The Bogus Creek 150 has been postponed until February because of trail conditions.
“It's best for dogs and for racers. And for volunteers,” said Kuskokwim 300 (K300) Race Manager Paul Basile on Jan. 12. “It's just, it would have been really miserable for everybody to be out there this weekend if we went ahead with it.”
Basile said that the above-freezing weather in the last week has deteriorated the trail. The K300 Race Committee, which runs the event, had already pushed back the start of the race by a day in the hopes that the weather would cool down. But it didn’t.
“Maybe the most significant, logistically, is that weather in the last week, week and a half has made marking trail impossible, just with these two back-to-back warm spells,” Basile said.
A delay to the Bogus Creek 150 isn’t uncommon. In 2022, the race was also pushed until after the K300 because of unseasonable weather.
Basile said that registrations for the race will reopen about a week before the new start date, which is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 10.
“I suspect some of the teams that registered might not be able to do it at that point,” Basile said. “A couple of teams that were going to be in the race will be in their final weeks of Iditarod preparation at that time, so it might not fit in their program. But then there are also some teams that maybe didn't feel like they were ready for a 150-mile race this weekend. But they've got a chance to train for another four weeks or so. So perhaps some of those teams that didn't feel they were quite there will be ready for the race next month.”
With the Bogus Creek 150 postponed, Basile said that he’s shifting focus to the Kuskokwim 300, the crown jewel of the local racing season, which is two weeks away.
“We do have a little snow in the forecast in a few days, and it looks like it's gonna get colder and stay cold,” Basile said. “I think there's plenty of reason to be optimistic about K300. And so we're just shifting our focus to that race now. And I'm really looking forward to it.”
The 2024 Kuskokwim 300 sled dog race is scheduled to kick off at 8 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 26.
