Larson of Napaskiak wins February 50

February 17, 2022 Sports Comments Off on Larson of Napaskiak wins February 50
Jackie Larson of PKA is the winner of the Feb 50 Sled Dog Sprint Race. His trusty leaders are Noon and Holland.
photo by Greg Lincoln

Jackie Larson of Napaskiak has won another sprint dog race! He mushed his team of eight dogs into the finish area in first place in the February 50 Sled Dog Race in Bethel, Alaska. The race is sponsored by the Kuskokwim 300 Race Committee.

Nineteen teams participated in the event.

The February 50 started at 11am on Saturday, February 12th, 2022 near the small boat harbor with teams lined up for a mass start. The routing followed the K300 trail up the Kuskokwim, to the Gweek River. Mushers continued on the Gweek as far as the beginning of the Yukon Trail. Once up the bank they turned left to cut across the tundra to “Rocky’s Trail” heading back towards Bethel. North of Bethel, mushers will leave “Rocky’s” to make their way back to the river, descending back onto the Kuskokwim near Schwalbe Island, then racing for the finish.

The race has a purse of $20,000. Larson mushing his team from his family’s LJ Kennel wins the top prize of $2,700. He finished at 2:49pm in 3 hours 49 minutes.

Coming in second was 18-year old Raymond Alexie of Kwethluk mushing his team from his family’s Alexie Family Kennel. He arrived at 3:16pm. Jim George of Akiachak/Kwethluk came in 3rd and Matt Scott in 4th nine seconds behind him at 3:22pm. Bringing home the team in 19th place was Gabby Heistand Salgado, she won the Red Lantern Award.

Jackie Larson is also the champion of the 2022 Akiak Dash held last month during K300 weekend, January 29th, 2022.

It was a nice day for a race and snow began falling for a while right before the mushers started arriving. Congratulations to all the teams!

2022 February 50 Sled Dog

Race Results February 12, 2022

Place/Musher Elapsed Time Prize

1 Jackie Larson 3:49:00 $2,700

2 Raymond Alexie 4:16:00 $2,450

3 Jim George 4:22:29 $2,250

4 Matt Scott 4:22:38 $2,050

5 Jason Pavila 4:30:00 $1,850

6 Thomas Carl 4:35:00 $1,700

7 Herman Phillip 4:37:00 $1,450

8 Isaac Underwood 4:14:00 $1,250

9 Fr. Alexander Larson 4:42:00 $1,050

10 John Snyder 4:44:58 $900

11 Jonathan Simon 4:45:05 $750

12 Solomon Olick 4:50:00 $600

13 Leighton Wassilie 4:56:00 $450

14 Jacob Frederick 5:12:00 $300

15 Keith Ekamrak 4:25:11 $250

16 Twyla Elhardt 4:25:15

17 Edwin Waska 5:39:00

18 Spencer Wilson 6:02:00

19 Gabby Hiestand Salgado 6:14:00