It’s Iditarod Eve and after last night’s musher’s banquet at the Sullivan arena in Anchorage everyone is ready for the start of the big race. Tomorrow’s restart is just for fun though, it’s a way for the mushers to be surrounded by thousands of people, with so many photo-ops, hugs and greetings on Saturday morning, it’s enough to make the most social musher look forward to the days of isolation on the Iditarod Trail.
At the Ceremonial start on Saturday morning, 4th Avenue in downtown Anchorage turns into an Alaskan festival. Men with cougar head hats & fox fur jackets walk down the street, children line up to get the autograph of their favorite musher, and families get downtown early to make sure they get a good spot to view the day’s activities. Mushers leave downtown Anchorage in the same order that they will depart onto the trail on Sunday.
Thursday at the Musher’s banquet the racers picked their bib number and the order that they leave the starting chute. Those that registered for race first, got first pick at when they want to leave. There is even strategy in this choice, some mushers choosing to be the very first out, and some mushers choosing to let everyone else go ahead of them for the first few miles. Everyone’s time gets evened out during their required 24-hour layover.
As you look down the list of mushers, and the order that they will be departing, it looks like the younger mushers, the next generation waiting to get their chance at an Iditarod Championship are all leaving early, while other more experienced mushers are choosing to leave a bit later. Names like Paul Gephardt, Jessie Royer, Ramey Smyth, Cim Smyth, Ramy Brooks, Zach Steer, and Jason Barron aren’t only the names of mushers you can expect to see coming into Nome in the top 10 or 20, but they will be the first to hit the trail on Sunday afternoon. In contrast, Iditarod Champions like Martin Buser, Mitch Seavey, Doug Swingley, Jeff King, Rick Swenson, and Robert Sorlie are all leaving the starting chute considerably later in the race.
Does this really matter? Isn’t everyone’s time adjusted anyway? Everyone is leaving within two hours of each other, what type of difference can this really make? Every musher has a different view on how the race is to be run, each musher has a different idea on how long of runs and rests to take… but they are all striving to win. We will see which strategy work best this year, with this year’s trail, and with this year’s weather.