Kuskokwim 300 

A three hundred mile sled dog race from Bethel, Alaska to Aniak, Alaska and back.

Kuskokwim 300 | Bogus Creek 150 | Akiak Dash | Other Races and Events

History of the Kuskokwim 300

Before snow machines and telephones arrived, the method of communication for residents of the Kuskokwim Delta was via dog team mail delivery.  The runs were long and often treacherous.  Historians can find mention of the first mail runs within a few months of the arrival of the first Moravian missionaries to what is now Bethel.  The first regular monthly mail route was between Bethel and Holy Cross and began in 1906 when Oscar Samuelson moved from Nushagak to Napaskiak and acquired the mail route contract.  Each month, Samuelson would go to Akiachak then turn north across the tundra to Holy Cross.  The Kuskokwim 300, which commemorates this early mail route, began in the summer of 1979 when Bethel mushers gathered to discuss the possibility of  hosting a mid distance dog race.

As the start of the 1980 inaugural race approached, the weather took a turn for the worse.  Low temperatures and blizzard conditions forced the wind-chill factor to 100 degrees below zero for the first 36 hours of the race.  That was followed by a freakish thaw that brought freezing rain and slushy trails for the second half.  The storm and close finish of the first three mushers -Rick Swenson, Susan Butcher and Joe Redington- set the tone for future races.

Over the course of  twenty-five years, the K-300 has become the highest regarded mid-distance dog sled race in the world.  The race annually attracts the top mushers in the world.   Usually over half of the top ten finishers of the Iditarod in March will have run the K-300 in January.  In 2006, 10 of the top 15 Iditarod finishers from the year before came to Bethel to compete.  The K-300 puts up the largest purse for a 300 mile sled dog race in the world- $100,000 with $20,000 going to the first place musher.  The race also gives competitors a good "tune-up" run 5 to 6 weeks before the Iditarod.

The K-300 is not the only show in town during the K-300 weekend.  The Kuskokwim 300 Race Committee also hosts the Bogus Creek 150 and Akiak Dash, two smaller races.   During race weekend Bethel will play host to between 50 to 60 mushers and hundreds of sled dogs running these three races.