Seavey wins Klondike 300

After a one-year hiatus, the Klondike 300 sled-dog race returned to Big Lake with 11 mushers competing for a share of the $10,000 purse.

With a field of many rookie racers competing to earn 300 miles of racing toward the 500 needed to qualify for the Iditarod, veteran musher Mitch Seavey of Sterling won the race at the Call of the Wild bar in Big Lake Monday afternoon.

"The trail was in good condition and well marked," Seavey said. "It was pretty bumpy around Forks Roadhouse, but the rest of the trail was good."

This year's snowfall has been scant, but enough to make a decent trail. Lack of snow caused the race to be canceled last year.

The race began Saturday morning, with mushers leaving the Call of the Wild bar and taking a route to Skwentna, Forks Roadhouse, Yentna and finishing back at the Call of the Wild.

All mushers left the starting point with eight dogs and were allowed to hook up a maximum of 16 dogs at the first check-point in Knik at the Tug Bar.

"A full string of dogs tend to get tangled on the first leg, so we have them start with eight until they get out of Big Lake," said Aurora president Bert Kleinenberg.

Seavey left the Tug Bar with 13 dogs, but finished with 11. He said two of his female dogs had trouble keeping up, so he pulled them off. Seavey was pleased with the performance of the team that finished the race.

"The dogs did fine, I'm real happy with them," Seavey said. "They picked up a lot of experience on this race."

Seavey believes seven of the 11 dogs, all inexperienced 2-year-olds, may be ready for the Iditarod.

Seavey chose to run the Klondike 300 to provide a training environment for the dogs.

"This trail is flat and easier on the dogs," Seavey said. "It's good to run these preliminaries to give the dogs experience without wearing them out."

The Seavey family took the top two spots in the race, with Mitch Seavey's 17-year-old son Tyrell finishing second, three hours and two minutes after his father crossed the finish line.

Peter Bartlett of Wasilla took third in the race, finishing one hour after Tyrell.