Mitch Seavey reaches into the Mukluk

The big event of the Thursday evening Musher Banquet was drawing for bib numbers. After the mushers sign up at the summer picnic, their names are drawn from a hat to determine the order in which bib numbers will be drawn. Those mushers were in the first draw for bibs 2 through 45. The second draw for bibs 46 to 73 was for mushers who signed up after the June picnic.

There was a little glitch when Aliy Zirkle reached into the big furry mukluk. There should have been at least a few tags remaining in the boot however, it appeared to be empty. After very close examination, some numbers had lodged in the toe of the mukluk out of Aliy’s reach. After a few tense moments of examining the mukluk and extricating the uncooperative chips, Aliy was able to draw her bib number – #41. A complete list of musher bib numbers can be found on the Iditarod web page.