AOTW: Pete Kaiser cements himself as ‘King of the Kuskokwim’ with record 10th K300 victory

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Jeff King has been dethroned as ‘The King of the Kuskokwim" by Bethel’s very own Pete Kaiser.

Kaiser, navigated by lead dogs Mookie and Delmer, won a record-breaking 10th Kuskokwim 300 sled dog race last week.

“It was probably the biggest crowd since my first win in 2015,” Kaiser said of crossing the finish line.

King, a 9-time winner, began his stretch of victories in the 1990’s, when Kaiser was just a young pup in Bethel.

“My mom was the race manager in ’94 and ’95 I was just a young kid then,” Kaiser said, whose father also ran the historic race. “We’d always get pulled out of school for K300 day... It has always been a huge week for us in Bethel, it is a huge community event, and we’ve been very much involved in it since I was a little kid.”

King won his last Kuskokwim 300 in 2013, two years before Kaiser won his first and fulfilled a lifelong dream of winning his hometown race.

“I really thought Jeff’s record was unbeatable, it didn’t seem like something that was even close to reaching it was so far out there,” Kaiser said.

After his breakthrough in 2015, Kaiser and company went on to win 10 of the next 12 K300 races, including each of the last five, which is also a record.

“Honestly the run we have been on the last 12 years has been pretty crazy I can’t even explain it to some extent but very fortunate we’ve had the success we’ve had... maybe I can sit back in a rocking chair someday and let it soak in a little more but right it’s super cool.”

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