And the countdown in hours begins. The musher's banquet is the kick off to teh kickoff. Mushers and their families mingle with race fans as they celebrate teh start of another year's race. It also hosts the drawing of the bib numbers determining where a musher will start in the line up. It's a night of celebration, it's low key but exciting none the less.
This year I have the honor of working the sales table at the banquet. Having never attended one before (tickets are rather inexpensive, but parking downtown is a huge pain). I have to admit I'm pretty excited. It'll be the "who's who" of mushcing as all the mushers must be presant that night to draw their number - this also ensures that those that pruchase ticketers rub elbows with "their musher."
In honor of this great tradition - and because I will not have time to blog tomorrow - tonight's blog will spotlight the mushers who are the ones to watch over the next two weeks.
Let's start off with the team favored, by most, to win: Lance Mackey. Mackey is riding high (on most days literally) off of his three consecutive wins. He is part of mushing royalty - his father, Dick Mackey, won the Iditarod in 1979 by a dog's nose, and Mackey's brother Rick is also Iditarod champion. If Lance wins this year he will be the first musher to win four in a row. Lance thrives under the attention he's garnered over the last few years, so winning his fourth is something he wants badly. But, Lance's sason has been pretty rocky. Last summer the Iditarod Trail Committee (ITC) announced that they would be enforcing the drug policy on mushers this year. Mackey has been very outspoken - he claims it's because people can't stand him winning all the time - stating that everyone in the state does it (for the record this life time Alaskan has never even entertained the idea of smoking pot, but, whatever, Lance). Lance is a cancer survivor who has a medicinal marajuana license - making it legal for him to use for medical purposes - and the ITC has stated it will not count against him. Mackey has stated he plans to race without his stash. We'll see.
Challenging Lance the past few years is four time Iditarod champion Jeff King. King is said to be the winningest musher in the sport. He's been part of several great rivalries from Susan Butcher to Martin Buser and, now, Lance Mackey. Jeff is a charismatic and innovative musher, much of the equipment (like the 'old man's sled') we see the mushers use out on the trail he has had a hand in improving. King's antics on the trail are also well documented by many reporters, and has helped give him an endearing quality that have race fans cheering him on year after year. Jeff King is well respected and liked by the mushing community and fans alike. He's a stark contrast to Mackey - while both seem to be showmen, Jeff has a sense of humility that Mackey lacks. Jeff gave $50,000 to the ITC with their dwindling funds and has been a champion for the race on and off the trail. King stated early this week that Iditarod 38 may very well be his last, he's sold many of his top dogs and is running a younger more inexperienced team. IF this is his final run down the trail his presence will be truly missed.
Another four time champion in the mix is Swiss born Martin Buser. Buser holds the record finishing time (just under nine days) and would probablybe the musher most likely to win the Mr. Congeniality competition. Buser's reputation is widely known - his dog care is second to none, he's been 'critisized' (for lack of a better word) in teh past for 'babying' his dogs - for Martin the placement is not half as important as the level of fun the dogs are running at. There is, quite possibly, no one else that embodies the Alaskan Dream like Buser. Marting moved from his native Switzerland to run dogs in Alaska in the late 70's. Though he lived in the state for many years before winning his first Iditarod championship in 1992, Buser was (and is) considered the first international musher to win (though three time champion Robert Sorlie actually flies over from Norway to compete.) and was not looked at as "one of us" until teh year his home in Big Lake, Alaska was threatend by forest fires. Fire personel in the area were evacuating everyone from the area, but Buser refused to leave without his dogs - all of them. so, without the help of those evacuating the humans, Buser set out to rescue the entire dog lot. All but two dogs survived (two got loose and ran into the woods and were never returned) and Martin Buser became Alaska's own.
Completing the club of repeat champions entered in race 38 is Rick Swenson. If there's anyone who does not fit the modern stereotype of mushers, it's Swenson. Rick seems more apt to be a linebacker or a blobsledder than a musher, but he's done fairly well. In 1979 he was the second place musher in a photo finish - losing by less than one second to Dick Mackey. Rick is also teh only musher to win five Iditarods. His knowledge of the trail is extensive, and this man from Kotzebue knows how to survive the toughest of conditions. Swenson is best known for his rivalry with the great Susan Butcher, in the 80s it was all about their head to head battles out on the trail. He hasn't quite dominated the sport recently, but he just might have another one left in him.
2004 Iditarod Champion Mitch Seavey gave a recent interview stating while he wasn't planning to race into his 80s (he's not close to that anyway) he does plan on winning this year - but what musher doesn't? Mitch is another musher in the Iditarod royalty. His father, Dan Seavey, ran in the first Iditarod coming third, Mitch is the 2004 champion and all of his age elligible sons (and a daughter in law) have run. In 2008, Mitch won the largest purse ever for a sled dog race when he won the All-Alaska Sweepstakes. While most mushers seem to just have a knack for being in the right place at the right time, Mitch has his strategy down to a science. It's almost mathmatical the way that he works. If everything works out to the schedule he plans to run there'll be no stopping him. His dogs are ready, as is he, if he wins it will be a great upset, and one that will have folks talking. It's about time he wins again, right?
Speaking of Seavey's, Mitch's third son Dallas is hitting the trail once again. Dallas came in sixth last year after a near flawless run. It was the highest placement for the musher yet, and he is well on his way to his goal of becoming the youngest Iditarod champion. Dallas is already the youngest musher to finish the race, he was just 18 years old - he turned 18 the day before the race, meaning he pretty much owns the title of youngest finisher for the rest of time. Dallas's momentum after the Iditarod was stopped abruptly this summer with the loss of his prized lead dog Fridge. Dallas worked hard with the young dog, especially after Fridge washed out of Mitch's team (Fridge and Mitch's personality's didn't click). When not training Fridge co-starred in Dallas's Wildride Sled Dog Rodeo in Anchorage, Alaska showing tourists and Alaskans alike the intricasy of training a lead dog. Even with the horrible setback of losing a close friend on the trail, Dallas is hard working and it wouldn't be a surprise to see him just as high or higher in the standings this time around.
Sentimental favorite DeeDee Jonrowe has never won the Iditarod though she's been in it as long as most of the old dogs. She's a cancer survivor and was looked at as the next woman in line to win the thing. So far she hasn't come through on the championship, but she's come darn close. DeeDee is still considered to be a champion among women, and has been the inspiration for many young girls looking to get into the sport. She loves her dogs, and she loves to run, and she's passionate about the race. She proudly wears pink in honor of breast cancer awareness and is one of those you feel compelled to cheer for. Will she be in contention for the championship? Anything is possible.
Other mushers to note that could pull out a spoiler are mushers like Zack Steer (who is being sponsored by the US Census Bureau), John Baker, Paul Gebhardt, and Sebastian Schnuelle. All I can say is it's going to be a GREAT RACE. stay tuned.
Photography by Antonia Reitter
Race fixtures Martin Buser, Mitch Seavey and DeeDee Jonrowe are once again running, as well as up and coming stars Dallas Seavey (still in it to become the youngest musher to win, taking the title away from Rick Swenson. We've got three more years to see it happen) and Jamaca's Newton Marshall. The Scottish team will also be represented by one of the two mushers who ran this past Iditarod. 
