Sports

Photos: K300 and Bogus Creek 150 Mushers Race Into the Night

KYUK | By Ben.Matheson

Published January 19, 2018 at 9:15 PM AKST

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Bogus Creek 150 dogs prepare to begin their race in Bethel Friday evening.

Avery Lill / KYUK

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Outfitted with booties on the glare ice, Bogus Creek 150 dogs prepare to begin their race in Bethel Friday evening.

Avery Lill / KYUK

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15 teams are racing in this year's Bogus Creek 150.

Avery Lill / KYUK

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This year's Bogus Creek 150 runs on an alternate trail to Bogus Creek and back to Bethel.

Avery Lill / KYUK

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15 teams are racing in this year's Bogus Creek 150.

Avery Lill / KYUK

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Avery Lill / KYUK

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Young race fans line up to send off 18 teams in the Kuskokwim 300.

Avery Lill / KYUK

The Bogus Creek 150 boasts a $50,000 purse.

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The 2018 Bogus Creek 150 boasts a $50,000 purse.

Avery Lill / KYUK

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The 39th Annual Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race starts on the Charles Family Lake in Bethel on January 19, 2018. Normally the race starts on the Kuskokwim River in front of Bethel but ice is thin this year and there are many open holes due to warm weather mak

Katie Basile / KYUK

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Brent Sass readies his team at the start line of the 39th Annual Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race in Bethel on January 19, 2018. Sass is a three-time K300 finisher and placed second behind Pete Kaiser in 2016 and 2017.

Katie Basile / KYUK

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Andy Angstman and Myron Angstman announce mushers as they move into the chute at the 39th Annual Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race.

Katie Basile / KYUK

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Three-time defending champion and Bethel native, Pete Kaiser, leaves the chute at the start of the Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race in Bethel on January 19, 2018.

Katie Basile / KYUK

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Joar Leifseth Ulsom leaves the chute of the 39th Annual Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race. This is Ulsom's fourth K300.

Katie Basile / KYUK

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Victoria Hardwick of Bethel makes her way to the chute at the start of the Kuskokwim 300. Hardwick is competing in her second K300 sled dog race.

Katie Basile / KYUK

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A young volunteer assists a musher running the Bogus Creek 150 on January 19, 2018.

Katie Basile / KYUK

Fifteen mushers are on the Bogus Creek 150 trail after pulling the snow hook in Bethel to kick off this year's Kuskokwim 300 race weekend.

Leaving from a new start location at the Charles Family Lake near H-Marker Lake, the racers will push through Tuluksak and on to Bogus Creek, where they will rest four hours before an early morning sprint back to Bethel. Following the Bogus Creek 150 field were 18 mushers and their teams leaving Bethel in groups of two for the the 39th running of the Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race.

After drawing the first bib number Thursday, Ray Redington Jr. led the field across the starting line. Teams will face glare ice, narrow trails, and head-on passing on the overland trail to Tuluksak and Bogus Creek. Due to hazardous Kuskokwim River conditions, the race was rerouted off the river. From Bogus Creek, the trail loops back to Bethel and repeats the same course.