Pete Kaiser wins the 2020 Kuskokwim 300 finish on January 19, 2020 in Bethel, Alaska. This is Kaiser’s fifth K300 win. (KATIE BASILE / KYUK)

Pete Kaiser is the 2020 Kuskokwim 300 Champion. Kaiser arrived in Bethel at 8:46 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 19, with a team of nine dogs. Kaiser has won the Kuskokwim 300 in five of the past six years. In 2019 he placed second. Never before has a K300 musher won five races in a six-year span.

Racing downriver late Saturday from Kalskag, Kaiser had to maintain an eight minute lead over a hard-charging Richie Diehl and last year’s winner, Matthew Failor. Kaiser extended his lead over Diehl to 13 minutes by the time he arrived in Tuluksak for the final break overnight into Sunday. Kaiser left Tuluksak just before 4 a.m. on Jan. 19 after completing his final four-hour mandatory rest. He fended off the chase pack to arrive to a big hometown crowd.

Kaiser wins around $25,000 from a $160,000 purse.