Deke along with his kennel partner Jonah Bacon led for most of the race, with commanding runs from the very beginning. They maintained their speed for most of the race, but it proved too much once Phillips decided to kick it into race mode.
Teams will continue to finish throughout the night.
Just like the roster, the club that runs the race is small but mighty. They are all heart and have done well to amp up their social media presence. You'll want to follow their Facebook page if possible, and they'll have trackers up and running. If you don't have multiple screens for this weekend... God bless you. Even with the extra screens it will be a challenge to juggle all the rosters, trackers, and other races.
Hopefully in future years the race schedules will balance out and we'll have more time for a more indepth look at this race, but you're really just reading for the rosters and how to find your favorite teams (and new teams) online.... bib numbers will have to come later but I am told that the roster is in start order.
200 Mile Roster
100 Mile Roster
**Many thanks to Melinda Shore (Mushing Tech) who helped me out with roster info.**
Are you going to tune into the race? Who are you cheering for? Comment with your thoughts and your favorite musher below!
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One of the big problems with postponing a race is that everyone's schedules get discombobulated. There's an almost unspoken rule of sorts between the races that keeps one major race per weekend in the winter. Unfortunately for the Knik (or any race) to postpone meant that they would have to either take from other races or lose teams to other races depending on how each kennel planned their season.
The Knik went from a full roster with a waitlist to now just fifteen teams are listed on the roster. Not a huge deal all things considered with competing with the very popular Kusko 300 set to take off Friday night, and the Two Rivers 100/200. This may be a good chance for newer kennels and b teams to really have a fantastic placement. It's always good to see the "new guys" do well.
The race has gotten lucky weather wise as this appears to be one of the weekends that the area will have normal winter temps for the teams. With highs in the upper teens and the lows forecasted to be just above 0. Perfect temps for the dogs, and for the bundled up spectators. There's no snow forecasted until possibly Monday, which most if not all teams should be finished will before the snow starts (unless it comes early, which hasn't really been the case this year).
With the small roster, it's anyone's game for the top placings, but there are still some well known names in the mix who are probably thought of at the favorites. We'll take a look at who might be the one's to watch, but really they're ALL worth paying attention to!
**Note Fantasy Mushing is only planning to run an Iditarod game this year, no other races, so no need to run over and create a team.**
Who to watch
Brenda Mackey - Let's not pick her just because of her name. While she does come from Champion bloodlines (as do the dogs) Brenda's no slouch when it comes to mushing dogs. While it's a good guess that Knik is being used to train up and evaluate her team ahead of the Iditarod, if things are going well it wouldn't be surprising to see Brenda let the team cut loose and burn up the trail in front of them.
Eddie Burke Jr - Eddie shared his team line up earlier this week and it looks like he's using this more as a training run for a lot of his younger team with this being their first race. Don't be surprised if he doesn't run a super competitive race, but there's something about Eddie that makes you not want to count him out ever.
Dave Turner - Dave's one of those mushers that if he's in the race, there's a good chance he'll be one of the ones to watch. After running in the Copper Basin the Knik should feel like a vacation (temp wise, anyway).
Hunter Keefe - Hunter's back! After having his season last year derail due to a broken leg in the Kusko last year, Keefe is back! It's unsure what Hunter's hoping to do here on the Knik, but he's a fan favorite and is always one of the fun ones to watch.
Robert Redington - It would feel wrong to not have at least one Redington listed as one to watch in the race dedicated to Robert's grandfather, right? It's also another return of sorts for Robert as he's been away from racing for a couple of years (though we did see him at the ceremonial start of the Iditarod this past year running a team to carry an Iditarider after a last minute WD by another musher).
AddieAnn Randall, Isaac Redington, and Talia Martens could all play spoilers with Randall and Redington most likely vying for top junior musher of the Knik. With Emily Robinson aged out of Junior mushing (and running the Kusko this weekend) it's wide open for juniors as to who will be the next top team.
Make sure to check out the full roster so you can cheer for everyone (go like/follow their socials while you're at it).
How to watch
For those of us who cannot watch in person, there will be a lot of refreshing of internet pages, here's a run down on how you can follow along with this weekend's race. (And good luck to us all with how many races there are to keep track of!)
Official Website
The race had to restructure their organization a couple of years ago and is now under the direction of the Knik Iditarod Trail Blazers, so they have just a page on their site for the race, but it has the rules and basic information. They also have a way to follow the times in and out LIVE via a spreadsheet.
