by Greg Lincoln
Kwethluk’s Raymond Alexie, who is 19 years old, is the new reigning Bogus Creek 150 Sled Dog Race Champion. He crossed the finish line early Sunday morning to win 27 minutes ahead of his closest challenger. He races with his family’s 20-dog kennel, the Alexie Racing Kennel.
Alexie crossed the finish line at 7:07am on Sunday, January 15th, 2023 with a total elapsed time of 16 hours 7 minutes to win the 35th Bogus Creek 150 continuing his winning streak. It is his third consecutive win in the K300 Race Committee hosted events – he also took first in the Season Opening and the Holiday Classic.
This year the Bogus Creek 150 race featured several past champions – Pete Kaiser (2008, 2022), Richie Diehl (2021), Mike Williams Jr. (2006), Jackie Larson (2007, 2015), Maurice Andrews (2018), and Jason Pavila (2019).
In 2021 Alexie was the Rookie of the Year for this race. He also competed in the Akiak Dash 2019-2022, with Rookie of the Year honors in 2019.
Coming in second place was Bethel’s Pete Kaiser. He finished at 7:34am with a total elapsed time of 16 hours 34 minutes. Team Kaiser arrived into the Bogus Creek halfway checkpoint in the lead. Alexie arrived one minute after.
Alexie took the lead on the way back to Bethel to seal his championship finishing with 10 dogs. In lead harness for Alexie were Apollo and Levi.
Finishing in third place was Richie Diehl of Aniak. In fourth was Jackie Larson of Napaskiak. Fifth finisher was Ron Kaiser of Bethel. All 15 mushers finished the race.
The Bogus Creek 150 Rookie of the Year is 17-year old Colton Napoka of Tuluksak. He crossed the finish line in 13th place. His time was 20 hours, 42 minutes. The Red Lantern Award winner was Henry Napoka of Tuluksak, his total elapsed time was 20 hours, 53 minutes.
The race began with a mass start on the Kuskokwim River in Bethel above the mouth of the small boat harbor. Mushers raced from Bethel on the Kuskokwim, then continuing up the Gweek River. About 20 miles from the start, the trail leaves the Gweek for the overland route towards Tuluksak, crossing the Kuskokwim then passing the village on the Tuluksak River and then on up to the Bogus Creek Checkpoint. There was no checkpoint at Tuluksak.
The race was live streamed via starlink. Streams can be viewed at www.facebook.com/kuskokwim300. All Bogus Creek 150 mushers had GPS trackers during the race. KYUK Radio posted race updates on the airwaves at 640AM.
The 15 teams were awarded a total purse of $60,000, paid to the top 15 finishers.
Next is the 44th running of the Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race which will start on January 27th, 2023 at 6:30pm.
