Kuskokwim 300

I went into Bethel to chaperone several students from around the district for a week of eJournalism, and it was pretty epic! They were the reporters for covering the dog sled races, and we got some great interviews and experience getting to know what all goes on behind the scenes in a typical race.

They were reporters covering the world’s most premier mid-sized dog sled race (Kuskokwim 300 or K300) ... we had some great mushers, even Iditarod winners, and people came all the way from Russia and Norway to participate.

Teams getting ready before the race.

We were outside though, a lot. We had to warn the kids of the dangerous cold, and really respect the weather... exposed skin left for more than 2 minutes will get frostbite in that kind of cold. The temperature rarely lowered below negative 40. We were scrambling trying to come up with proper winter gear for the kids who weren’t prepared for this kind of cold. Some of the school staff were pretty generous in loaning hats, gloves, scarves, face masks, etc.

When the big race began out on the river I was a little shocked that they started at night. Those are some tough, tough people to be in that kind of cold for 3 or more straight days with no shelter. They sent the mushers out 2 by 2, and when everyone had begun, they had a great fireworks show, and seeing the kids reactions was better than the show itself - some of them had never seen fireworks.

Before the race started we fed the kids peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to hold them over till dinner, but also to give them some fuel to burn while trying to keep warm. It was rough because they were running around interviewing people/taking pictures/getting videos with all this high-tech equipment, and it was bitingly cold in the negative 50s.

Jeff King coming in to the finish line for first place

Really cold weather is not cool for Alaskan outdoor events, because if your equipment is not plugged in, your battery won’t last long. I don’t now why, but the cold has a way of sucking all the energy out of batteries. The kids were having to stash extra batteries inside their parkas as close to their body heat as possible. I myself took a small digital camera with a full battery, and it was dead within 15 minutes.

I thought I was tough, and I know I don’t have the top-of-the-line winter gear, but dang, that wind chill will put you in your place. I was wearing 2 pairs of wool socks with a big pair of polar boots and my toes were still hurting. My fingers had hand warmers in them, and while my camera was still working, I’d have to take my gloves off to snap pictures because they are too bulky to do much with them on. Let me just say, ouch. I got frost nip on the fingers, and my toes were swollen and numb all through the night. That was quite painful. The K300 staff were walking about handing out free hand warmers, and they were serving free hot dogs, hot chocolate, and (frozen) cookies. I was extremely grateful for the extra calories to keep warm!

King's dog team

The K300 headquarters, a board room in a hotel here in Bethel, was open 24 hours while the race was going on. The news stations along with the students’ news stories played on a big tv monitor, and you could get information about the race status.

One of the news teams I was working with to cover one of the shorter races (the Bogus Creek and Akiak Dash) had a secret spot to get some great footage. We drove out on the frozen river and climbed up this run-down barge by jumping on a tire hanging down and pulling ourselves up. It was actually kind of dangerous, because the barge was slanted and slick with ice. But hey, good reporters have to take some risks, right? We set up our tripods and cameras and caught some footage, including mushers getting tangled with other teams and them slipping and falling on the ice. To get off the barge we had to climb down a huge rope. The whole experience was a lot of fun.

Posing with King, 9th time winner and 4 time Iditarod winner

We were there for the end of the race (at least the first 3 hours) to see the 1st through 7th place winners. The sunrise was absolutely beautiful, and thankfully it was a bit warmer for the finish than the start. The next day we attended the post race banquet with all the mushers, sponsors, news teams, and the public who wanted to pay to get in. The students showed a few of their stories. We all had a great time!

Throughout the week we stayed in the district office board room and slept on cots, which was a step up from the usual floor. Also, every other trip we’ve had in Bethel, we’d sleep in the school, and every morning around 7 am we would have to pack up all your stuff and carry it half a mile outside to store it in the district office for a day, only to bring it back that evening and start over the next day. The room was quite chilly during the evenings, but after the evening out on the ice freezing our rear ends off, I vowed not to complain anymore about the cold room.