23 teams are on the trail

8pm on the dot teams began leaving the starting chute with the help of snowmachines playing the part of tag sleds at the start of the 45th Kuskokwim 300. Some of the state's top teams along with local heroes are on their way dealing with hard, icy trails and frigid temperatures. 

The bright side of the start was that the predicted winds seemed to stay away and so the fans stood in -20F temps and not -40. With the cold snap the river froze over solid making for a safe trek into the Kusko Delta for the teams (and cars could once again park along the trail to wish the teams well.

Joe Taylor and Pete Kaiser were first out of the chute with Kaiser leaving no doubt he was going to run an aggressive race on his home turf - taking the very early lead. The final team of Travis Beals - who chose Bib #23 in honor of the late Paul Gebhardt who passed away late last year after a long battle with cancer - bookended a roster of highly competitive teams.

Kale Casey Live reported that at some point in the start two dogs seemed to break off the line and were running without a team down the trail - it was uncertain whose dogs they are. Most likely they pups were connected to the team until another dog or two chewed their tuglines. No report yet on which dogs they were or if they've been caught.

With the icy fast first leg of the trail teams are flying up the river and will likely get into the first checkpoint sometime after Midnight. At last glance it appears Kaiser's tracker stopped reporting about 25 minutes ago, he had about a mile and a half lead on the next teams before his tracker went dark. Dang aliens.

You can follow all of the tracker action here.