Kwethluk musher Raymond Alexie has won the 2025 Akiak Dash in commanding fashion, finishing the 65-mile race with all eight dogs on the line at 4:49 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 8.
Throughout the race, Alexie was miles ahead of the other 15 teams in the race to above Akiak and back, and he will take home $7,000 out of the race’s $50,000 total purse.
It’s Alexie’s second career win in the Akiak Dash after his 2023 win during an undefeated season. Alexie didn’t run the Akiak Dash in 2024 because he was running his rookie Kuskokwim 300 (K300), but he withdrew just over 24 hours into that race.
Alexie was slated to race the 2025 K300, but dropped out in the week leading up to the race, allowing him to compete in this year’s Akiak Dash. He said that to win felt good, but also, “same old same old.”
“Just [feel] kind of maybe bummed out, I don’t know,” Alexie said when asked about his decision not to run the K300. “Lack of training from the warm weather. Middle of December [2024], I went out to Denali highway to train.”
Alexie said that he plans to compete in the Bogus Creek 150 later this winter, which has been his main focus race for the past three years.
Coming in 15 minutes behind Alexie, Michael Larson of Kwethluk took second place and a prize of $5,500. Larson competed with Alexie’s B team from Alexie Kennels and crossed the finish line with a team of eight dogs.
2024 Akiak Dash champion Schouviller Wassillie Jr. of Akiachak claimed third place with eight dogs on the line. The teenager turned heads at last year’s Akiak Dash, walking away with the Rookie of the Year Award as well as first place. This year, he said, he had another good race.
“It was good,” Wassillie Jr. said about the trail. “Smooth, it was pretty good.”
At this point in the Akiak Dash’s 33-year history, there’s a generational, yet competitive, gap between seasoned mushers and younger rookies. Last year, then-16-year-old Wassillie Jr. won in his rookie year, and Alexie took first place in 2023. At 19, 2025 was Alexie's third year racing the Dash. Top finishers Charlie Chingliak, Spyridon Chaney, and Eamon Frederick are also teenagers.
“I've seen a whole bunch of young, young boys” said musher John George who came in 10th place. “I can't catch up with them.”
The Akiak Dash has also long been dominated by a roster of local racers, particularly from the villages of Kwethluk and Akiachak. This year, 11 of the 16 Akiak Dash competitors were from Akiachak. Musher Spyridon Chaney was the only one of the bunch from another community: downriver Napaskiak.
During the Akiak Dash, temperatures wavered in the high twenties with some sun. With no drop dogs allowed in the race, several mushers carried a lagging dog across the finish line in their sled.
Musher Darren George said that it was “too hot.” The heat posed challenges for the dogs, including the one half-peeking out of his sled bag at the finish.
Some Akiak Dash mushers — John George and Alexie among them — said that they plan to race the Bogus Creek 150, which is slated to start two weeks from now on Feb. 22. For several of them, whether or not they make it to the start comes down to favorable training conditions between now and the race day.
Race results
1st place Raymond Alexie Kwethluk 8 dogs 4:49 PM finish
2nd place Michael Larson Kwethluk 8 dogs 5:05 PM finish
3rd place Schouviller Wassillie Jr. Akiachak 8 dogs 5:12 PM finish
4th place Spyrido Chaney Napaskiak 8 dogs 5:17 PM finish
5th place Lewis Pavila Kwethluk 8 dogs 5:19 PM finish
6th place Eamon Fredrick Akiachak 8 dogs 5:20 PM finish
7th place Dray Pasitnak Akiachak 8 dogs 5:37 PM finish
8th place George Manutoli Akiachak 8 dogs 5:38 PM finish
9th place Darren George Akiachak 8 dogs 5:41 PM finish
10th place John George Akiachak 7 dogs 5:42 PM finish
11th place Robert Charles Jr. Akiachak 8 dogs 5:43 PM finish
12th place Charlie Chingliak Akiachak 7 dogs 5:54 PM finish
13th place Tory Fitzpatrick Akiachak 8 dogs 8:00 PM finish
14th place Solomon Olick Akiachak 6 dogs 6:00 PM finish
15th place Carl Ekamerak Akiachak 6 dogs 6:03 PM finish
16th place Rayme Nose Akiachak 7 dogs 6:27 PM finish
This is story has been updated.
