It was a brutally cold, clear and icy running of the Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race over the last weekend in January.
In the end, Bethel musher Pete Kaiser’s consistency secured his eighth Kuskokwim 300 (K300) title in the past 10 years. The Kaiser Racing Kennel's team crossed the finish line just before sunrise at 9:25 a.m. on Jan. 28 with 11 dogs on the line and one in the sled, and were swarmed by family, friends, and fans. Kaiser finished the race in 37 hours, 25 minutes.
“Good to be back, looking forward to some warmth,” Kaiser said.
The win brings 36-year-old Kaiser one step closer to the all-time K300 record. Jeff King of Denali Park won the race nine times.
To secure the win, Kaiser had to beat three past champions and the defending Iditarod champion among the field of 23 racers. In his signature racing style, Kaiser’s team had a strong second half. While other mushers surged ahead with a blistering early speed, Kaiser stuck to his race plan, building off his training goal of perfecting what he calls the dogs’ fastest comfortable cruising speed.
“It’s riding a fine line to win this race, trying to go as fast as you can go but stay in that safe zone for the dogs,” Kaiser said. “I think we managed that real well this year. I don't think we’re one of the fastest teams as far as raw footspeed goes, but we’re real consistent. We try to string together consistent runs from the start all the way to the finish.”
And those consistent runs allowed Kaiser to be fastest on the run downriver. He left the Kalskag checkpoint on Jan. 27 just two minutes in front of 2019 winner Matthew Failor. Kaiser peaked at the right time: he had the fastest team on the run from Aniak through the Whitefish Lake loop to Kalskag, and he kept his speed up. On the trail downriver to Tuluksak, Kaiser again had the fastest team and added 35 minutes to his lead over Failor.
It’s a familiar dynamic at the front of the race. In 2022 and 2023, Kaiser finished first while Failor notched second place. In total, it’s the fourth time Kaiser and Failor have gone one-two in the K300.
Kaiser finished this year’s race with all 12 dogs that he brought to the starting line – the only musher in the field to keep a full team.
“With this fast of a trail, and this hard of a trail, surprised to get a full string around the course; that’s kind of cool,” Kaiser said. “One got a ride in here the last 10 miles, but overall no issues with them at all. They’re very healthy and durable, and held up real well.”
Kaiser wins $28,500 from a $185,000 purse for the victory. He’s won eight of the past 10 Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Races. Since his first win in 2015, only Failor in 2019 and Richie Diehl in 2021 have finished in front of him.
Willow’s Failor finished with five dogs in harness 41 minutes after Kaiser to notch his third second-place finish in three years with a total race time of 37 hours, 58 minutes.
“I just know how to get second place!” said Failor.
The Willow musher said that he managed his dogs’ speed well, but in the second half he faced the one-two punch of a challenging section of trail and Kaiser’s team running at full strength.
“The Whitefish Lake was not to this team’s… they did it fine, but the grass and the tussocks, they don’t really care for that kind of stuff; it slowed us down a bit,” Failor said. “And that’s when Pete slowly moved away from us.”
“He’s the best ever for the Kusko, top to bottom designed for this race,” Failor said of Kaiser. “He and his family put 100% of their time into this if they’re not hanging with his kids or his business. His kennel is groomed to win this race.”
Since last year’s race, Failor has had a busy life. He underwent shoulder replacement surgery and has a new baby at home.
Third-place finisher Travis Beals scored his best-ever Kuskokwim 300 finish in 38 hours, 24 minutes.
“The goal was to get better, so we did that,” Beals said. It was his third running of the K300.
“We’re always learning, this only our third trip here,” Beals said. “We’ll be back, just keep adjusting, keep having fun. These people put on an awesome race. It’s such a blast to be here. The Kusko is becoming one of my favorite races.”
Four of the top 10 mushers are first-time K300 racers. But those first-timers include 2023 Iditarod champion Ryan Redington and Hunter Keefe, who trains for Raymie Redington’s kennel and finished 11th in his first Iditarod last year.
4th place: Hunter Keefe arrived at 11:26 a.m. with 10 dogs
5th place: Richie Diehl at 11:50 a.m. with 9 dogs
6th place: KattiJo Deeter at 11:53 a.m. with 8 dogs
7th place: Ryan Redington arrived at 12:44 p.m. with 6 dogs
8th place: Riley Dyche arrived at 1:54 p.m. with 6 dogs
9th place: Ramey Smyth at 2:18 p.m. with 7 dogs
10th place: Jeff Deeter at 3:46 p.m. with 9 dogs
Sixth-place finisher KattiJo Deeter became the highest-placing female musher in the K300 in the past 20 years. DeeDee Jonrowe placed third in the K300 in 2002.
The fast trail saw early leaders like Redington of Knik and local musher Jason Pavila of Kwethluk setting an aggressive pace on the runs upriver. But Redington’s quick, early clip dropped off in the second half of race, and Pavila scratched in Tuluksak.
Redington crossed the K300 finish in seventh place at 12:44 p.m. on Jan. 28 with five of his original 12-dog team.
“The icy conditions [were] tough,” Redington said. “My dogs aren't used to it.” But despite that struggle, he said that he “loved” his first K300 experience and had a “lot of fun.”
“I saw a wolf this morning and I saw a lot of moose too. I really liked the country and I can't believe it took me this long to come out here,” Redington said. “We'll definitely be back. It's such a fun race and the best competition in the world this year. And it was very impressive watching the teams all around the race. It was a lot of fun.”
Redington said that he’ll take this race as a learning experience and plans to implement new training to prepare his dogs for the icy conditions of Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta racing. “I was told by a lot of mushers to be patient and I didn't do a good job of it,” Redington said of his blazing 12.8 mile-per-hour pace in the first stages of the race. “But I learned a lot and I can't wait to be back here and try it again.”
Redington incurred a three-minute time penalty for a minor rules violation: not properly following dropped dog protocol at the Aniak checkpoint.
For much of the race, it appeared that mushers might beat the all-time traditional course record set by Failor in 2019. Kaiser’s 2024 time ranks as the third fastest in race history on the traditional course, behind Failor’s mark of 36:32:33 and Martin Buser’s 1994 time of 37:04:00. Richie Diehl, Jeff King, and Pete Kaiser have run faster on courses modified for trail conditions or the COVID-19 pandemic.
Twenty-three mushers started the race in Bethel on Jan. 26. Five of them scratched: John Snyder of Akiachak, Raymond Alexie of Kwethluk, Josh McNeal of Ester, Dave Turner of Fairbanks, and Jason Pavila of Kwethluk.
With Alexie out of the race, there will be no Rookie of the Year prize awarded for the 2024 Kuskokwim 300. Alexie was the only musher in this year’s race who had not already finished a 300-mile race in their mushing career.
Angela Denning conducted the interviews with mushers in this story.
