It was a tight sled dog race at Kwethluk this weekend. Fourteen mushers competed in the forty-mile Kwethluk Sprint Race on Friday. Running 20 miles a day over two days, the top three mushers came in with less than a minute separating each other.
Coming in first was Paul Larson of Russian Mission with a combined time of 2:25:43, collecting $2,000 out of a total race purse of $8,000.
Sprinting close behind was Maurice Andrews of Bethel at 2:26:29, winning $1,500.
Third place went to John Hanson of the Bristol Bay area, with 2:27:10. Hanson arrived in the region before the race and plans to stay in the area over the coming weeks to compete in other village races.