Yukon Quest champion and 2016 Kuskokwim 300 runner-up Brent Sass is the first musher out of Aniak on the trail back downriver to Kalskag in the 2017 Kuskokwim 300. Sass blew through the checkpoint at 1:17 p.m. Saturday afternoon. He was followed five minutes later by Jessie Holmes, who arrived first into the checkpoint after racing at the front of the 20-team field since it began Friday night in Bethel.
Ray Redington Jr. passed through at 1:56 p.m. Two-time defending champion Pete Kaiser arrived in the fourth position at 2:01 p.m. He, however, banked an extra hour of rest for his team in Kalskag that the three mushers in front of him still must take and had the speediest run from Kalskag to Aniak by 24 minutes. KYUK's Adrian Wagner spoke with Kaiser at the Aniak checkpoint Saturday afternoon:
Teams must rest a total of six hours in the outbound or inbound Kalskag stops and Aniak. The start time differential will be adjusted there, prior to racing downriver towards the final mandatory four-hour break in Tuluksak.
Richie Diehl was 6th to depart from his hometown checkpoint and spoke with KYUK in the checkpoint before he set off down the trail.
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