Second-time Kuskokwim 300 musher Riley Dyche is the first to pass the outbound Tuluksak checkpoint in the 2025 running of the race.
Dyche’s 12-dog team kept a strong pace through the first 50 miles of the race, finishing that first sixth of the race in four hours and 16 minutes, or around 11.7 miles per hour. That’s more than a mile per hour slower than last year’s first-to-Tuluksak musher, Ryan Redington.
Before the race, Dyche told KYUK his goal for the race was to finish with a healthy team, in anticipation of the Iditarod early next month.
"The biggest thing we have Iditarod coming up also, but I kind of look at the Kusko as equally as important to Iditarod, so it's not really a training run necessarily. It will benefit them in the Iditarod. But right now, my sole priority is the Kusko and getting a big, healthy team to the finish line," Dyche said. "You know, I think that's the biggest thing."
After Dyche, mushers Pete Kaiser, Hunter Keefe and Matthew Failor followed just minutes behind.
From Tuluksak, teams continue on to Kalskag, just under 50 miles farther up the trail.
