The 38th annual Bogus Creek 150 sled dog race will take place this Saturday, Feb 14. Originally scheduled for early January, the race was postponed due to dangerously cold wind chills. Now, it’s shaping up to be a snowy trail and comfortable temperatures for spectating.
Spectators can watch from the start line out on the Kuskokwim River ice outside of Bethel’s small boat harbor on Feb. 14 at 5:00 p.m.
KYUK’s Samantha Watson spoke with Kuskokwim 300 (K300) Race Manager Paul Basile about what to expect about the upcoming race.
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
KYUK (Samantha Watson): Thank you for joining me, Paul.
Paul Basile: Thank you, Sam. Happy to be here as always.
KYUK: So we have another Bogus Creek [150], coming up this coming weekend, and I know this is, like last year and like many years in the past, kind of a reschedule. I feel like this weekend there's a lot more snow on the trail than we've had, you know, in the weeks leading up. Could you tell me a little bit about how you're looking at this race and the conditions going into it?
Basile: It's been a pretty interesting week of weather, certainly. You know, we had that freezing rain last week that kind of put a damper on things. So it's, it's, in that sense, it's very nice to see all the snow we're getting this week, but it's kind of a lot of snow all at once for us, and more forecast for today. And so it's, you know, likely going to be a pretty slow race, and we'll have a little bit of a challenge tomorrow getting trail broken once the snow moves out. But, you know, we're, we can't complain about snow out here, so we're just gonna go be happy about it and have a race.
KYUK: I know every race there's a different set of challenges with the conditions at play. But yeah, just very different than, I know, the original Bogus [Creek 150] was postponed because of, like, we were kind of in that negative 30 [degrees Fahrenheit] wind gust snap time, which feels like just so different than, I mean, not terribly different.
Basile: Looking out the window here, it looks awfully similar. But yeah, you know, sometimes when we postpone a race we don't actually know if it's going to be better the next time around. And certainly it's shaping up to be the case that this is going to be a better weekend for a race than the originally scheduled dates.
KYUK: Yeah, and you know, because this was a reschedule, there was a solidified roster before. Is that roster looking pretty true to who's going to be on the trail this weekend, in terms of numbers and participation?
Basile: Yeah, you know, a lot of the same teams. There's been a couple changes in driver. For example, Jim George is racing instead of Darren George. Michael Larson is racing instead of Raymond Alexie for the Alexie Racing Kennel. But you know, by and large, it's mainly the same, same set of mushers.
KYUK: And for folks who maybe don't know so much about the Bogus [Creek 150], like, I feel like, in my mind, it kind of sticks out as, like, a special race because of the distance. But then also, you know, getting into [the Bogus Creek Checkpoint] and what camp is like there. Can you paint a little bit of a picture when you're describing this race, like, how it's maybe different from its siblings on the schedule?
Basile: Yeah. I mean, I think even beyond our races, it's a pretty unique event. So the Bogus Creek Checkpoint, of course, is at a remote camp on Bogus Creek above Tuluksak. And so we have a bunch of volunteers go and set up shop there for 36 hours, or however long they're there. And, yeah, it's, it's unique in that way that, you know, there's a checkpoint, but there's no facilities. There's not a school or a community hall where people can set up shop. And another thing that makes this race unique is that it's a handler race. Every musher is required to have at least one handler, but typically they have a few helpers, and so there ends up being a lot of people up there at the checkpoint, mushers and volunteers and handlers, all setting up these quick camps, and spending four hours there, and then coming home. And so that's most of our races. Either there's, they're short enough that there's no checkpoint, or, when it comes to the K300, racers are not allowed to have any outside assistance. So this, you know, is kind of a unique one in that way.
KYUK: Well, Paul, where can folks catch the start line, how can people spectate?
Basile: The start line will be in the spot where we start most of our races, which is on the river near the small boat harbor, just slightly upriver from that spot. Folks who can't be in there in person, of course, can tune into the livestream on Facebook or YouTube. We'll have GPS trackers and leaderboard updates at K300.org. And, yeah, I hope you know, hope, if weather plays out the way we hope, I hope to see a lot of people on the trail enjoying the race in person.
KYUK: Wonderful. Well, thanks so much Paul.
Basile: Thank you.
You can also keep up with the race action by tuning in to KYUK 640AM. Join us for live pre-race coverage Saturday at 4:30 p.m., followed by hourly updates 6 minutes after the hour Saturday night. And catch the livestream for the start and finish at kyuk.org, on our Facebook, and channel 15.4. You can also follow along on the race’s online GPS tracker, which will be pinned to the top of KYUK’s web page.
