As mushers poised their pups and cast their sights out along the snowy expanse of tundra, there was a lot to bark about.
On New Year's Day, the Kuskokwim 300 (K300) Race Committee's Season Opener kicked off the 2024-2025 mushing season.
The 35-mile out-and-back race between Bethel and the village of Atmautluak is one in a lineup of five races that comprise the Delta Championship Series put on by the K300 Race Committee. The race began and finished at Charles Family Lake, across from H-Marker Lake in Bethel.
Weather conditions were sunny and clear, with patches of ice along the course as it bypassed stretches of frozen lake.
Raymond Alexie of Kwethluk took first place as racers began to reappear on the tundra around the two hour mark.
“It was good until we got to the lakes,“ Alexie said. “The lakes were on bare ice, so that was hard for me. The dogs didn’t have much problem.”
Mike Williams Jr. of Akiak came in second place, with reigning K300 champ Pete Kaiser of Bethel taking third. In total, a purse of $25,000 was distributed between the top 15 competitors.
The season opener had been postponed from its mid-December start date due to a lack of snow. Alexie said that this impacted training. He took his dogs to the Denali area, where the snow was more plentiful, to train for a two-week stint.
“They’re slowly getting miles, more and more miles,” Alexie said.
Now, Alexie said, it’s good to be back racing on his home terrain as the 2024-2025 mushing season kicks off.
