event and thought when I came home, ‘We should have something like that here,’” said Angstman.

 

A month later, Angstman organized the first Kuskokwim 300. It ran in 1980; Angstman and Demoski were two of the finishers. After Demoski’s dogs inspired the race, they also kept it going.

 

“With his dogs, he then sold me a couple of them, and the offspring of those dogs provided me an outstanding dog team,” Angstman said. “And that kept me really interested in the race. So that has a lot to do with the fact that we’re still here.”

 

Years later, Angstman is the Kuskokwim 300 Race Committee Chairman. He and another inaugural K300 musher, Warner Vent, visited Rudy Demoski for the last time on Monday.

 

 

Credit Myron Angstman
Without musher Rudy Demoski, the Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race might not exist. On Thursday, Demoski died at age 72, leaving behind a legacy of mushing that outlives him.

 

“I would have never known that Rudy was that close to dying because he was laughing so hard,” said Angstman.

 

Demoski is remembered as the “Happy Musher” for his delight in making people laugh.

 

During that visit, Demoski was at home in Wasilla with lung cancer. For several hours, the three veteran mushers shared stories from the trail, including ones from that first K300 Race 39 years ago this weekend.

 

Anna Rose MacArthur served as KYUK's News Director from 2015-2022.