Top ten are into Tuluksak

As of 7:10pm AKST on Saturday, the top ten are into the final checkpoint of Tuluksak and are on their final four hour mandatory rest. From Tuluksak it's roughly a fifty mile sprint to the finish line back in Bethel. There are several bunches within the top ten of teams close together. The final placement is anything but certain for just about any team.

First into Tuluksak Saturday was eight-time Kusko champion Pete Kaiser. The veteran musher arrived at 5:15pm and had the checkpoint all to themselves for just twenty minutes before Riley Dyche and his team of Dark Horse dogs charged in. Dyche is a dark horse in more ways than one, the musher chose last year to leave social media entirely and so no one really knew what to expect as there was almost nothing in the way of training reports on the musher. He ran a couple of races, but it was anyone's guess would Dyche would be doing ahead of Iditarod. Riley bought many of Brent Sass's main team last year when Sass decided to get out of dogs (in Alaska, he's been in Europe running dogs). Riley brought 8 of the Wild and Free dogs with him to the Kusko.

Fifteen minutes after Riley checked in, Cody Strathe was next into the checkpoint. The Squids ate up some time on Dyche. At 6:09pm Mike Williams Jr. made it to Tuluksak. Williams is having a fantastic race and has many fans and mushers statewide cheering him on. One of the local heroes of sorts, Mike is a favorite in any race he enters. Williams' best finish was 2nd in 2011 according to the K300 archives, and he last ran the race in 2019. Hunter Keefe rounds out the top five, coming in just eight minutes behind Willliams. 

At 6:26pm, teen phenom Emily Robinson rode into the checkpoint. Saturday afternoon Robinson crossed the 200 mile mark - the furthest she's ever raced. Sitting now at roughly 226 miles, the junior musher is now in unfamiliar territory. Last year Robinson nervously laughed when reporters asked her if she was ready for Iditarod, she mentioned that 300 miles intimidated her. The teen who didn't seem to be intimidated by Iditarod champions as she ran them down in 100 and 200 mile races was intimidated by 300 miles. Well, this weekend she took that challenge on and she's minutes from cracking the top five. The only teen, only female, and only rookie in this race looks anything but intimidated.

Lev Shvarts is ten minutes behind Robinson to hold the seventh slot. Behind Shvarts came Matt Failor, giving Shvarts a seventeen minute cushion. Sitting in 9th and 10th place are Cim Smyth and Bailey Vitello who came in at the same time. There should be some very close finishes Sunday morning.

First and fifth are separated by just over an hour. Right now Peter Kaiser has the lead, but it's not a fully comfortable one. We've seen the Kusko throw a curveball for the leaders in the final stretch (Failor's win was helped by such curveballs). The top three are not set in stone. And then there are the chase pack just waiting in the wings. Hunter Keefe will have to pull out the stops to keep Emily Robinson behind him. Several teams could easily end up leap frogging in this last sprint.

At the back, Isaac Underwood and Ebbe Pederson are both resting in Kalskag. 

Top 10

Pete Kaiser at 5:15pm - can leave at 9:15pm Saturday
Riley Dyche at 5:35pm - can leave at 9:35pm 
Cody Strathe at 5:50pm - can leave at 9:50pm
Mike Williams Jr at 6:09pm - can leave at 10:08pm
Hunter Keefe at 6:17pm - can leave at 10:16pm
Emily Robinson at 6:26pm - can leave at 10:26pm
Lev Shvarts at 6:36pm - can leave at 10:36pm
Matthew Failor at 6:53pm - can leave at 10:53pm
Cim Smyth at 7:10pm - can leave at 11:10pm
Bailey Vitello at 7:10pm - can leave at 11:10pm

With roughly fifty miles to the finish and Peter Kaiser leaving at 9:15pm Saturday, expect a finish around 2am AKST on Sunday. 

Do you think we're going to see another re-PETE? Do you think we'll see any surprise placements? Who do you think will end up winning the Red Lantern? Comment below with your thoughts!

Kaiser takes the lead!

Saturday afternoon saw a new leader on the Kusko. Somewhere between Kalskag and Tuluksak on the inbound trail, eight-time Kusko Champion Peter Kaiser passed race leader Riley Dyche to take the lead. With just 18 miles to go until the last checkpoint, Kaiser should be tucking his team in for their final mandatory four hour rest around 5:30pm AKST.

Riley Dyche has spent most of the Kusko leading the race (the only time he wasn't first into a checkpoint was when Mike Williams Jr. was first to hit Aniak). Dyche pulled the hook in Kalskag about a minute before Pete came into the checkpoint. His team was coming off a three hour rest and looked strong as they took off down the trail. Still, fans noticed the energy of Kaiser's team and the musher's calm as he signed in and out and followed Dyche out of the checkpoint.

Riley managed to keep a mile or so between he and Pete for several miles before the champion musher managed to overtake him. Teams are required to yield trail to the faster moving team if the musher calls for it (normally with just a loud bellow of "TRAIL!"). Mushers must then allow several miles to pass before they can yell to retake the lead if the teams are still "on top of" one another. One mile from the finishline, however, is considered "No Man's Land" and all bets are off. Yielding trail is not required and can make for an exciting finish (still hoping for a skipole joust into the finish some day).

