Thursday was a busy day for the 67 mushers participating in Iditarod XXXVII.  They spent the morning at the Mushers Meeting receiving information on race procedures and trail conditions.  Reports confirm that there is a lot more snow in the interior of Alaska than in recent years.  Just last night some areas received as much as two and a half feet of new snow.  Snow machine drivers are working long hours to have the trail prepared by race time.  And this year, when it is time for the Last Great Race, fans can have a front row seat of the race via the internet because every musher will be carrying a GPS tracking device.

On Thursday evening mushers attended the Wells Fargo Mushers Drawing Banquet held in the new Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center in downtown Anchorage.  The festivities began with entertainment by “Hobo” Jim, followed by the invocation given by Native Alaskan musher Mike Owens.  Dinner was served, introductions of special guests and principal partners made, and mushers signed what I am sure felt like a million autographs.  Then it was time for the big event: the drawing of bib numbers.  Mushers came on stage, one at a time, and pulled a number out of a hat to find out their starting position.  Every musher has a preferred start time.  Some want to leave later in the day because they like to run their dogs in the evening when the temperature is cooler.  Others want to quickly establish their run-rest schedule.  Some mushers want to leave at the end of the pack; some prefer the middle, while others hope for their “lucky” number.  This is a competitive group of mushers with 25 of last year’s top 30 returning from the 2008 race.  Each and every one of them has a race plan and it is effected by the number they draw for the start.  You can find the musher you or your class is following at http://www.iditarod.com/race/musherlisting.html.

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