Sports

K300 mushers, fans, and volunteers packed themselves into Bethel’s cultural center on Monday night for the 2018 banquet and awards ceremony.

On Sunday night, Mike Williams Jr. finished the 2018 Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race in seventh place.

For the first time in the race’s history, the Kuskokwim 300 did not have checkpoints in Kalskag or Aniak. That’s left some Aniak residents disappointed, and more than a little surprised.

Aniak musher Isaac Underwood won the K300’s coveted Red Lantern prize this year, coming in last and finishing 12th with a time of 63 hours and 4 minutes.

The Kuskokwim 300 is always a tough race, and this year was no exception. Wary of the uncountable open holes on the rivers, organizers rerouted the trail only days before the competition. After running their dogs through brutal glare ice, a third of this weekend's competition scratched. For the mushers who did complete the 2018 K300, the course was grueling and exhilarating. A small army of local families and volunteers helped them along the way.

Pete Kaiser won his fourth consecutive Kuskokwim 300 title Sunday morning, arriving in Bethel shortly after 9:00 a.m. With the victory, Kaiser did what no other musher has done in 39 years: win four straight victories. Joar Leifseth Ulsom arrived in second place, while nine-time champion Jeff King was expected in third place.

As the race loops through Bogus Creek for the second and final time, three-time defending Kuskokwim 300 champion Pete Kaiser is getting into position to earn a fourth title. He was the first musher to leave the Tuluksak checkpoint Saturday night for the final run through Bogus Creek and back to Tuluksak for four hours of mandatory rest.

A total of four mushers have scratched from the 2018 Kuskokwim 300.

Watch KYUK exclusive interviews with the top three finishers of the Bogus Creek 150.

Kuskokwim 300 musher Brent Sass scratched from the race at the midway Bethel checkpoint. Sass says that his dogs were slipping and sliding on the glare ice, and he had to carry three dogs into the checkpoint following a rough night on the trail.