This winter started warm, wet, and with very little snow. But for sled dog racing on the Kuskokwim River, Kuskokwim 300 (K300) Race Manager Paul Basile said that for right now, it’s looking all right.
“I think we're in pretty good shape,” Basile said. “The trail is not great as it was a few weeks ago for the K300, but it's in decent shape. That little bit of snow we got earlier this week helped.”
The annual Bogus Creek 150 Sled Dog Race is scheduled for a mass start on the Kuskokwim River in front of Bethel at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 22. As of the evening of Feb. 20, 16 teams were registered to run in the race.
The K300 Race Committee, which organizes the Bogus Creek 150 and other regional races, hadn’t published the final roster as of Feb. 20, but Basile said that there are quite a few former Bogus Creek 150 champions registered, including defending champ Raymond Alexie of Kwethluk, multiple-K300 champion Pete Kaiser, Maurice Andrews of Alakanuk, Lewis Pavilla of Kwethluk, Mike Williams Jr. of Akiak, and even Aniak's Richie Diehl, coming out of retirement to race a Kaiser team. The deep field also includes a few first-time Bogus Creek 150 racers, including 15-year-old Spyridon Chaney of Napaskiak, who will be racing a team of Fr. Alexander Larson's dogs. Larson is Chaney's ap'a, or grandfather.
Basile said that since the K300 Race Committee separated the race from the same weekend as the Kuskokwim 300 and Akiak Dash five years ago, there’s been strong regional participation.
“When I started this job in 2020, there were typically less than 10 racers in the Bogus Creek 150, and so it's just absolutely great to see 16 teams,” Basile said. “It's just a more competitive, more exciting event.”
The route to the finish
The race was rescheduled twice this year from its original early January date – the first time because of poor training conditions, and the second when the K300 was bumped back by two weeks because of trail concerns. For the K300, that worked out perfectly. Mushers raved about the trail conditions and snowpack.
“We had some warm weather that came in during K300 and persisted for a few days after, so we lost a lot of that snow, particularly on the river and on lakes and streams,” Basile said. "Much of the Bogus [Creek] 150 trail this weekend will be ice and hard pack snow. All of the folks who race out here have certainly seen worse."
But Basile said that conditions upriver near Bogus Creek itself have improved in recent weeks. The race will follow what’s known as the traditional route, going up the Tuluksak River to Little Bogus Creek, then Big Bogus Creek to the halfway checkpoint, where teams will take a mandatory 4 hours of rest.
“What's really interesting about this race is every team is required to have handlers,” Basile said. “And so this is the one race that we have where racers are required to have assistance. Generally you're not allowed to have any assistance of any kind, and so everybody will have a crew waiting for them at the checkpoint, help them with feeding the dogs and caring for the dogs, and maybe get a snack or a rest for themselves.”
It’s not yet clear when a first-place musher might cross the line. But Basile said that looking at past years could give an idea.
“We'll have a better idea after teams reach the halfway point and we have a better sense of how fast the trail is,” Basile said. “But I was just looking at last year's results – starting the race at the same time the winner got to Bethel around 9 a.m. on Sunday. I think the year before it was earlier, it was more like 7:30 [p.m.] or 8 p.m., so a reasonable hour Sunday morning, and it now being late February, there might even be a little bit of daylight.”
Weather conditions during the race are set to be mild – mostly cloudy with highs in the mid-20s and lows in the mid-teens, according to the National Weather Service.
Teams are competing for a cut of a $100,000 race purse, the second year in a row of a 25% purse increase. The winner will take home $15,000, and all but one of the competitors will leave with at least $3,750.
“I think because it's a local event, folks don't realize that a $100,000 purse in the sport of dog mushing is a very big deal. This, by purse size, is one of the biggest races in the world,” Basile said. “So I think we're going to see some great competitors competing for a lot of money, and it's going to be exciting.”
Stay tuned…
Basile said that there are a lot of ways to stay engaged with the Bogus Creek 150, including hitting the ice road to watch teams travel upriver.
“This race in particular, and with the way things are on the river right now, it's going to be a really great opportunity for folks to be out there on the trail,” Basile said.
But live action isn’t the only way to experience the race. Fans at home can watch live streams of the start and finish of this year’s Bogus Creek 150 – a partnership between KYUK and the K300.
Tune into KYUK 640 AM for live coverage of the 3 p.m. mass start on Saturday, Feb. 22. Then stay tuned for trail updates throughout the day and for live finish line interviews with mushers in the morning on Sunday, Feb. 23.
