Jeff King Wins Kobuk 440

Jeff King is the winner in this year’s Kobuk 440. King crossed the finish line at 12:12 am Sunday morning, followed by Tony Browning and Hugh Neff.

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Jeff King arrives at the finish line of the Kobuk 400. (Kobuk 440 Photo)
Jeff King arrives at the finish line of the Kobuk 400. (Kobuk 440 Photo)
Seventeen mushers left Kotzebue on Thursday at 12:30 in the afternoon, taking a trail to Norvik, Selawik, Ambler, Shungnak and then turning around at Kobuk to head back.

K440 board President Liz Moore says the trail conditions were generally good, although there was low or no snow in some areas and icy conditions caused some sleds to tip over when the wind picked up. She says there were 8 rookie teams this year.

“This year a lot of the rookies that came out are trying to get mileage to qualify for the Iditarod race,” Moore said. “A lot of those qualifying races earlier in the season were canceled due to lack of snow.”

The Kobuk440 is the final Iditarod qualifying race of the season.

The race course is completely off the road system.

Lori Townsend is the news director and senior host for Alaska Public Media. You can send her news tips and program ideas for Talk of Alaska and Alaska Insight at ltownsend@alaskapublic.org or call 907-550-8452.

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