The chase pack has seen a bit of shake up as some have slingshot ahead of others out of Kalskag. Junior musher Emily Robinson was running around near 8th or 9th Saturday morning coming into Kalskag and has now picked off a few teams and shows on the tracker as currently running with Lev Shvarts bringing her to 5th or 6th place. The teenager is a rooke in this race in more ways than one, it's not just her first Kusko - it's her first 300 mile race. For the Kusko it's the fact that a team hasn't done 300 miles that qualifies them as a rookie, and Emily is the only one who qualifies for that honor this year.

The back of the pack remains unchanged. Current red lantern Ebbe Pederson is into the checkpoint of Aniak at 3:30pm AKST and is currently resting. The musher has planned to take his time in the race, but it's unknown how long he plans to enjoy the hospitality of Aniak.

Kaiser Racing has been giving its usual fantasic updates on the race again this year and put out a quick but informative breakdown of the purse payout. This year everyone's in the money. Highly recommend you give them a read.

If Kaiser and Dyche make it in at the estimated 5:30pm mark they will be able to head for the finish at 9:30pm giving us a potential 2am finish for the winner. Gear up, fans, consider this good training for next month's Iditarod (less than a month away now!)

Who do you have coming into Tuluksak first? Think Emily will make a move and start picking off the leaders? Comment below with your thoughts on the race!

Riley Dyche leads the Kusko

The Dark Horse has dark horsed quite well so far on the Kuskokwim. Riley Dyche and his team blazed up the trail Friday night and into Saturday morning. Dyche currently sits in the checkpoint of Kalskag on the return/inbound trail. He is required to take three hours of rest here to complete his mandatory 6 hour rest for the loop. Dyche isn't alone as Cody Strathe of Squid Acres is also sitting in Kalskag finishing up his mandatory rest, but Dyche has about a half hour lead on Cody.

Dyche took an early lead Friday being the first into the first checkpoint of Tuluksak blowing through that checkpoint and on down the trail. He was then first into the Kalskag outbound checkpoint where he elected to take a three hour rest as part of his mandatory six hour. Dyche was not first out of Kalskag nor was he first into the halfway point of Aniak, but he took the lead when he elected to not stay in Aniak on his arrival and continued on the trail loop back to Kalskag.

Dyche's race plan is similar to the one Strathe chose to run. This is the first Kusko for Strathe, it's Dyche's second. As the two leaders rest, a wave of teams who are fully rested are on their way to the checkpoint. The chase pack include Pete Kaiser, Matt Failor, Hunter Keefe, Mike Williams Jr., Lev Shvarts, and Emily Robinson. Yes, that's right, the junior musher running her first 300 miler is comfortably in the top ten and is fully rested. The teen has done a fantastic job of maintaining her team and sticking with the big dogs.

Also in the chase pack are Cim Smyth and Nicolas Petit both of whom still need to complete their six hour mandatory rest. Smyth looks to need two hours of rest having elected to rest for two hours in Kalskag Outbound and Aniak - Petit looks to have one hour. They are currently running in third and fourth position with about a nine mile (one hour-ish) cushion of the chase pack. Well, at least Cim does. Nic's tracker isn't behaving.

Current red lantern is Ebbe Pederson who planned to run a slower race with a lot of extra rest according to a post by Turning Heads Kennel - who Pederson is running dogs from. He is the only team still on the outbound trail on his way to Aniak. Issac Underwood is the only team currently resting in Aniak.

Judging by the tracker, it looks like Pete Kaiser will hit Kalskag right around the time Riley Dyche should be able to pull the hook and take off from his rest (if the math is correct and we all know how often that happens for this blogger). Kaiser has taken all of his mandatory rest on the loop so he could continue on down the trail, but Dyche's team will have had a three hour break and it could be that Dyche has just timed everything perfectly to keep control of this race.

Don't count any of the chase pack out yet, and especially not Kaiser as these are his home trails. It's going to be an epic race to the finish.

What do you think will happen when the chase pack makes it to Kalskag? Can Dyche and Strathe hold them off? Comment below with your thoughts!

2025 Kuskokwim 300 race preview

 

Someone cue up the chorus from Andy Williams' "It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year", because that's exactly where we are in the mushing season. The Kuskokwim 300 is upon us! 

After having to postpone the race by a couple of weeks due to the insanely warm weather Alaska suffered for most of December and January destroying trail, the Kusko is ready to go. The cold snap that settled on Alaska at the end of January helped stabalize several areas along the river route for the promise of a safe, yet tough, trail.

With much of Alaska still without snow (from Willow to Anchorage and points in between there's ice but very little of the white stuff), the West Coast has finally seen a little bit of snow along with the more normal winter temperatures.

Currently, Accuweather forecasts 20F at the start of the Kusko on Friday with wind gusts of up to 20mph. A tad warmer than last year's frigid Kusko, but the Coastal Winds of Alaska are no joke. For most of the race, teams will run on or along the river before hitting a portage of sorts that is known to be a difficult stretch as the terrain is reminiscent of the Iditarod's "burn" section with exposed tussoks for miles. With all of the river trail, there is always the threat of overflow for the teams (several years ago we saw the finish slow significantly as winds brought warm air and rain that turned the end of the race into an absolute slog). 

