LATEST PRESS RELEASES:January 29, 2016 For the fourth time in five years, the purse for the Kuskokwim 300, Bogus Creek 150 and Akiak Dash will all be raised! The purse for the 2017 K300 will now exceed a record breaking $150,000. The Committee is also increasing the number of payouts to the first 25 places. In addition to raising the purses for the three marque races, the K300 will also be raising the purses for all 2017 local races including the Holiday Classic, the 100 Mile Challenge, the February 50 and the Camp-Out Race. The 38th Annual Kuskokwim 300 will begin on January 20, 2017. Purse breakdowns by position will be officially released later this year. For any questions regarding this or any other press release please contact K300 Race Manager Zach Fansler at 907.545.3300. January 21, 2016 PRESS RELEASE The Kuskokwim 300 Race Committee has announced a time penalty for racer Martin Buser which will drop his finish place to 21st in the final standings. Buser will receive a 12-hour time penalty for a series of events that happened during the recently completed race. The primary violation was leaving the race trail and making an insufficient effort to return to the trail. This happened a few miles outside of Kalskag on the Whitefish Loop portion of the trail. The tracking device carried by Buser, which still shows his route on the race website, reveals that Buser missed a recently marked trail which went straight ahead on a lake. Instead he took a right turn despite a large number of markers showing the correct route. The correct trail was a new portion of trail put in to avoid hazardous trail conditions on the old trail, including open water and thin ice. Buser took the old trail, despite pre-race warnings about the risk. He was the only racer to do so. Within a mile the old trail dropped through a chute in the willows to Rusty Creek. At that point Buser took a right turn on a narrow creek. Less than five minutes later, he turned around and went the other direction on Rusty Creek, passing closely by the chute which he had descended only minutes earlier and which would have returned him to the race trail. He then proceeded along the creek until he eventually found the Kuskokwim River and made his way to Kalskag. While still some distance from Kalskag he was met by a representative of the race who told him he needed to return to the trail, which he said he would not do. Later he told two race officials he expected to be penalized for his violation and would accept whatever penalty was given. During his time off the trail a volunteer on snow machine looked for him but was unable to find him; and that volunteer put himself at risk traveling at night in hazardous areas. The other violation was reported by fellow racers and observed by a race official. That offense involved Buser allowing other people to assist with feeding his dogs at a checkpoint. No help is allowed under race rules. Two race officials and seven board members participated in the process of determining the appropriate penalty. The fact that Buser had previously been involved in two incidents of leaving the trail was also taken into consideration. The first involved taking a shortcut several years ago before the advent of the tracker; no action was taken by the race. The second event occurred last year and involved the same shortcut; Buser received a small fine for that infraction. Before this year’s race all racers were warned by Race Marshall Nels Alexie to stay on the trail or face serious consequences. The board determined that Buser placed himself and others at risk by leaving and making little effort to rejoin the trail. Buser stated publically that he searched hard for the correct trail, but the digital record shows his speed and direction of travel and establishes that he turned around only once (described above). Other than the turnaround, the tracker shows his speed to be consistent. All other racers remained on the trail at that location and many confirmed the presence of extra markers at the location where the old trail diverted. Buser admitted that he had a GPS with him and used it during this off trail event. As for the feeding incident, the Committee decided that in addition to being a violation of the rules, it placed the race at risk of liability with children providing snacks to dogs at close range. The penalty drops Buser from the prize money, moving him from 14th place and $3700 to 21st place; out of the money and in last place. ________________________________________________________ The current field for the 2015 Kuskokwim 300 is now up to 31 mushers, with the latest additions of Cim Smyth of Big Lake and Donald Towarak of Unalakleet. The following is the current list of competitors, in order of registration. For more information on each of these mushers, please visit oldsite.k300.org.
____________ The K300 Race Committee is pleased to announce the official race payouts for the 2015 K300, Bogus Creek 150 and Akiak Dash. In the process of coming up with rounded payout numbers, the race committee has once again raised its purse for the 2015 Kuskokwim 300, Bogus Creek 150, and Akiak Dash, with the champion of the 2015 K300 receiving $25,000! The total purse for the K300 will be $123,300; the Bogus Creek 150 purse will be $30,300; and the Akiak Dash purse will be $12,900. The following is the complete breakdown of payouts for each race. K-300 Place Prize Money
Bogus Creek 150 Place Prize Money Akiak Dash Place Prize Money _____________ December K300 Race Dates Change The K300 Race Committee has decided to move back the Holday Classic and 100-Mile Challenge. This change is made in part due to the lack of training opportunities for local teams during the month of November as well as the continued freezing of the river and development of the trails. The Holiday Classic is now scheduled for December 27th at 11AM and the 100-Mile Challenge is tentatively scheduled for January 3rd at a time to be announced. For more information, please contact Race Manager Zach Fansler at 907.545.3300 or visit our website oldsite.k300.org ______________ Dog Food and Bird Seed for Sale! Are you looking for some dog food or bird seed? If so you are in luck! The K300 is selling 40 pound bags of Prism dog food for $60 and 25 pound bags of bird seed for $40. For more information or to purchase, please contact Race Manager Zach Fansler at 907.545.3300. _______________ New K300 Merchandise Booth Location! Come visit the new K300 Merchandise Booth in the Alaska Commercial Store! The Booth has moved to the new section of the store and will be located next to GCI and AVEC. Join us as we celebrate our 36th year and our new location with our new merchandise for the 2015 racing season! _______________ New 2015 Merchandise – NOW AVAILABLE! Starting at the Fourth of July Fair, the K300 Race Committee will begin selling the brand new 2015 merchandise. Adult short-sleeve t-shirts, long-sleeve t-shirts and Hoodies are available for $25, $30 and $40 respectively. Childrens short-sleeve t-shirts and hoodies are availabe for $20 and $35. Merchandise is available at the K300 Merchandise Booth in the AC Store and also during most Saturday markets at the Cultural Center. The new logo was designed by Thurman Jack. For his submission Thurman wins a free 2015 t-shirt and receives $100! For more information on colors and sizes please stay tuned to our facebook page or contact Race Manager Zach Fansler at 545.3300. |