Frigid temperatures and dangerously low wind chills forced the race committee of the Kuskokwim 300 to postpone the first in a series of races.
The Holiday Classic in Bethel, a 50-mile, eight-dog race with a $10,000 purse that was scheduled for last weekend, will take place this weekend.
The Kusko 300, the 300-mile race up and down the Kuskokwim River, is set to begin Jan. 21 at 6:30 p.m. Eleven mushers have signed up, including four-time Iditarod champion Martin Buser of Big Lake and young Josh Cadzow, a 23-year-old from Fort Yukon who was the Yukon Quest rookie of the year with a seventh-place finish in February.
The world's richest middle-distance race, the K-300 pays the winner at least $20,000. Racers earn paychecks down to the 20th-place finisher, who goes home with $1,600.
Buser last won in 2007. The winningest musher in K-300 history, eight-time champ Jeff King of Denali Park, has retired from competitive racing.
The defending champion is John Baker of Kotzebue, who has yet to enter.
Anchorage Daily News
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Alaska Dispatch Publishing