Peter Kaiser poses with his lead dogs, Morrow, left, and Lucy on Wednesday, March 13, 2019, in Nome, Alaska, after winning the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. It’s the first Iditarod victory for Kaiser in his 10th attempt. (Marc Lester | Anchorage Daily News)

Peter Kaiser poses with his lead dogs, Morrow, left, and Lucy on Wednesday, March 13, 2019, in Nome, Alaska, after winning the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. It’s the first Iditarod victory for Kaiser in his 10th attempt. (Marc Lester | Anchorage Daily News)

Alaska Native wins Iditarod sled dog race

Pete Kaiser crosses finish line in Nome after beating back a challenge from defending champion

  • By MARK THEISSEN ASSOCIATED PRESS
  • Wednesday, March 13, 2019 12:59pm
  • NewsSports

ANCHORAGE — A young Pete Kaiser had the drive to learn about racing sled dogs and the family and community to support his passion. Years later, he won his first Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Growing up, Kaiser had plenty of sled dogs to choose from at his parents’ kennel in Bethel, a rural community in southwest Alaska. He got his first taste of success as a senior in high school when he won a 65-mile race. From there, the competitions and prizes kept getting bigger.

On Wednesday, the 31-year-old captured the crowning glory in the sport, the Iditarod, a grueling test against the wildest terrain Alaska has to offer. Kaiser crossed the finish line in the Gold Rush town of Nome after beating back a challenge from the defending champion, Joar Ulsom of Norway.

[Multiple Crimson Bears make Region V all-academic and all-conference]

Ulsom finished the race just 12 minutes after Kaiser, who took 9 days, 12 hours, 39 minutes and 6 seconds to complete the 1,000-mile journey over two mountain ranges, along the frozen Yukon River and across the treacherous, wind-swept Bering Sea coast.

It’s Kaiser’s first Iditarod victory in his 10th try. He said he wasn’t sure what made everything come together for him this year.

“Just years of knowledge gained and trying to put it all together to have a better race, better dog team this year — every little detail coming into play,” he said in a post-victory interview televised from the finish line.

Kaiser became the fifth Alaska Native and first Yupik musher to win the world’s most famous sled dog race.

Veteran Iditarod musher Mike Williams Sr. has been friends with the Kaiser family and watched Pete’s career progress. His victory lifts up not only the Yupik people but all southwest Alaska, Williams said.

“It’s going to make 35,000 people proud,” Williams said. “I think he’s going to be a great representative for us.”

A large group of residents from Bethel, Kaiser’s hometown, flew in to see his victory. Alaska Native dancers and drummers performed near the finish line as they waited for Kaiser to arrive, even though it was past 3 a.m.

Kaiser called the support “extremely humbling, and it motivates me every day to perform to my best, and I just want to thank them for coming out here tonight.”

When he was young, Kaiser went to races like the Kuskokwim 300, an annual mid-distance race in Bethel, to learn everything he could from the mushers.

That includes Ed Iten, a veteran musher whose best Iditarod finish was second place in 2005.

“He was a young boy then and came over and helped me feed the dogs,” Iten said. “Then he went from helping out when I was in Bethel feeding my dogs to eventually whipping my butt in the Kusko 300, so he’s a quick study.”

Kaiser, who counts Iten as his mentor, went on to win four Kuskokwim 300 races.

“It just couldn’t be better,” Iten said of Kaiser’s Iditarod victory. “We’ve been waiting for this. There’s been no doubt in my mind that he was going to get it sooner or later.”

Dogs are in the Kaiser family’s blood. Pete’s father, Ron, raced dogs for a few years and then kept an active kennel. His mother, Janet, managed the Kuskokwim 300.

Kaiser, who is married with two children, mushes in the winter and gets seasonal summer jobs on top of managing the kennel.

Sled dog races don’t have lucrative jackpots — Kaiser picked up about $50,000 and a new truck for winning the world’s premier competition. The prize money is down about $20,000 from what the 2017 winner received.

This year’s race was marked by the stunning collapse of Frenchman Nicolas Petit, who was seemingly headed for victory as late as Monday. He had a five-hour lead until his dog team stopped running.

