A story about the resurgence of the mushing sport in the Kuskokwim Delta region of Alaska, highlighted by substantial cash prizes and a thriving community of mushers.
Charlie Chingliak is a budding high school basketball player in the Western Alaska Native village of Akiachak, and he looks the part — sporting two stud earrings in each ear and a stylish hoodie during a recent school day.
Welcome to the mushing-crazed Kuskokwim Delta — the one region of Alaska where the sport of mushing seems to be thriving, not just surviving.On the Kuskokwim last weekend, teams from villages up and down the river vied for huge cash prizes in a pair of races that highlighted how the region has become a stronghold of the sport.of the weekend’s marquee Kuskokwim 300 race, also known as the K300, was local hero Pete Kaiser, from the Delta’s regional hub of Bethel.
The payments serve as powerful motivators to mushers and also are essential supports for kennels in an area where dog food must be shipped in at steep prices. The original K300 was the brainchild of Myron Angstman, an attorney who had moved from Minnesota to Bethel to work as the community’s first public defender and developed a mushing side habit.
Volunteers still power the K300, with local doctors, nurses and even a local Superior Court judge and his kids pitching in last weekend. They run checkpoints, live streams and a complex dog delivery system for the races. Williams, 39, said he’s been inspired by some of the younger mushers whom he now encounters on training runs — including Chingliak, the 16-year-old who also happens to be Williams’ nephew.
MUSHING ALASKA KUSKOKWIM DELTA DOG SLEDDING RACING
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