Kwethluk Dog Mushers hosts weekend races

by Greg Lincoln

The Kwethluk Dog Mushers Association hosted two days of dog mushing last weekend on Friday and Saturday, February 16-17, 2024. Winning the two-day event was hometown musher Raymond Alexie. His total elapsed time was 3:00:14. He won $4500 for his first place finish.

Eighteen mushers from Akiachak, Akiak, Bethel, Kwethluk, and Tuluksak participated in the event.

Runner up was Darren George of Akiachak. His total time was 3:03:08. In third was Ataat Henry also of Akiachak. He posted a total elapsed time of 3:05:52.

On the second day of the race, Saturday, mushers began the race in reverse order with the musher with the final finishing time from the previous day starting out first, and so forth.

On Friday Raymond Alexie had the fastest finishing time of 1:26:36. Darren George and Tory Fitzpatrick were next in second and third position. On the second day, Mike Williams Jr. had the fastest time, 1:25:12. Second fastest was Darren George. Coming in third on day 2 was Jason Pavila of Kwethluk.

Winning the red lantern award was Solomon Olick of Kwethluk.

The total race purse was $21,400 dispersed to the top 15 finishers. Other events were also hosted by Kwethluk Search and Rescue during that weekend.