"Myron Angstman"

On Friday night in Bethel, the Kuskokwim 300 celebrated its 40th annual sled dog race. Over four decades the race has attracted Alaska’s best mushers, while offering a growing purse and serving as a cornerstone of local mushing. The founders say they could not have predicted how well known and respected that the race would become, or the local champion it would shape.

There’s no physician for the mushers during the Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race, but a team of volunteer veterinarians checks each dog before the race, at the checkpoints, and after the teams cross the finish. The program has come together for nearly 30 years largely through of the efforts of one woman.