GPS Tracker
What would we do without these little trackers that drive us crazy when they go haywire (I will always blame the aliens), and there's hope of trackers at this race, but at publishing time it has not been confirmed. Trackleaders is once again providing all armchair mushers a way to follow the race, you can catch all the tracker action here.
Social Media
The race is most active on Facebook. The race has not been active on Twitter in years.
For live feeds it may be best to follow the official race page and hope for some feeds there. Kale Casey was supposed to cover the Copper Basin this year but had something come up that made him miss out. There's been no posts by race or Kale to say if he would be in Knik this weekend. If he does end up attending the Knik 200, he'll go live on Facebook!
Julia Redington is a photographer who is often at the race.
Schedule of Events
Friday, January 23, 2026
4:00pm-6:00pm Musher's Dinner and Bib Draw
Saturday, January 24, 2026
8:00am Mandatory Vet Check
11:00am Start
Sunday, January 25, 2026
6:00pm Award Banquet
What are your thoughts on this year's Knik 200? Who do you see taking the big prize? Who are you cheering for? Comment below!
And, as always, you can Buy me a slice of pizza to help keep the blog up and running. It's always appreciated but never expected.
That snow was threatened somewhat with a brief warm up with, yes, more rain, but snow returned just days later. And, so, we have the Knik 200 ready to go this weekend. Unfortunately the postponement had the Knik 200 competing for teams with the Kusko 300 and the Two Rivers 100/200 races. A robust roster went down to sixteen names according to the race's facebook page as of January 21.
There are a couple of junior mushers as well as several first time racers on the new roster. Some fan favorites as well. All in all a diverse group of dog teams getting ready to head down the trails of Knik on Saturday. So let's get to what you came for, shall we?
**Note the Fantasy Mushing will not have a Knik 200 tab this year, just an Iditarod one.**
As always, the roster will be updated with bib numbers and start order after the bib draw on Friday.
Joe Redington Sr. is honorary bib #1.
The Kuskokwim-Delta knows how to hold a sled dog race. They have their own "grand prix" of mushing events all winter long with the Kusko being the grand finale (though, okay, they have a few races set for after the Kusko this year).
Last year the race was pushed to February as most of Alaska dealt with obscenely warm temperatures for much of December and January. This year the opposite has been an issue with a crazy cold snap dropping temperatures to nearly -50, forcing the Bogus Creek 150 to reschedule its race in hopes of a warm up.
Mother Nature just likes to keep everyone on their toes it seems. Looking at the projected forecast, teams are in for a windy start with wind gusts of up to 20 miles per hour factoring in a windchill of about -2. The wind will continue through the weekend which will make it a close to 0 average temp for the teams (but man even with the "feels like" temp having wind the whole time can be brutal to the mind).
There are twenty-three teams set for the Friday Night start as of January 20. Teams have traveled most of the day and will continue to arrive Wednesday ahead of musher meetings and vet checks. The Kusko is not on the "road system" so teams that don't live in the area have to fly their teams to the start line. They stay with host families around Bethel and it's just a huge party for all involved.
Of those teams there are some very familiar names, each with a really good chance to push for a win (or close to it). Peter Kaiser will be running to win his tenth Kusko, a huge accomplishment should he Re-PETE yet again, but he will have a lot of teams challenging him. Let's take a look.
**Note: I've confirmed that Fantasy Mushing will NOT have a Kusko tab this year, they will only have Iditarod for 2026.**
Who to Watch
Cody Strathe - The Squids just finished second in the famed "toughest 300 miles in Alaska" known as the Copper Basin 300. His rookie run on the Kusko was last year when he placed third. It will be interesting to see if he does like he did with the Copper and repeat his placement or improve upon it. It would be a very good bet to choose Cody as likely to challenge the reigning champ on the river run.
Emily Robinson - She ran her first Kusko last year and took the Kusko as a training and learning experience. She finished 6th in a very challenging race. Typically by this point in the season Robinson and her team have had at least one race under their belt (normally with a championship trophy to boot). This is her opening race and there's no doubt she'll take what she learned last year and apply it to this year's strategy. If taking it easy in 2025 landed her in 6th, a lot of teams will be keeping an eye out for her this year.
