Update: Travis Beals and Matt Failor have left the Aniak checkpoint. Beals was the seventh musher to arrive at the Aniak checkpoint and left at 11:08 a.m. after only a 29 minute layover. Matt Failor was the sixth musher to arrive at the Aniak checkpoint and left at 11:33 a.m. after a one-hour layover.
The first mushers have reached Aniak, the midway checkpoint of the 2022 Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race. Local mushers are leading the pack across a trail that the mushers are describing as hard-packed and windy.
Fr. Alexander Larson of Napaskiak reached Aniak first. Larson reported that he kept his brakes on from Bethel to Tuluksak because of the hard-packed trail. Larson had considered withdrawing from the K300 because two weeks of rain in December 2021 kept him and his team from training. Larson is the only musher who started the race with 10 dogs rather than the allowed 12 after a few of his dogs got injured on a long, last-minute training run. He’s coming off a fourth place finish in his rookie 2021 K300.
Following Larson into the midway checkpoint was reigning K300 champion Richie Diehl of Aniak. Before the race, Diehl said that the only thing he regretted about last year’s race was that he didn’t have the chance to bring his winning team through his hometown since last year’s K300 course took an alternate route.
Right on Diehl’s heels into Aniak was his buddy, five-time K300 champion and 2019 Iditarod Champion Pete Kaiser of Bethel. Kaiser started the race in the last starting position, saying in an interview in the Kalskag checkpoint that he wanted to avoid being caught up in the middle of the pack early in the race. After hanging back early along the trail, he shot through the pack between Tuluksak and Kalskag.
K300 rookie Jason Pavila, 18, of Kwethluk reached Aniak fourth, but he may technically be in the lead. He was the first one to reach the Kalskag checkpoint. He took a three-hour layover there as opposed to Larson, Kaiser, and Diehl, who took a two-hour layover in Kalskag. Mushers are required to take a total of six hours rest between Kalskag and Aniak. Pavila also holds the fastest average speed of any team throughout the race so far at 10.5 miles per hour.
Former 2018 Iditarod Champion Joar Leifseth-Ulsom was the fifth musher into Aniak. He is hunting his first K300 win. He is a member of a group text called “Kusko Champs and Joar” with Diehl, Kaiser, and Failor, who are all K300 champions.
- Fr. Alexander Larson reached Aniak at 9:29 a.m. with 10 dogs. He took two hours of rest in Kalskag, and intends to take four hours of rest in Aniak.
- Richie Diehl reached Aniak at 9:35 a.m. with 11 dogs. He took two hours of rest in Kalskag, and intends to take four hours of rest in Aniak.
- Pete Kaiser reached Aniak at 9:37 with 12 dogs. He took two hours of rest in Kalskag, and intends to take four hours of rest in Aniak.
- Jason Pavila reached Aniak at 10:08 a.m. with 12 dogs. He took three hours of rest in Kalskag, and intends to take two hours of rest in Aniak.
- Joar Leifseth-Ulsom reached Aniak at 10:09 a.m. with 12 dogs. He took two hours of rest in Kalskag, and intends to take four hours of rest in Aniak.
- Matt Failor reached Aniak at 10:33 a.m. with 12 dogs. He took three hours of rest in Kalskag, and intends to take one hour of rest in Aniak.
- Travis Beals reached Aniak at 10:49 a.m. with 12 dogs. He took three hours of rest in Kalskag, and took less than one hour of rest in Aniak.
- Gabe Dunham reached Aniak at 10:54 a.m. with 12 dogs. She took three hours of rest in Kalskag, and intends to take one hour of rest in Aniak.
- Sam Brewer reached Aniak at 11:06 a.m. with 12 dogs. He took three hours of rest in Kalskag, and intends to take three hours of rest in Aniak.