The Kusko saw quite a few teams withdraw in the last few days. Some withdrew after the race was postponed because they had other races lined up already for February. Some withdrew as late as Tuesday. With all of the unknowns both with the weather as well as not being able to get all of the training in with lack of trails close to home, it's any wonder the seventeen teams still signed up are still ready to go!

Teams have already made their way to Anchorage to fly out to Bethel with most arrivals scheduled for Wednesday. The Kusko knows how to put on a dog race and it's a full on celebration that rivals the Beargrease and the Scandinavian Races as far as the excitement surrounding it. It's rock concert level. Bethel hosts the start and finish of the Kusko and acts as a major hub for the region. The entire community takes part in the festivities and cheering on the mushers, each team is hosted by a family who offer up their yard for the dogs and their home for the handlers. 

The Kusko is also one of the races that you can create a Fantasy Mushing team (for free) to help bring another element of excitement for armchair mushers as they follow along. So let's take a look at some of the mushers that have a good chance of scoring high for your team. (This year we're doing a top ten because, reasons.)

Who to Watch

Cody Strathe - Did you watch the Copper Basin? You should have. Cody gave eventual winner Jessie Holmes a run for his money. Cody is a late entry to the Kusko roster, and it's a very good guess that it's in large part due to how the team did in the Copper. This team will also be going to the Iditarod in March (a very late addition) with Cody's wife Paige. This could mean that Cody runs a more conservative race, but.... either way he's a great choice for Fantasy Mushing.

Emily Robinson - Originally, Emily was going to be an honorable mention, but as the list of who to watch grew, she made it on the list because we were so close to having a top ten. This teenage phenom is on everyone's "to watch" list. Robinson has proven last year was not a fluke when she took down Iditarod champions in several "grown up races" when she repeated her wins this season. Robinson chose the Kusko over the WillowJr 100 which is also set for this weekend. This will be her first 300 mile race. Last year Robinson made comments stating 300 milers seemed daunting. She's a confident and smart musher (and she's a steal of a deal for Fantasy Mushing). Expect her to run a smart race, but if she's near the front, don't be surprised if she lets loose. (And did we mention that she's the only junior musher running?)

Hunter Keefe - It'd probably be a good guess that Hunter is using this as a training run for Iditarod, but Hunter also tries to keep from being back of the pack. He runs a very strong team out of Raymie Redington's kennel, and they've proven themselves time and again that they can be in the mix. Hunter would be a solid bet for your Fantasy Team, and we're just here to see Hunter have a fantastic Kusko experience!

Jeff King - Is Jeff still the winningest musher in history? Even if King no longer holds that title, he's no slouch. He may be retired from the Iditarod, he's not retired from racing. King also currently holds the most wins on the Kusko with nine championships. Perhaps that has motivated his return to the Kusko, his title is in danger of being tied this year, and perhaps he feels he has a chance to win just that one more. There are few mushers in this race as seasoned as Mr. The King, and it's always a joy to see him and his team of Husky Homesteaders on the trail.

Matthew Failor - He won in 2019, he knows how to run this race, but his focus is most likely on the Iditarod, so if the race proves to be very challenging - physically or mentally - for the dogs he could end up using this as a training run. However, Failor has worked hard to take the title again the last few races, so don't be surprised if he's one of the ones battling the reigning champion to stop him from repeating yet again. 

Nicolas Petit - This is one of the few 300s in Alaska that Nicolas has not won. This is also the first race we've seen Petit run this season. The musher posted to his social media earlier this season that he was "taking a break" from the mid-distance scene this year, except for the Kusko. Everyone loves the Kusko! Petit typically enjoys speed over following a schedule, though he has tried recently to change it up and use strategy. This will be our first real view of Petit's team ahead of Iditarod, one thing to expect is it's going to be anything but predictable with Nic.

Pete Kaiser - The current King of the Kusko, Pete is looking to tie for the most wins this year. The Bethel local who won the Iditarod in 2019 won his 8th Kusko title last year. Kaiser is not signed up for the Iditarod this year, so the Kusko is his big race of 2025. These are his home trails, he has a lot of knowledge of the area, his team is used to the weather and wind. He has the advantage in so many ways, but as we've seen before - anything can happen. (Plus he is a nice guy and gives his competition information on the trails and tips.)

Riley Dyche - Riley's really starting to climb the ranks this season in the mid-distance races. His team is really gelling (though some say it's due to having bought quite a few of Brent Sass's top dogs). This is Dyche's SECOND Kusko (he signed up for the 2022 race but withdrew) his rookie year he ended up in the top ten which for this race can be quite the accomplishment as the roster is typically stacked with the best of the best and is highly competitive. (Many thanks to those that pointed out that he ran last year, an earlier version of this post had Riley listed as a rookie by mistake.)

