2023 Kuskokwim 300 musher roster

I'm not ashamed to admit that I find this race's roster to be THE roster of the year. It's the strongest group of teams for the entire season, that includes the Quest and Iditarod rosters. Yes, I've said it all year on all platforms: THE KUSKO KNOWS HOW TO PUT ON A DOG RACE, and I feel that EVERY race organization INCLUDING the Iditarod need to start taking classes from the Kusko 300 organization. Everything from the purse, to the PR, to the roster is just FIRE. I am a huge fan.

Now that that is out of my system, let's talk musher roster. We have twenty-one (one very last minute entry happened Wednesday) teams ready to take off down the trail this weekend and they are a who's who of the mushing community both at large and the very healthy Kusko-Delta mushing community. It's a strong mixture of both "road system" and local teams, and even with the late withdrawals of some strong contenders (including Nicolas Petit) it's still anyone's guess who will come out on top.

As always the roster isn't finalized until the bib draw, and so we're going with alphabetical order until we get bib numbers. The blog will be updated once those changes are known. Until then the roster is as follows.

Updated January 27 to reflect bib numbers/starting position.

1 Jessica Klejka (Tailwind Kennel) - Website / Facebook / Instagram
2 Pete Kaiser (Kaiser Racing Kennel) - Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter
3 Isaac Underwood (Underwood Kennel) - can't find any online presence.
4 Brent Sass (Wild and Free Mushing) - Website / Facebook / Instagram
5 John Snyder (Snyder Kennel) - can't find any online presence.
6 Cim Smyth (Perserverance Springs Farm) - Facebook
7 Reese Madden (Amagupiaq) - Facebook / Instagram
8 Matthew Failor (17th Dog/Alaskan Husky Adventures) - Website / Facebook / Instagram
9 Eddie Burke (Alaskan Wildstyle Racing) - Facebook / Instagram
10 Will Rhodes (Mackey's Distance Racing) - Website / Facebook / Instagram
11 Paige Drobny (Squid Acres) - Website / Facebook / Instagram
12 Josh McNeal (Crooked Creek) - Website / Facebook / Instagram
13 Jeffrey Deeter (Black Spruce Kennel) - Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram
14 Dave Turner (Racing Chaos) - Facebook
15 Jason Pavila (Bad River Kennel) - Facebook / Instagram
16 Richie Diehl (Real Diehl Racing) - Facebook
17 Lev Shvarts (Team Ollie) - Website / Facebook 
18 Jacob Witkop (Happy Feet Kennel) - Facebook / Instagram
19 Jackie Larson (Jackie's Racing Kennel) - Facebook
20 Nate DeHaan (Old Friendly Real Diehl Kaiser Dog Farm) - Facebook / Instagram
21 Twyla Elhardt (Old Friendly Dog Farm) - Facebook

So there you have it. Twenty teams ready for the Kusko! Who are you cheering for? Let me know in the comment section below!

If you like what you see and want to support my addiction (I mean HOBBY) of following these races and stalking (I mean cheering on) the mushers, you can buy me a slice of pizza (that really goes to paying for my internet/web expenses).