Mushers, volunteers, and fans filled their plates from a potluck of brisket, salads, and an ornate tapestry of a dessert table. Bethel’s Yupiit Picaryarait Cultural Center was packed, and a line for the food wrapped around the city’s largest conference room.
The Mushers Banquet is an anticipated gathering that’s happened most years since 1980, celebrating the organizers, volunteers, and mushers of the Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race (K300) and Akiak Dash. As K300 Race Manager Paul Basile mentioned in his opening remarks, the 2025 running of the race was a feat of its own to even make possible.
“When we first had the idea of postponing the race, I didn’t know if it was possible,” Basile said at the podium. “I wasn’t sure if we could get all the people to get the race off together.”
Originally slated for late January, the K300 race committee voted unanimously to postpone the 2025 race by two weeks. Warm temperatures made the trail unsafe to mark, and the delay was an effort to hold out for better race conditions.
“And remarkably, almost all of those people were not only able to do it, but were excited and absolutely willing to bend their schedules and change their plans,” Basile said.
K300 staff thanked volunteers, who largely run the event, managing checkpoints and hosting mushers in Bethel homes, even helping pull off the move up of the race’s start time announced just the day before to avoid inclement weather.
The ceremonies commenced with awarding the finishers of the 65-mile Akiak Dash. Kwethluk musher Raymond Alexie won first place and a purse of $7,000. He’s been undefeated in any of the K300 Race Committee's Delta Championship Series races since 2022.
The K300 awards began with Ebbe Pedersen, who placed 17th in the race. Pederson was awarded the ceremonial Red Lantern Award, a tribute to his persistence in finishing the long race. The racer stepped on stage to receive his prize, hauling a white drop bag in tow.
“In the back there, it can get a little boring,” Pederson admitted. “And I’ve got a little female, her name’s Yoda, and every time she sees something, she speeds up on the trail and she always picks it up. So I had to go quite a few times to pick up stuff on the trail.”
Pederson laid a pair of thick socks and a neck warmer on the podium.
Later, 15th place was awarded to Jeff King, tied as the winningest musher in the K300’s 46 year history. Part way into his "thank yous," King paused.
“These are my socks!” King exclaimed. “And my headband!”
In their remarks, mushers thanked the tribal council of Tulusak for allowing the race to be rerouted up by its school for the checkpoint, a first for the K300 in many years. And the postponement seemed to be the right call.
“This is my 28th K300,” King said. “Even though I’ve enjoyed being a racer, I’ve never had more fun on the trail as I had this year.”
King said that "fun" had to do with the comfortable weather and favorability of the trail, and the fact that he wasn’t sprinting to win the race.
Fourth-place finisher Mike Williams Jr. was the 2025 Humanitarian Award winner. Race vets honored the Akiak musher for his care for his dogs, and for helping haul water for an injured competitor.
Seventeen-year-old musher Emily Robinson from Nenana placed sixth. A proven musher, with first place wins in the past three Jr. Iditarods and champion of the 2024 and 2025 Knik 200, the race committee made an exception to allow the teenager to compete in this year’s race.
“It’s super cool to be competing with these top adult mushers, and I’m super honored to be present in this sport and to be able and allowed to compete,” Robinson said.
Robinson also received the Rookie of the Year Award as the only competitor who was new to the 300-mile distance. Also the only woman and teenager in this year’s race, she had a message to share.
“For all the young people, especially for young girls, don’t apologize for your success,” Robinson said. “Don’t apologize. You work hard.”
In two weeks, Robinson will race her last Jr. Iditarod and end her junior career, entering fully into adult races.
Finally, the first place prize of $31,735 was awarded to Bethel musher Pete Kaiser.
“I’d like to thank Jeff King for all the inspiration nine different times,” Kaiser said. “It’s really an honor to share a record with you. You know, I grew up idolizing you as a musher growing up, even before I was racing myself, and so it’s a real honor to share this record with you.”
Since his eighth victory in 2024, the story of this year’s race would inevitably contain a question about whether Kaiser would tie King for the title of the winningest musher of the K300. He did, passing the finish line at 1:57 a.m. on Feb. 9.
Mushers from the K300 and Akiak Dash expressed admiration for each other, especially for champion Kaiser. Sixteen-year-old Charlie Chingliak, 12th in the Akiak Dash, took it a little further.
“Pete, now that you and Jeff share the most wins for the K300 and if you plan on retiring, you know who to give your dogs to,” said Chingliak.
Many mushers spoke about the unique community feel of the K300, and expressed a desire to support mushing in the region. For 10th place finisher Bailey Vitello, that looked like donating 12 dog houses he had built for his dogs to two Akiak Dash finishers, chosen in a raffle on stage.
As is true with each year’s K300 race, the story can be anyone’s. But this year’s race had threads of a shining 17-year old rookie, the legwork of dedicated volunteers, and a historic win for Kaiser.