Ryan Redington - The 2023 Iditarod Champion, multiple time Beargrease champion. If Ryan's in a race, he's most likely running to win (though he blew that out of the water earlier this season during the Knik when he took the puppy team and let one of his handlers run the main team!). There's no sharing with other handlers/team members so expect Ryan to be in this for more than just a training run (though Iditarod is his main focus, no doubt). Ryan, like Petit, likes to run fast right out of the gate and try to get a large gap between him and the rest of the field and hope the gap is enough that no one catches him towards the end.

Wade Marrs - Okay, so Redington isn't "sharing" a team with a handler, but he IS sharing a few (four) dogs with Wade. Marrs is running mainly with dogs from his Stump Jumpin' Kennel, but did post to social media Tuesday night that he would be taking four dogs from Ryan's kennel that he bonded with over the summer doing tours on the Panhandle. Wade would be considered an outside chance for a win, but it's not out of the realm of possibility. We haven't seen much of Wade this season as he's been doing the family thing in the lower 48 waiting for the weather to cooperate for races closer to home.

Now that we know who has the biggest chance of winning the thing, how can we make sure to follow along with the race?

How to Watch

While many of the other mid distance races rely on fan videos and Kale Casey LIVE to cover their races, the Kusko is unique in that the local grade school runs a program where they film the start and finish of the races. They go live on Facebook with race coverage done mainly by the students. It's fantastic and well worth a watch. Last year the students were unable to film due to tech difficulties, so the official facebook page and the radio station took over the duties.

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 will broadcast the start which begins at 8:00pm (start listening at 7:30pm for pre-race info). You can listen to the broadcast online through this link.

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.

KYUK is also plans to post updates on their Facebook page, including Facebook interviews with the mushers from the last week or so.

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 2025 Kusko 300 musher roster on this blog where all socials are linked.

Schedule of Events

Wednesday, February 5
Vet Checks

Thursday, February 6
Vet Checks
5pm - Musher Meeting
7pm - Bib Draw 

​Friday, February 7
8:00pm 1:00pm - Kuskokwim 300 START*
8:40pm 7:30pm- FIREWORKS*

Saturday, February 8
NOON - Akiak Dash Mass Start

Monday, February 9
6pm - Musher Awards

*Schedule changed due to forecasted warm up on Sunday.

Who do you think will cross the finish line first? Who do you expect to beat every expectation? Can Pete Kaiser win his 9th title? How about that Emily Robinson? 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).

Kuskokwim 300 announces postponement

Late Wednesday night the Board of Directors released a statement on their website stating that through a unanimous decision the 2025 Kusko would be postponed by two weeks. Citing a warm and wet winter creating a lack of snow pack for a safe trail and concerns that temperatures were projected to continue to rise throughout the week, officials had no choice.

This announcement did not surprise most fans and locals as most of Alaska has had a serious lack of winter. Fans had an inkling this announcement was coming after another one of the Delta Championship Series, the Holiday Opener, was once again postponed due to rising temps just days before. 

Ironically, the Holiday Opener was able to take place on Thursday just hours after the news broke about the Kusko.

This is the first major race in Alaska to have to postpone. Smaller races have had to postpone or cancel, but races like the Knik 200 and Copper Basin 300 were able to make it work even with lack of snow pack, threats of rain, and overflow. But those races had an abundance of trails to choose from that did not rely on mostly travel by river. The Kuskokwim 300 runs mostly on, well, the Kuskokwim River while visiting several of the KuskoDelta villages. 

"Organizers felt that in light of the bleak forecast, a decision should be made to postpone before teams begin making the costly trip to Bethel early next week," the press release stated. "The Race Committee has been in touch with registered mushers in the days leading up to the decision to postpone and at this time, no racers have indicated an intent to withdraw as a result of the change."

Currently there are twentyfive teams signed up for this year's Kusko. Most notibly affected by this change of date will be junior musher Emily Robinson. Robinson, most fans know, has become something of a legend. The teen wins just about every race she enters and the Kusko is set to be her first three hundred mile race. Not every junior musher is allowed to run this race, their entry is up to race officials and committee to allow. Sure, all teams are under that scrutiny, but junior mushers must show that they are capable of handling a 300 mile race by themselves and care for their team by themselves. Robinson has shown this not just on the junior circut, but by also running (and winning) "adult" races like the Knik 200 the past two seasons. 

The problem for Robinson is that this date change puts the Kusko start on the same day as the Willow Jr 100, a race that Robinson is signed up for. The question will be whether the seventeen year old chooses to forgo a race in her division and race in the more "pro circut-esque" Kuskokiwm 300 which will be her hardest race to date (on paper).

This is not the first time the race has had to move its race dates "last minute". There have been several times in race history that changes had to be made, most notibly in 2021 during the Covid-19 Pandemic when they postponed the race so they could figure out a way to run the race safely while also letting mushers from outside the region attend (they limited the number of teams traveling into Bethel to ten). In the 46 years of Kusko history there has never been an all out cancellation of the race.

To view the full press release you can visit the race's website.

Thoughts on last night's news? Do you believe Emily Robinson will (or should) choose to run the Kusko? Comment below with your thoughts!

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.

