Dog mushing: Big Lake man wins Klondike 300

JEREMIAH BARTZ/ Frontiersman sports editor

KNIK - Cim Smyth, of Big Lake, arrived at the Tug Bar at 8:22 p.m. Monday to win the Klondike 300 sled dog race.

The event, sponsored annually by the Big Lake Aurora Lions Club, featured a record 30 mushers, according to race organizer Burt Kleinenberg.

Twenty mushers finished the course, while 10 scratched.

Smyth, a veteran of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, earned a chunck of a $20,000 purse. That figure is also a record for the race, Kleinenberg said.

Smyth finished about two hours faster than second-place Matt Hayashida, of Willow. Lance Mackey, of Kasilof, edged his brother Jason to finish third.

Rick Casillo, of Wasilla, finished fifth.

The last of the mushers, Katrina Pawlacyzk of Wasilla, finished at 12:32 p.m. on Tuesday.

Mushers left the Tug Bar, at mile 18.5 of Knik-Goose Bay Road, on Saturday at noon. From the Tug Bar, teams mushed toward the Deshka River Lodge, hit Yentna River Station and the Forks Roadhouse. At the roadhouse, competitors took the same route back to the Tug Bar.

King of the Kuskokwim

Jeff King, a three-time Iditarod winner, won the Kuskokwim 300 for the eighth time on Tuesday.

King, of Denali, crossed the finish line in Bethel 11 minutes before midnight to win the race, and the $20,000 first-place prize. He was just two minutes ahead of another Iditarod champion, Mitch Seavey of Seward. Ramy Brooks (Healy) was third. Jon Little (Kasilof) finished fourth and Ed Iten (Kotzebue) placed fifth.

The 300-mile Kuskokwin starts and finishes in Bethel. Mushers race from Bethel to Aniak, and back.

The Kuskokwim was to start on Saturday, but was delayed two days until Monday because of extremely cold temperatures.

Iditarod

field dips

The field of mushers for the 2006 Iditarod was over 100. But that was only temporary.

Ten mushers have now withdrawn from the Last Great Race. Veterans Franks Sihler (Wasilla), Ben Stamm (Argyle, Wisc.), Jeff Holt (North Pole), Dodo Perri (Isola di Ponza, Italy), Trisha Kolegar (Wasilla), Joe LaFaive (Helena, Mont.), Dean Osmar (Clam Gulch) and Rodger Roberts (Ophir) will not compete in the race. Rookies Gerry Willomitzer (Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada) and Paul Pettyjohn (Fairbanks) are also

out.

There are still 94 mushers who are preparing for the race, which starts March 4.