The largest fundraiser for the Iditarod Trail Committee drew more than 1,500 people to the Dena’ina Civic & Convention Center tonight. The annual Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Mushers Banquet is a lively night where mushers meet with the fans and draw for their official start order for the nearly 1,000-mile journey to Nome. The 48th running of the Last Great Race on Earth includes 15 women and 42 men, made up of 12 rookies and 45 veterans. Five former champions are back in the race and the mushers come from five different countries. The oldest musher is 79 “years young” and the youngest is 23 years old. The race will be run on the northern route, where the halfway point will be the checkpoint of Cripple. Mushers will visit a total of 24 checkpoints. Tonight, the mushers drew for their respective starting order and the official 2020 Iditarod race start order is:

Complete race information is available here.

The ceremonial start of Iditarod XLVIII takes place Saturday, March 7, 2020, at 10 a.m. in downtown Anchorage at the corner of Fourth Avenue and D Street.