Girdwood’s Petit wins first Willow 300

WILLOW — Girdwood musher Nicolas Petit bested the field by almost two hours in the inaugural running of the Willow 300 Dog Sled race. A top-ten finisher in last year's Iditarod, Petit led the pack of 30 teams from start to finish of the three-day event completing the race in 47:12. Two of the top five were hometown favorites.

The race started Friday noon from the Willow Community Center with racers finishing up Sunday. With the exception of Petit who crossed the finish line just after 11 a.m., the remainder of the pack began filing in shortly after 2 p.m. with the last finisher crossing the line at just before 4:30. Second through fourth place was decided by 46 minutes. Travis Beals of Seward finished second at 49:01, Brenda Mackey of Two Rivers third at 49:13, and Rick Casillo of Willow fourth at 49:47. Scott Smith of Willow finished in 50:02 to round out the top five.

A $15,000 purse was split between the top five finishers starting with Petit receiving top prize of $5,000. The winnings dropped $1,000 for each of the next four spots. According to race results, six teams did not complete the event.