by Terrie Hanke
Sixty-six mushers drew bib numbers tonight at the Musher Banquet. Joe Redington, known to all as the father of the Iditarod has a pair of grandsons who’ll be the bookends of the mushers leaving the starting line. Ray Redington, Jr. drew bib number two and his brother, Ryan Redington drew bib number 67. The memory of founder, Joe Redington, will be honored as Ray, Jr. leads the teams down 4th Avenue for the Ceremonial Start and across Willow Lake for the Restart and with Ryan as the final musher to leave the chute.
The 2012 Honorary Musher, Dave Olson will ride down 4th Avenue in Conway Seavey’s sled. Conway is the 2012 Junior Iditarod Champion. Olson was chosen for the honor because of his ground floor involvement with the race. A tribute to Olson in the 2012 Race Guide says, “Dave was Joe Redington’s right hand man and Joe knew he couldn’t have done it without Dave. Dave worked with Joe on details behind the scenes from the first race on. Dave worked out details for the race to Nome and made sure that everything happened as it should. Dave is known for his good humor, ability to mend or fix anything, his resourcefulness and willingness to give of his time and talents.
Peg Stout was also honored as a friend of Iditarod Education. As Iditarod Education Director, Diane Johnson says, “Shortly after the first few races, educators recognized that the race was an empowering tool to use in the classroom to inspire reading and authentic practice of social studies, math and science lesson.” Peg Stout was one of the first teachers to develop the lesson, Iditarod Reading Race to Nome. Peg says, “I was a librarian at the time and was looking for a way to get more students, especially boys interested in reading. What better way to do this than combine animals with adventure.” Today, Iditarod as a theme for standards based education is used in thousands of classrooms around the world. Peg has also served on the Iditarod Education Committee and has been involved in selecting many of the 14 teachers that have served as Teacher on the Trail.
Emmitt Peters of Ruby attended the musher banquet this evening. In 1975 during Iditarod III, Peters claimed the honor of champion AND rookie of the year. He is the last rookie to ever win the race. They call him the Yukon Fox. In the first two races, it took twenty days for the champion to reach Nome. He is credited with turning Iditarod into a race by claiming his championship is just 14 days. Peters has reached Nome in 13 of his 14 attempts. In seven of those runs he finished in the top 10. Thanks to Martha Dobson for contributing this photo.
God Speed to all the mushers and congratulations to both Dave and Peg.
