'A Race Like No Other' documents K300

Published on January 22nd, 2010

By VAN WILLIAMS

KYUK Alaska Public Television in Bethel has produced documentary films since 1982 on the Kuskokwim 300 sled dog race, with coverage ranging from the trail to the mushers to the dogs.

This time, however, producers wanted to showcase the behind-the-scenes work that goes into putting on the annual 300-mile race from Bethel to Aniak and back.

The 30-minute film "The Kuskokwim 300: A Race Like No Other," was produced by Chris Ho and Mike Martz of KYUK and uses exclusive footage from the 2009 race.

"Chris was the driving force behind this project," said Martz, the KYUK general manager who has been at the station for 25 years.

This documentary is the sixth in a series of K300 films produced by the Bethel TV station.

"This one we took a different tactic and it was to look at the behind the scenes and what it takes for a dog musher to get here," Martz said. "This is a remote location that's not on the road system, so you can't load up your pickup truck and drive here. "You have to fly everything in. We see a little bit of that in the film. We get a sense of the community and how it's a race like no other."

Part of the film covers the dilemma of dogs arriving in town without mushers, who were stranded elsewhere because of cancelled or delayed fights.

The producers covered meetings, conducted interviews and profiled young local mushers like Mike Williams Jr. of Akiak and Pete Kaiser of Bethel.

"It's great to see those guys competing with the big dogs, you know," said Ho, expressing his Y-K Delta pride. "They are younger guys, in their 20s, and it's fun to see."

The film also covers how race officials scrambled to deal with severe weather changes just prior to the start of the race. Warmer temperatures swept through the area, causing the conditions to go from ideal to awful as the ice melted into water.

The start of the K300 was moved back a couple of days-throwing everything up in the air, and KYUK cameras were there to catch it all.

"This show kind of focuses on just how hard it is to put on a race like this," Ho said. "It's a little different than the other films we've done."

In 1982, "Racing the River" was made, a 60-minute documentary about one of the earliest runnings of the K300, which was created in 1980.

In 1983, "Racing the Wind" was produced, a 30-minute film that includes coverage of race founder Myron Angstman's photo-finish victory over legendary champion George Attla.

In 1991, "The Toughest Trail" was made, a 30-minute documentary that focused on the incredible fluxes in trail conditions.

"That was the year they started out on rock-hard icy trail and two days later it turned into nothing but water from a warming trend and a lot of rain," Martz said.

Mushers that year nicknamed the K300 the "Kusko-Swim 300" because they faced standing water in parts of the trail.

In 1993, "The Fastest Trail" was made, a 30-minute film dedicated to path between Bethel and Aniak.

"That was the year when conditions were absolutely ideal and Jeff King won with the fastest time ever run by a dog team over 300 miles," Martz said.

In 2004, "The Kuskokwim 300: 25 Years And Running" was made, a 20-minute documentary about how the whole thing started with Angstman providing a history lesson.

And now "A Race Like No Other" has been added to the collection.

"This is my first kind of full-length film as a producer," said Ho, who has lived in Bethel for six years. "It was a great experience. There are always things you learn along the way.

"I'm happy how it turned out. I'm just thankful we had everyone helping out on this project. There's a lot of people that dedicated their time and energy into making it work."

Martz just wishes KYUK could produce more documentaries that focus on local life.

"It is important for us to maintain a presence with television and part of our mission is to highlight and document the events, lifestyle, culture and issues in the Y-K Delta region which we provide service to," he said.