Saturday, January 16, 2016

Kuskokwim 300

I got a day ahead of myself. The race started last evening and not Thursday! Oh well, so sue me LOL. There are twenty five mushers racing and only three women--unless a gal or two I do not know is using a kind of neuter-gender name. Several who had signed up pulled out for various reasons. That is not unusual or unexpected. As in the case of Michelle Phillips, it is a long way from western Canada to Bethel, Alaska! She may have been unable to get there or decided to wait for the YQ 300 where she will be defending her 2015 title against Aliy and several other good mushers.

Buser Kennel sign and dog yard

Rohn Buser runs team with ATV
Right now, just past the halfway point,  the Kuskokwim leader board shows Brett Sass (last years YQ winner), Pete Kaiser and Martin Buser in the first three places. However there are still nearly 150 miles to race so things can change. The next three are Joar Ulsom (who owns the sire of Quito's 2015 fall litter and is probably racing him),  Rohn Buser, Martin's son, and Jeff King, a winner of both the Iditarod and the Yukon Quest in the past. Any of them could pass a few teams and cross the finish line first. Someone will do so late tomorrow or early Monday. I'm interested in how this plays out even if none of my special faves are running. I did meet Martin and Rohn in August of 2014 and feel they are very serious competitors, good dog men--at least Martin and I am sure he is teaching his son well--and I thoroughly respect Brett, Jeff and Joar, a young Norwegian who is doing well and building a reputation. A note on Martin Buser, he and Deedee Jonrowe are about neck to neck on Iditarod completions but he is a four time winner. They are both institutions in the sled dog racing world.

The Two Rivers 200 and the Northern Lights 300 will be running next weekend. The latter starts at Big Lake, Busers' home base, so I expect they will be involved in some way in it and Two Rivers is a musher community near Fairbanks where SPK and several other significant kennels are located. After that a break until the YQ races begin on February 6.

Mush on and smooth trail to one and all! Hike, hike, hike!

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