Anchorage Daily News

Defending champion Martin Buser of Big Lake was among the four former Iditarod champions who left the starting line in Bethel on Friday night, heading up the Kuskokwim River to Akiachak, as Alaska's second richest sled-dog race got underway.

Joining Buser in the 29th edition of the Kuskokwim 300 were four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King, the winningest musher in Kusko history; Jerry Riley of Nenana, a 1976 Iditarod champion; and Mitch Seavey, a 2004 Iditarod winner.

The muscular 22-musher field also includes a pack of mushers who have finished among the Iditarod's top 10:

• DeeDee Jonrowe of Willow, twice the Iditarod runner-up;

• Paul Gebhardt of Kasilof, also a two-time Iditarod runner-up;

• Ed Iten of Kotzebue, with five consecutive top-10 Iditarod finishes, who led the Kusko finishers out of Bethel on Friday night; and

• John Baker of Kotzebue, with nine top-10 finishes in his last 10 Iditarods.

But perhaps the youngest Kusko driver offers the biggest question mark -- Buser's 18-year-old son, Rohn, is back after surprising the mushing world last year with his fourth-place finish on the runners of the Happy Trails Kennel's second team. The performance gained Rohn the race's rookie of the year award.

His finish was, perhaps, the biggest Kusko surprise since 1995, when a little-known 19-year-old from Big Lake, Ramey Smyth, beat four former Iditarod champions to thrust himself into the sport's top echelon, outrunning Iditarod champs Martin Buser, Jeff King, Doug Swingley and Jerry Riley of Nenana.

Smyth has finished as high as fourth in the Iditarod. He too, started from Bethel on Friday night, aiming to reclaim that form from more than a decade ago.

Kusko's $100,000 purse pays $20,000 for first, $15,000 for second and $10,000 for third. The only other race that's entirely in Alaska with a bigger purse is the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Kuskokwim 300

Standings as of 11 p.m., Friday

Out of Akiachak -- 1) Ed Iten, 8:13 p.m.; 2) Jackie Larson, 8:13; 3) Mike Williams Jr., 8:14; 4) Paul Gebhardt, 8:15; 5) Jeff King, 8:17; 6) Mitch Seavey, 8:18; 7) Sebastian Schnuelle, 8:19; 8) Myron Angstman, 8:19; 9) Hugh Neff, 8:23; 10) Dee Dee Jonrowe, 8:23; 11) Jessica Klejka 8:24; 12) Jim Lanier, 20:25; 13) Rohn Buser, 20:25; 14) Dave Decaro 8:27; 15) Gerald Riley 8:29; 16) Martin Buser, 8:35; 17) Mike Williams Sr., 8:42; 18) John Baker, 8:43; 19) David Tresino 8:45; 20) Ramy Smyth, 8:54; 21) Melissa Owens, 8:55; Kyle Belleque 8:58.

Klondike 300 starts today

Although the Kuskokwim 300's hefty purse draws some of the biggest names in mushing, it doesn't mean the Klondike 300 is some ho-hum sled-dog race.

Seven of the 18 mushers racing in the Klondike, which starts at noon today at the Tug Bar off Knik-Goose Bay Road in Knik, are veterans of either the Iditarod or Yukon Quest.

The field includes:

• Wasilla's Ray Redington Jr., winner of the Knik 200 earlier this month and 17th in last year's Iditarod;

• Big Lake's Cim Smyth, who placed a career-best 11th in the 2007 Iditarod; and

• Jason Mackey of Kasilof, who's scheduled to race his second Iditarod in March.

Jason is the younger brother of Fairbanks' Lance Mackey, a three-time Yukon Quest champion and the defending Iditarod champion.

Smyth, 31, is the defending Klondike champion. Last year he beat Two Rivers' Ken Anderson, who's also racing today, by only four minutes and with two fewer dogs. Anderson finished seventh in last year's Iditarod.

Klondike 300 Starters

1) Jason Young; 2) Ray Redington Jr.; 3) Cim Smyth; 4) Jesse Royer; 5) Jason Mackey; 6) Gene Smith; 7) Matt Hayashida; 8) Joe Gans; 9) Anna Berington; 10) Ken Anderson; 11) Karin Hendrickson; 12) Kim Franklin; 13) Elizabeth Parrish; 14) Robert Loveman; 15) Richard Savoyski; 16) Cliff Robertson; 17) Gerry Willowmitzer; 18) Zoya DeNure.

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