Petit said one dog was picking on another during a rest break, and he yelled at the dog to knock it off. At that point, the entire team refused to run. He had to withdraw.

Fifty-two mushers began this year’s race. Petit was among 10 who withdrew.

The 2019 race came during a bruising two-year stretch for the Iditarod that included a dog doping scandal and the loss of national sponsors amid protests by animal rights activists.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is the biggest critic.

“Hundreds of dogs (including six from Pete Kaiser’s team) were so sick, exhausted, or injured that they were pulled from the race, forcing the ones remaining to work even harder, struggling on in what is a grueling test — not of human endurance but of a dog’s ability to survive extreme cruelty,” PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said in a statement after Kaiser’s victory.


• This is an Associated Press report by Mark Theissen.


More in Sports

Cow parsnip inflorescences often attract crowds of small insects. (Photo Bob Armstrong/courtesy)
On The Trails: Some early summer observations

At the very end of June, with just one monster cruise ship in, a friend and I ventured up the tram in between rain showers

The shoot killed by last year's willow rose is surrounded by exuberant new shoots. (Photo by Mary F. Willson)
On the Trails: Spittlebugs, shore pines and avian juveniles

A friend and I strolled out to Nugget Falls, accompanied by the songs of warbling vireos

The juniors start at the Mount Marathon Race on July 4, 2025, in Seward, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Anchorage’s Zuber, Flagstad capture junior Mount Marathon races

Kenai’s Boonstra takes 2nd in junior girls race

Anchorage's Klaire Rhodes, 27, wins the women's race at the Mount Marathon Race on July 4, 2025, in Seward, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Anchorage’s Rhodes defends women’s Mount Marathon crown

With Seward stuffed with people for 97th running of the Mount Marathon… Continue reading

David Norris, 34, of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, wins the men's race at the Mount Marathon Race on July 4, 2025, in Seward, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Norris goes 6 for 6 in Mount Marathon men’s race; Moore’s streak ends at 54 races

One streak lived while another streak ended during a brilliantly sunny men’s… Continue reading

Public lands are a unique privilege that Americans should relish and protect. (Photo courtesy Jeff Lund)
I Went to the Woods: The comment section: Where discourse goes to die

Someone always takes it upon themselves to filter a post, headline, story or ideas through their political view and come up with a divisive hot take.

2024 Olympic wrestling gold medalist Amit Elor, 21, right, demonstrates a counter tie on Wasilla High School junior Taryn Wright, 16, during the Juneau Girls Wrestling Clinic on Tuesday at the Juneau Wrestling Center. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)
Alaska wrestlers take on Olympic and world champion at Juneau camp

Gold medalist Amit Elor shows girls path to success

The dainty little flowers of sheep sorrel are either male or female, but not both. (Photo courtesy Mary F. Willson)
On the Trails: Butterworts, leaf rollers, and invasive flowers

On a bright, sunny day in mid-June, a friend and I strolled… Continue reading

Juneau’s Auke Bay Post 25 third baseman Madden Mendoza tags out Palmer Post 15 base runner Reed Craner (2) during Juneau’s 7-6 win over Palmer in American Legion Baseball action Sunday at Adair Kennedy Memorial Park. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)
Juneau’s Legion baseball team sweeps Palmer

Ludeman hits walk-off, Auke Bay Post 25 defeats Palmer Post 15

Swimmers race in Saturday’s Open Water Swim Series on Auke Lake. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)
Open Water Swim gives swimmers strokes

Theme of no lines, no lanes, no limits inspires

Photo by Jeff Helminiak / Peninsula Clarion
Jacob Katasse of Auke Bay Post 25 ducks under a pitch in front of catcher Conner Mitchuson of Madisonville (Kentucky) Post 6 on Friday, June 20 in the Lance Coz Wood Bat Tournament at Coral Seymour Memorial Park in Kenai .
Juneau’s Alaska Legion baseball team hits the road

Auke Bay Post 25 travels to Kenai tournament, Anchorage next

Young female spruce cones grow upright and bend down to open when the seeds are ripe and ready to disperse. (Photo by Mary Willson/courtesy)
On the Trails: Fledgling birds and spruce tips

The stroll was peaceful and the birds were singing.