The doors opened at 5:00 and there were plenty of ardent Iditarod fans as well as volunteers, mushers and sponsors in the large windowed lobby waiting to be the first to enter. The musher banquet held at the beautiful Dena’ina Convention Center in downtown Anchorage on Thursday evening prior to the race is always a festive and much anticipated occasion.

Mushers gather with family members, handlers, friends and sponsors to celebrate their dream of running Iditarod and all that’s gone into getting to the starting line. They are very excited and perhaps in the case of the rookie mushers, also a bit anxious.  Emmitt Peters winner of the 1975 Iditarod attended the banquet.  Peters is from Ruby on the Yukon river.  Peters, known as the Yukon Fox, is credited with changing the Iditarod from a camping trip 

Fans gather to soak up the energy and enthusiasm of the Last Great Race that is abundant at the much-celebrated Thursday night banquet. Alaska favorite singer/song writer, Hobo Jim, sets the mood. As he performed the Iditarod Trail Song, the crowd joined in on the chorus – I did, I did, I did the Iditarod Trail! Race followers seek musher autographs. They want to express their personal wishes for a safe race to the mushers they’ve known and followed over time. They want pictures and they seek autographs.

The Iditarod Trail Committee auctions off multiple high-end items such as a bear viewing Trip to Katmai with host & hostess Allen Moore and Aliy Zirkle. The trip for four people sold for $7,000. In silent auction incredible sculptures, fur garments, artwork and one of kind signed items were up for bid. A Native Alaskan living near Nome in Teller, Alaska created one of the fur coats in the auction. The coat has a sunburst rough made with wolf, wolverine and beaver. The coat itself is made of white mink and would be considered a museum quality piece. It was an amazingly beautiful coat and purchased because of who created it as well as the materials used and craftsmanship of the creator.

Dinner was served – salad, rolls, a steak entrée with Yukon Gold potatoes, carrots and asparagus then chocolate cake for desert. One musher, Nicolas Petit, ate quickly and then went back to what he was working on prior to dinner – making necklines. Another musher, Jim Lanier, spent the evening wearing his newly purchased and fitted helmet that he intends to wear while on the trail.

Finally it was time for the draw. Mushers were called to the stage to draw their starting position from a boot. It wasn’t just any boot; it was a traditional mukluk made of seal skin. One by one, the mushers came to the stage, reached into the mukluk pulled out a number and announced it to the crowd. Given the opportunity to say a few words, some simply said “thank you” and others specifically thanked family, handlers and sponsors.

The first musher to go down 4th Avenue in Anchorage on the first day of March will be Junior Iditarod Champion, Conway Seavey. In his sled will be the granddaughter of Honorary Musher, Deby Trosper. Trosper, who came to Iditarod as a volunteer in 1989 and eventually joined the staff, lost her battle against cancer in August of 2013. Her sense of humor was how she dealt with life and she set an example to others by looking for the bright side. For Deby there was hope, good times and laughter.

Directly following the honorary musher, wearing bib #2 will be New Zealander, Curt Perano. Defending Champion, Mitch Seavey drew bib 6. Five other former champions join Mitch. Their start positions are – Jeff King 17, Dallas Seavey 14, Robert Sorlie 22, Martin Buser 36 and John Baker 53. Baker commented that he wore bib 53 back in 2011 when he claimed the championship, the first for an Inupiaq, and smashed Martin Buser’s previous best time by four hours. Aliy Zirkle goes out wearing bib 10 and DeeDee Jonrowe number 16. Top Yukon Quest finishers Allen Moore and Hugh Neff drew numbers 19 and 61 respectively. The final musher to depart is Sonny Lindner, wearing bib #70, finished the 2013 race in 9th place.  The complete list of starting positions can be found at Iditarod.com.

As fans follow the mushers and their Iditarod journey to Nome a quote from Amelia Earhart seems appropriate, “What do dreams know of boundaries?” God speed to all mushers making the journey and the volunteers supporting their journey.