Teenager Robinson repeats as Knik 200 champion

In the wee morning hours Sunday Emily Robinson solidified her place in mushing lore as she caught and passed Iditarod Champion Ryan Redington and never looked back. The seventeen year old mushing phenom was second out after the mandatory six hour rest, but had a mere 57 second deficit to make up on Redington. 

A quick look at the tracker history shows that Emily overtook Ryan early Sunday morning, less than an hour after the top two teams left the checkpoint. The teenager and her team held around a two mile lead for most of the morning before kicking it into high gear and ended up with about a four mile lead at the end. 

Emily had just under a twenty minute lead over Ryan who ended up having about twelve minutes over third place Hunter Keefe. Keefe left the checkpoint nine minutes after Redington, so Ryan did gain a couple minutes on the third place finisher. Riley Dyche made up a lot of time on Keefe however which made the third place battle the one that was most exciting. Dyche left ten minutes after Keefe and came in around a minute behind Keefe at the finish. 

The top five was cemented about twenty-one minutes after fourth place when Robert Redington came into finish. Five-ish minutes behind him was Wally Robinson, father to the Knik 200 champ. The dad who joked he wouldn't let his daughter pass him without a bit of a shoving match (dads and their jokes) came very close to the top five.

At this time it looks like six or seven teams are still on the trail. Rohn Buser's tracker died early this morning so he still shows as camping on the trail, but Buser came into the finish in eighth place. It isn't a sled dog race without some tracker shenanigans. Buser's kennel posted Saturday that Rohn was planning on using the Knik 200 as a training run for next weekend's Copper Basin 300.

The Red Lantern seems to be camped on the trail at this point and could either be Chloe Beatty or Leni Stolz. Both teams are camped about halfway in the loop, a strategy they both used on Saturday. Look for a mid-afternoon finish for the final teams to come in.

Emily Robinson's next race will be the Kuskokwim 300 which takes off on January 24, 2025. This will be the first Kusko for the teen.

Thoughts on the outcome of the race? Were you surprised? Excited? Hoping for a different winner? Comment below with your thoughts.

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.

Redington and Robinson poised for a battle for the finish

Teams have begun entering the halfway point of the 2025 Knik 200 race. Ryan Redington, grandson of Iditarod Founder Joe Redington, was first in at 5:26pm with then other teams close behind. Now the teams will take their mandatory six hour plus time differential rest before heading back down the trail to complete a second loop.

A quick look at the times has a late night/early morning "restart" that is all kinds of exciting. The leaders after doing the math look to be Ryan Redington who has just about a minute lead over reigning Knik 200 champion Emily Robinson. Redington will no doubt want to keep as much distance as possible from the teenage phenom, but as most fans know - that won't be easy.

This is starting to feel familiar. In the 2024 Knik 200 Emily Robinson made a name for herself as she ran down and passed 2022 Iditarod Champion Brent Sass just minutes before the finish. The teen went viral on social media when a video of the moment she caught Sass made the rounds, the video famously caught Sass' saying "Son of a B*****!!!" as he realized just how close to losing his lead he was. Robinson went on to dominate every race she entered last season.

This time it's 2023 Iditarod Champion Ryan Redington in the hot seat. It seems Robinson in these "grown up" races enjoys the chase, and there seems to be no intimidation on her part. Her confidence in her team and their ability is evident whenever she pulls the snowhook. If Redington wants to give the teen her first loss in quite a while, he'll have to start fast and keep that pace.

Both teams ran the loop around 6 hours and 10 minutes. Both teams are known for their speed. Emily is known for picking up the pace on the second day of a race. Ryan is known for starting strong and hoping he can gain a large enough gap that should his team start to slow he will hold onto the lead. It works for him in most mid-distance races. 

If all goes well Redington will leave at 11:52pm Saturday night, Robinson will follow one minute later at 11:53pm. Assuming they pick up the pace the finish could somewhere between 5:30am - 6am Alaska time Sunday.

Should someone falter, there are plenty of teams that could possibly take advantage. Hunter Keefe will be eight minutes behind, which will give roughly a mile between the front runners and the chase pack. But a mile can easily be crept up on. Wally Robinson will be next out three minutes behind Hunter (that'll be 11 minutes behind his daughter, the one he joked before race start that he wouldn't let her pass him, that he would push her off her sled if she tried. Dads, amirite?). Rounding out the top five is Ryan's younger brother Robert who will be five minutes behind Wally.

To keep up with all of the in and out times the Knik 200 has graciously shared their times spreadsheet. 

Catch your catnaps now, race fans, it's an early wake up call (for most of us)!

Who do you think will come out on top? Will Ryan come up with the win or is Emily going to once again kick it into gear and run away with the competition? Can Hunter overtake one or both? Comment below with your predicitions and thoughts!

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.  

2025 Knik 200 musher roster

New Year, new season! We've already seen several smaller races happen, some making trails work with limited snow. Other races postponed waiting for colder weather to solidify rivers and lakes to a safe thickness. The unseasonably warm start to winter has all race organizers ringing their hands and doing snow dances. 