Jeff Deeter - The 2025 Yukon Quest Alaska champ has tasted victory and is no doubt looking to keep riding that success. While his Iditarod last year did not go as planned, Deeter has an upbeat and positive attitude when he comes into a race and that no doubt translates into the team. After taking last year off from the Kusko he's back in one of the races his kennel says they love. Expect a competitive run for Deeter with him taking a chance at the lead if given the opportunity.
Pete Kaiser - The champ is back to defend his title on his home trails. Kaiser may be the most experienced on the roster just because of how he grew up on the Kusko trails. The 2019 Iditarod Champion has focused more on building and supporting mushing in his home region in more recent years, and he's still the King of the Kusko. He'll be running for his 10th win this year and while it's not a for sure outcome, it's a solid bet.
Rohn Buser - One of the other former Kusko Champions, Rohn's won it twice in 2012 and 2014, but it's been just shy of a decade since he took a team down this trail. "Back in the day" he was running teams out of his dad's kennel that they were co-managing/training - now he has his own kennel with his wife with a very successful program. One of those generational mushers that has a lot of success Buser should make a pretty impressive return to the race. His last time running he finished 8th and it could be that he decides to take it easy and ease back into this race, but he's another team that given the opportunity he should push to make a statement.
Ryan Redington - The 2023 Iditarod Champion finished towards the back of the pack last year, and it's not entirely clear what his plans are for this year's race, but you can never count Ryan out. It could be he's working with a newer, younger team than what he had in his Iditarod winning year, making it a rebuilding year, or he could be just testing the waters with Iditarod his main focus. Either way, Ryan in the mix makes things exciting.
Travis Beals - He was third place in 2024, the last time he ran the Kusko. Travis has studied dog mushing his entire life. He's learned from some of the best in the sport. His kennel literally turns heads (what a coincidence that his kennel's name is Turning Heads!) He just became a dad of TWO a few weeks ago, so this may be a celebratory run for him. One things for sure, with a newborn at home, Travis has been practicing that working/mushing on no sleep for weeks - which will help him out this race season.
Wade Marrs - Wade is back! Yeah, he ran last year with a team borrowed from a musher, but this year Marrs is back in Alaska full time and is making the trip with his team. Fans are no doubt to have the former Stump Jumpin (renamed to 49th State Sled Dogs) on their list of one to watch. He was 12th last year, but mostly stays within a top ten finish when he runs the Kusko. Expect him to improve on last year's finish.
Honorable mentions go to Bailey Cross Vitello, Cim Smyth, Mike Williams Jr, and Riley Dyche. Seriously this roster is STACKED. Pete's really gonna have to keep one eye behind him if he wants to win this thing. You can view the whole roster in start order here.
Official Website
The Kusko's website is pretty slick. You can follow all of the races, fundraising and news from their site. It's easy to navigate and they have great musher bios. And this is where you will find those ever important in and out times from the checkpoints. Be sure to check it out.
GPS Tracker
Real time updates will come through the trackers as always. With the cold there may be more glitches than we'd like (blame the aliens!) but there's not much we can do. Cold and technology don't get along. The link for trackleaders hasn't gone live yet, so this will get edited once it does. Once it goes live you should be able to view them here.
Radio Broadcast
KYUK Radio lost their funding this year and as a result cannot do their live broadcasts on the race as they have for years (don't get this blogger started). One of the former radio station employees has been hired by the race, however, to help with their plans to keep everyone as informed and up to date as ever with the race. (They will still give news updates on the race, but the LIVEfeeds seem to be minimal.)
Social Media
Updates will most likely be posted on the race's Facebook page, and possibly their twitter account. Photo updates should come from Instagram. They typically try to have a Facebook live feed. If you are tweeting, instagramming, etc. the traditional hashtag is #K300.
Most mushers have facebook these days, and many of them have someone monitoring and posting to those pages during the race. To find and follow all mushers in this year's race, check out the 2026 Kusko 300 musher roster on this blog where all socials are linked.
Schedule of Events
Wednesday, January 21
Vet Checks
Thursday, January 22
Vet Checks
5pm - Musher Meeting
7pm - Bib Draw
Friday, January 23
8:00pm - Kuskokwim 300 START
8:40pm - FIREWORKS
Saturday, January 24
NOON - Akiak Dash Mass Start
Monday, January 26
6pm - Musher Awards
Did we miss anything? Thoughts on who might take home the prize? Comment below with your thoughts!
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).
