K300 gears up for delayed start

The Kuskokwim 300 dogsled race will not begin Friday evening as planned as the start has been delayed at least until Saturday. With plenty of snow on the ground as the weather turned warm and rain began to fall created very icy conditions, and race officials were not able to carry out the food drops and staging of race officals in time for the start of the race. The planned start of the race is now Saturday at 3:00 pm. The Pike Lake loop has now been eliminated from this year's race.

There had been reports that Sebastian Schneulle and Dallas Seavey had dropped from the race, but race official Sarah Angstman has indicated during her interview with KYUK this morning that those reports are incorrect. Schneulle has not arrived in Bethel yet, but still plans to race, and all 18 entrants are still planning to race according to Angstman.

Many teams including that of Martin Buser had difficulty traveling from Anchorage to Bethel due to flight delays and cancellations into Bethel due to ice on the runway there. Buser and his dogs were stranded at the Anchorage airport due to the fact that he and the dogs were dropped off there, however Jeff King lent him his dog trailer to move his team to an area out of the wind and driving rain until they could finally catch a flight out. Martin and his team were able to catch a flight out around 1 am Friday on a plane that also carried Jeff King, John Baker, Mitch Seavey and team, and Ken Anderson and team.