Pete Kaiser has won the 2019 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 9 days, 12 hours, six seconds. He is the first Yup’ik to win the race. Here are some facts facts about him:
- Kaiser a 30-year-old who was born in Bethel and spent his childhood fishing, boating, hunting and running a small team of family dogs on camping trips and in local races.
- His Bethel roots go back three generations to a great grandfather who came into the country as a goldminer and dog team driver.
- His great-grandmother was Yup’ik, and was raised in a mission orphanage after her parents died in an epidemic.
- He won his first race while a high school student — the Akiak Dash, a 65 mile race put on by the Kuskokwim 300 Race Committee. He’s run in every Kuskokwim 300 since 2009 and every Iditarod since 2010.
- In 2012, Pete and Bethany Hoffman welcomed a son, Ari Joseph.