Mitch Seavey wins K300

Mitch Seavey makes it 2 in a row as he won the weather shortened Kuskokwim 300 dogsled race. Seavey pockets the $20,000 purse for 1st place. Martin Buser followed him into the Bethel Alaska finishline 8 minutes later. Buser held a slim 1 minute lead coming into the last checkpoint at Kwethluk 22 miles from the finishline, however Seavey had already closed on the 9 minute lead Buser had on him at the Tuluksak checkpoint 30 miles previous. Jeff King held onto 3rd place as he checked over 4th place finisher John Baker who was racing with a broken elbow suffered before the start of the race.

Once again, weather played a key role in the event. Warm temperatures, rain and very windy conditions caused the start of the race to be delayed twice as mushers and dogs were late in arriving and race officials were late in staging food drops and officials on the course. The course was also shortened by about 50 miles by dropping the Pike Lake loop. Weather conditions were good once the race got underway, however the mostly river based trail had turned to mostly frozen slush or glare ice. A pack of 7 teams stayed in contention for the win through 75% of the race with Seavey and Buser finally separating from the pack for the lead with about 75 miles left. Young Pete Kaiser, a local from Bethel showed great promise by finishing in 6th less then 2 and a half hours behind Seavey.

Mitch Seavey near Aniak