The final Saturday of June marks the beginning of the upcoming Last Great Race. It’s the Volunteer Picnic and Musher Sign-up at Iditarod Headquarters in Wasilla. The festivities began at 9:00 under cloudy skies with a forecast of rain. Luckily for the hundreds of folks in attendance, possibly 1049, the precipitation held off and eventually the sun shown.

Rookie musher Jan Steves from Washington was the first musher to officially enter Iditarod 40. Behind her, thirty-seven Iditarod Veterans and nine more rookies entered the race. The field includes Canadians Michelle Phillips and Gerry Willomitzer along with Sigrid Ekron of Norway and Wattie McDonald of Scotland. Also from the lower 48 or as Alaskans would say “outside” are Pat Moon from Illinois as well as Tom Thurston and Bill Pinkham from Colorado and Trent Herbst currently of Idaho but soon to be from Alaska.  For a current musher listing click here.

Returning to the field for 2012 is four-time champion Jeff King. When asked about coming out of retirement, King was emphatic that he NEVER said he was retiring; he was only taking a break. Former Iditarod champions Martin Buser, Lance Mackey, and Mitch Seavey signed up today as well as current champion, John Baker. Iditarod 2012 will be DeeDee Jonrowe’s 30th trek to Nome. Figure out how many years of combined Iditarod experience that group of mushers has!

The order for bib draw was determined late in the day. The names of all mushers signing up today and all entries received by mail prior to the picnic were drawn from a large can wrapped in flowered contact paper. The order the names came out of the can is the order the musher will draw his or her starting position at the Musher Banquet just before the race.

At long last, to conclude the festivities of the day – the drawing for two free entries. But wait, first, names are drawn for 500 booties, a ladle, and 12 bowls. Now it’s finally time for two mushers to have their entry fees returned – and the winners are – Kelley Griffin and Martin Buser! Both mushers danced with joy coming forward to give the little girl making the draws ginormous hugs.

There you have it – a quick run down on the festivities of the Volunteer Picnic and Musher Signup. Many thanks to the Millennium of Anchorage for the delicious food. Stay tuned for more action and articles as Iditarod XL draws closer.

Born to Run,
Sanka