The first weekend of 2025 is the Knik 200, which due to the lack of snow and frozen rivers will be a 150 this year. That the Knik is able to be held at all is a bit of a miracle as in other years they would have canceled the race entirely instead of truncating or rerouting. As Wasilla/Knik continue to grow as towns/cities you would think there wouldn't be ample space to change trail, but after a successful Knik 100 in December race organizers figured out a way to make it work this weekend.

With the shortening of the race to 150 it can still be used as an Iditarod and Yukon Quest qualifier, so those who are needing this race to achieve their dreams of the bigger races will not be stuck trying to find an alternative this late in the game. 

There are twenty-one teams currently signed up for the Knik 200 - with space still available according to a recent post on their facebook page - it's nearly a 50/50 split on genders running. There are five junior mushers in the race, including the reigning Knik 200 champion Emily Robinson (yes, she's still "just" a junior). One Iditarod Champion is in the mix with Ryan Redington throwing his hat in the ring. His kennel boasts several teams in the race.

As always, this roster will look slightly different come race day once Musher Bibs are drawn the night before. For now the list is in order of how the race shared it earlier this week. If anything needs changing, shoot me a message and we'll get it fixed!

The honor of Bib #1 this year goes to Terry Langholz.

Bib	Musher	Kennel	Link	Link	Link
2	Emily Krol	Redington Mushing		Facebook	Instagram
3	Olivia Frank	Shameless Huskies		Facebook
4	Hunter Keefe	Redington Mush Alaska	Website	Facebook	Instagram
5	Ebbe Pedersen	Turning Heads Kennel		Facebook	Instagram
6	Kristal Hanson	Owl Creek Kennel		Facebook
7	Mazzy Bailey	Redington Mushing		Facebook	Instagram
8	Robert Redington	Robert Redington		Facebook	Instagram
9	Ryan Redington	Redington Mushing	Website	Facebook
10	Anna Berington	Seeing Double Racing	Website	Facebook	Instagram
11	Isaac Redington	Redington Racing		Facebook
12	Walter Robinson	Robinson Racing Kennel	Website	Facebook	Instagram
13	Kristy Beringon	Seeing Double Racing	Website	Facebook	Instagram
14	Riley Dyche	Dark Horse Sled Dogs	Website	Facebook	Instagram
15	Rohn Buser	Susitna Sled Dog Adventures	Website	Facebook	Instagram
16	Aiden Kosciolek	Redington Mushing		Facebook
17	Emily Robinson	Robinson Racing Kennel	Website	Facebook	Instagram
18	Addy Pederson	Windchill Kennel		Facebook	Instagram
19	Chloe Beatty	AK Sled Dog Tours?		Facebook
20	Travis Beals	Turning Heads Kennel	Website	Facebook	Instagram
21	Eric Kelly	Daybreak Kennel		Facebook	Instagram
22	Leni Stolz	Goldstream Gals		Facebook

*Last edit: January 3, 2025 - organized in bib number order. This is the final roster according to the race.

Who are you excited to see on the roster? Predictions for who comes away with the win? Do you expect Emily to run away with this race as she did in the Knik 100 last month? Comment below with your thoughts!

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. 

Fast trail sees junior mushers take the lead

Twenty-eight teams took off down the trail Saturday morning on the first leg of the Knik 100. By Saturday afternoon the leaders charged back to the starting line finishing their first fifty miles of the stage race. 

Just over a minute and a half separate the top two teams. Junior mushers Isaac Redington and Emily Robinson will battle it out for the win Sunday, but it's far from their race to lose. The top five teams are close together with about thirty seconds to a minute separating each team. Mushers reported a hard and fast trail for Saturday's start with a packed trail with just a small dusting of snow (making the start a slippery one for handlers).

Isaac Redington will be the first team out at 10am Sunday. The junior musher has a 1min37sec lead over reigning Knik 100 champion Emily Robinson. Robinson, of course, is the junior musher everyone has eyes on as her legend has only grown since she hit the trails several years ago. Last year Robinson played with "the big dogs" and has even bigger racing plans this season. Both junior mushers have a long history with the sport with families that have helped grow their knowledge in the sport. Redington, of course, is a fourth generation musher in his family. Redington's team flew out of the start Saturday morning with the junior musher looking very much in control of the team. Likewise, Robinson looked like a seasoned professional dog musher.

While the juniors were battling for first, "old men" Eddie Burke Jr. and Riley Dyche were close behind coming in third and fourth respectively. Burke is just thirty seconds behind Robinson, with Dyche 1min1sec behind him. Ryan Redington rounds out the top five sitting 1min34 seconds behind Dyche.

Unless weather predictions are completely off, the trail should be much the same Sunday. Teams will leave in the order of their first day placement begining at 10am on Knik Lake. Buckle up, fans, the kick off to the season promises to have a very dramatic finish.

To view a full list of results click here.

Kale Casey will try to go live Sunday on his Facebook page.

Junior musher Emily Robinson defeats Iditarod Champion Sass

Emily Robinson with lead dogs Vickie & Urchin 
at the finish of the Knik 200.
Screencap from Kale Casey Livefeed

In a finish very few saw coming, but most hoped for, Junior Musher Emily Robinson was first into the Knik 200 finish line Sunday afternoon. The teen was all smiles as her team ran under the Knik 200 banner and the crowd realized that it wasn't the 2022 Iditarod Champion Brent Sass as expected but the kid who won the race. 

