BETHEL, ALASKA — Mansfield St. Peter’s graduate Matthew Failor learned dog-sled racing from four-time Iditarod Champion Martin Buser.
Early on Sunday morning, Failor broke his mentor’s record in winning the Kuskokwim 300 dog sled race, besting 17 other competitors.
Failor, who graduated from St. Peter’s in 2000, reached the finish line at 7:02 a.m. Sunday, with his 12 dogs rewriting the record books of the 40-year-old race.
It was his third time participating in this race, but his second time mushing with his own dog team.
Failor finished the 300-mile trek in 36 hours and 32 minutes, the fastest time since Buser set the record in 1994.
“It’s surreal,” Failor said. “(Winning) hasn’t really sunk in yet. My phone doesn’t have much cell service, so I haven’t been bombarded with texts.”
A few weeks before the premiere middle distance race in Southern Alaska, the temperature in Bethel rose to above freezing, creating moisture, said Failor.
Just before the race began on Friday evening, he added, the ground had frozen to a hard, concrete-like trail for the race.
“It was much faster than normal,” Failor said.
Failor said he got to his last mandatory stop 15 minutes ahead of the second-place team.
“I knew I had 48 miles to finish and he has 15 minutes to catch up to me,” Failor said. “But there’s a twist. The moon was at a phase where it was so bright, most people had their head lights off. So you couldn’t see anyone. I didn’t know where anyone was. I didn’t know I won until I had turned the corner and saw the finish line.”
Taking the reins of the record from his mentor is quite the honor, he said.
“It’s kind of a neat irony,” Failor said. “The first time I did this race, I had his dogs. I deeply respect that man. He’s like a father figure.”
Failor said his 12 dogs will compete in the next two races, but he will have his handlers do the racing.
“I want to train them, like Buser did for me,” he said.
Failor will again compete in the prestigious 938-mile Iditarod race, that begins March 2. He was 13th in the event in 2018 and more than 50 teams are signed up to compete this year.