Brent Sass led on the tracker for most of the second loop, having been passed by Emily before coming into the final checkpoint - though he regained the lead shortly after. As the teams came toward Knik Lake it was evident Emily was gaining on the champion team, but was quickly running out of real estate. In her post race interview with Kale Casey the young musher said that it was a foot race to the finish with both mushers "calling up" their team to encourage a little more speed - and Robinson Racing had that speed in the last mile.

The second day of the Knik 200 saw warmer temperatures, winds blew in late Saturday night and with them temps in the low 30s. There were seven scratches by noon Sunday, several due to musher injury and at least one wrong turn. Sunday afternoon saw another scratch, the weather possibly taking its toll as many of the teams were from the interior where training has been in the negative temperatures. Still the top two teams running were also from up north and seemed to handle the conditions just fine.

Ryan Redington who ran the first loop in the lead managed to hold onto third place - a placement not many expected when he took off Saturday morning considering he was running a bunch of young dogs, but after their 100 mile loop he left a few with handlers and took a smaller team into an even more competitive run. The reigning Iditarod champion was enjoying running dogs on a sled instead of an atv and no doubt was proud to see what his little team could do. Wade Marrs, running Ryan's A team, was given the go ahead before the race started to run the team however he wanted - so he ran them conservatively out of respect for wanting to preserve the team for Ryan's racing season.

Teams will continue to come into the finish, but the top six are all in.

It's not often that junior mushers get to run in 200 mile or more races, and in the Knik junior mushers must have completed at least two 150 mile junior races and proven they can handle a team on their own. There were two junior mushers in the Knik 200 field, Robinson and Isaac Redington. Both are signed up to run the Jr. Iditarod next month.

Sass 20 miles from a win, Robinson hot on his heels

In a confusing morning of watching trackers, where backtracking teams made it look like they were speeddemons and winning a race they'd just restarted hours earlier, it seems most are back on track now and it's Brent Sass who leads the Knik 200. The 2022 Champion was first out of the halfway point early this morning, but just seven minutes behind was Jr Champion and superstar Emily Robinson (yes, this blog has become a full on Robinson stan). Robinson has now closed that gap to less than three minutes - and at one point early on in the run to Eagle Quest 2 was leading - with several hours of mushing still to go it isn't a sure deal who will come first.

Fans woke with confusion when they saw Ed Hopkins already heading into the finish with what the tracker said was an over 30 mile lead on Brent and Emily. What many didn't factor in was that the tracker was only going off of what the map was telling it - with a two loop race course - Hopkins turning around nearly 20 miles into the second loop caused all sorts of problems. Not to worry, however, musher and dogs returned to Knik Lake and are now showing as officially scratched. According to Kale Casey an official statement from the race will come later today.

Dave Turner, Josh McNeal, Joshua Ribbons, Matt Failor, Jessi Downy, and Sarah Giles also scratched today. No official statements out of the kennels yet as to official reasons, but with the temperatures above freezing (it's supposed to be a mix of rain and snow today now) it could be that no one is having much fun. Welfare of the team is always first and foremost.

There are still 31 teams out on the trail, and a champion should finish mid afternoon. 

2024 Knik 200 race preview

A full roster that saw a handful of changes nearly right up to bib draw, the Knik 200 will kick off at 10am on Saturday, January 6, 2024. It's a race that boasts a bunch of strong contenders and veterans, a couple of junior mushers, and a host of newer names fans will enjoy getting to know. The season's "opening qualifier" for the bigger races (like Iditarod and the two versions of the Yukon Quest) is always a popular one, and once again it looks to have perfect trail conditions for a race.

In the Twenty-Teens the Knik saw many postponed and canceled races due to lack of snow, this year, however, is another record breaking snow total for the area and earlier races have gone off without a hitch. The Knik 100 happened right before Christmas and was a huge success, and saw the Junior phenom Emily Robinson take the top prize. Emily is now on the roster for the 200 and the older more veteran mushers know better than to count her out. 

The race will leave from Knik Lake before traveling out to Deshka Landing (where there is not a checkpoint set up for teams to stop) before returning to Knik Lake for a six hour layover (plus time differential) before repeating the loop. The first team will leave the starting line at 10am, but teams must be at the starting chute no later than 8am as vet checks will happen at the start of the race. Each team needs to have one handler who can pick up any "return/drop dogs" at either Deshka Landing or the halfway point. They are also to assist the team coming into and leaving the midway point. 

Weather for this weekend looks to be just below freezing with Saturday seeing a high of 32F. Saturday afternoon is forecasted a "light snow" that will turn to heavy snow overnight and through Sunday. Along with the snow and warm temp, winds will steadily increase throughout the weekend. Sunday will see a high of 34F.

The mushers will get all of their race information, ask questions, and draw their bib numbers at the musher's meeting on Friday night at the Broken Boat Bar. This is also the host of the awards banquet on Sunday. 

The Knik 200 is a race run in Memory of longtime Knik community member and Father of the Iditarod Joe Redington Sr. The sport owes a lot to Redington for reigniting the love of dogs and the sport when it seemed mushing was going extinct thanks to the snow machine (snowmobile for you Cheechakos). He is well represented in this race both behind the scenes as well as on the trail as there are several teams of Redington dogs on the trail.

With (as of January 4 at 9pm) thirty nine teams getting ready to head down the trail, there's any number of scenarios that could happen, but let's take a stab at who may push for the top prize shall we? (We're going with an alphabetized list, this blogger isn't crazy enough to guess just who comes in what place.)

Who to Watch

Matthew Failor - The 2019 Kusko champion and new dad, Matt Failor has to be on anyone's top ten list. Matt learned from some of the sport's best and now boasts a very successful kennel full of happy dogs. Mentored by Martin Buser, you can see that influence in the way Matt is always a positive face on the trail. Look for Matt to have a strong run.
 
Brent Sass - The 2022 Iditarod Champion had a not so great end to his season last year when he was forced to scratch on the Yukon due to a dental emergency. The Quest and Iditarod Champion had signed up for several mid-distance races this season before making an announcement around Christmas that he had chosen to stay closer to home instead of traveling. Sass says the trails around his home in Eureka are prime training and so the Knik 200 is the only race not named Quest or Iditarod he plans to run this season. 

Amanda Otto - Remember when Amanda almost ran down Brent Sass on the final leg of the Yukon Quest Alaska last year? Yeah, she made a monster run look easy and gained a whole lot of respect from fans and mushers. While she's training young dogs don't expect her to not make things exciting this season. She could use the Knik as a way to stretch their legs, or she could be coming out of the gate ready to compete. Either way, you Otto count on Otto.

Wade Marrs - With no snow in the Midwest where Marrs now calls home with his wife and two kiddos and kennel of dogs, Wade traveled with Ryan Redington to Alaska this past week to run in the Knik 200. Marrs is reportedly running Redington's A-Team so that Ryan can focus on working with his puppy team. Marrs and Redington have both shared the excitement of getting to mush on a sled behind dogs and not use an ATV. Because Marrs has the reigning Iditarod Champ's A team in this race, we're looking for Marrs to have the better odds of pushing for a top finish.

Dave Turner - If you've followed this blog a while you know we can't have a race with Dave Turner on the roster and not have his name in the mix for the top dawg. Turner has a good track record in mid-distance races, and even a few wins. Turner could prove to be the spoiler once again.

Nicolas Petit - The "king of the mid-distance" will start off fast and hope he stays fast. Petit likes to let the dogs pick the pace and race schedule most of the time, which works well in the 200 and 300 mile races. The musher is well known for his quirky attitude - often aloof - as well as some of his mishaps (like his many wrong turns over the years). He calls himself dad and the dogs are his kids. Expect much the same this season.

Eddie Burke Jr. - Speaking of new dad, Eddie has a brand spankin' new daughter as of Friday morning. The reigning Knik 200 champion still plans to race this weekend saying "she gave me permission, but I have to win." No doubt he'll be riding high on the excitement of the new bundle, but that may prove a distraction. Burke has also gone from working with Aaron Burmeister's kennel to running a kennel of his own with dogs bought from several mushers. The Iditarod Rookie of the Year has won this weekend either way. 

Emily Robinson - The Junior Mushing Phenom is at it again this season already having won the Knik 100 race against some of these same teams just last month. Emily seems completely unfazed running with the big dogs, having done so several times last season along with winning junior race after junior race. This IS her "biggest race" to date, and with the tad longer trail length it could offer her a challenge. Look for Emily to once again make sure she is a force to reckon with. 

Michelle Phillips - Michelle is one of the top female mushers in the sport, she was very competitive in last year's Knik 200 and there's no indication she won't be again this year. Look for Michelle to start out strong and challenge for the front and stay there.

Travis Beals - The third "new dad" on the list is also running on trails he's recently moved to (within the last year) so they are quickly becoming "home trails". He'll most likely use this as a training run, but if everything is working well he could easily contend for a top spot.

**Not ignoring Ryan Redington, but with his plan being to train the puppy team, it's safe to assume he won't be pushing for the win - look for Wade Marrs with Ryan's A team to try to pull the win off.

Be sure to check out the full roster and follow all of the teams along the way.

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.

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 (I know there's a group of my readers who LOVE a good 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), trackleaders.com will once again keep us obsessively refreshing our screen with their wonderful GPS map. The 2024 map and trackers can be found here.

Social Media
The race is most active on Facebook. The race has not been active on Twitter in years. There's also no Instagram. 

For live feeds I'm told the hope is Kale Casey will be on Knik Lake - though he was due to fly to Alaska Friday. If he is there he'll go live on Facebook!

Schedule of Events

Friday, January 5, 2024
4:00pm-6:00pm Musher's Dinner and Bib Draw

Saturday, January 6, 2024
8:00am Mandatory Vet Check
10:00am Start
**Teams will start on Knik Lake**

Sunday, January 7, 2024
6:00pm Award Banquet

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.