85 mushers will leave Willow Sunday, headed for Nome

WILLOW — Saturday, 85 mushers and their teams eased their way down a 3-mile stretch in Anchorage. It’s the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Mushers shake hands, greet fans and wave as they follow their teams from downtown to midtown Anchorage.

It’s the Iditarod’s annual pomp and circumstance.

The real race starts today.

That same group of 85 mushers and their teams will be in Willow for the official start of the Last Great Race. Anchorage’s Scott Janssen will be the first to leave the starting chute on Willow Lake en route for the first checkpoint on the trial, Yentna Station, when the restart begins at 2 p.m. Eighty-four teams will follow Janssen, making their way off Willow Lake and onto a trail that cuts through birch forest and spruce swamps prior to the Yentna checkpoint, near the confluence of the Susitna and Yentna rivers.

“It looks like the start is going to be as good as ever,” Iditarod race director and race marshal Mark Nordman said during the Iditarod media briefing earlier this week.

Nordman reports a, “hard and fast,” trail out of Willow. Toward Skwentna and Rainy Pass, Nordman said the snow, “just keeps getting deeper and deeper.”

These types of reports outline a good beginning for the restart, which returns home to Willow after a year in Fairbanks. Iditarod officials were forced to move the 2015 restart north to Fairbanks due to poor conditions on the early stretch of the traditional route. It marks a happy homecoming for Valley mushers, who make up a third of the field. Of the 85 mushers in the 2016 race, 28 call the Valley home. A baker’s dozen are from the Willow area.

Willow’s Lisbet Norris will be the first Valley musher to leave Willow Lake today, drawing the No. 7 bib. Three-time Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey, also of Willow, has the No. 16 bib. He’s part of a bunch of four Valley mushers — Big Lake’s James Volek, Seavey, Big Lake’s Kelly Maixner and Wasilla’s Ray Redington Jr — who will depart consecutively.

Fan favorite DeeDee Jonrowe, making her 34th start today, departs in the No. 45 position, three spots ahead of Big Lake’s Martin Buser, a four-time champ. Wasilla’s Kristy Berington will be the final Valley musher to leave Willow Lake, departing in the No. 83 position.

The Willow restart draws thousands of spectators annually, and race officials are urging fans to utilize a shuttle service that has been coordinated for race day.

“Parking is a premium in Willow. We encourage everybody to take the bus,” Willow restart coordinator Darrell Davis said earlier this week. “Typically speaking, by noon there’s no parking left in Willow.”

The Iditarod Trail Committee is offering shuttle bus service from several locations to Willow. Spectators can board busses in Anchorage, Houston, Wasilla and Talkeetna.

At a cost of $2 per person roundtrip, spectators can catch buses at two locations in Wasilla, the Menard Sports Center and Wasilla High School. Busses leave Wasilla High at 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., noon, 12:15 p.m., 12:30 p.m., 12:45 p.m. and 1 p.m. Busses will also leave the Menard at 11 a.m., 11:20 a.m. and noon.

Tickets are cash only, and sold onsite. Children under 12 are free.

Fans can also catch busses at Houston High School at 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m., noon and 12:30 p.m. Tickets are also $2, cash only, for a roundtrip. Children under 12 are free.

Busses will depart Willow at 4, 5 and 6 p.m.

Forty-two miles of trail separates Willow Lake and Yentna Station. Early stops on the trail also include checkpoints at Skwentna, Finger Lake and Rainy Pass.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.

IDITAROD START ORDER

Mushers begin leaving Willow Lake at 2 p.m. Sunday.

1. Honorary

2. Scott Janssen, Anchorage

3. Jessie Royer, Darby, Mont.

4. Nathan Schroeder, Chisholm, Minn.

5. Allen Moore, Two Rivers

6. Ketil Reitan, Kaktovik

7. Lisbet Norris, Willow

8. Monica Zappa, Kasilof

9. Charley Bejna, Addison, Ill.

10. Cim Smyth, Big Lake

11. Peter Kaiser, Bethel

12. Nicholas Petit, Girdwood

13. Aliy Zirkle, Two Rivers

14. Jodi Bailey, Fairbanks

15. James Volek, Big Lake

16. Dallas Seavey, Willow

17. Kelly Maixner, Big Lake

18. Ray Redington Jr., Wasilla

19. Mitch Seavey, Seward

20. Rick Casillo, Willow

21. Noah Pereira, Brockport, N.Y.

22. Becca Moore, Willow

23. Anna Berington, Wasilla

24. Jason Campeau, Alberta

25. Jan Steves, Willow

26. Robert Bundtzen, Anchorage

27. Sigrid Ekran, Alvdal, Norway

28. Travis Beals, Seward

29. Ellen Halverson, Wasilla

30. Michelle Phillips, Yukon

31. Joar Leifseth Ulsom, Norway

32. Brent Sass, Eureka

33. Wade Marrs, Willow

34. Kim Franklin, Hertz, U.K.

35. Dag Torulf Olsen, Norway

36. Mats Pettersson, Sweden

37. Robert Sorlie, Hurdal, Norway

38. Richie Diehl, Aniak

39. Noah Burmeister, Nome

40. Mike Williams Jr., Akiak

41. Linwood Fiedler, Willow

42. Kristin Bacon, Big Lake

43. Larry Daugherty, Eagle River

44. Ryne Olson, Two Rivers

45. DeeDee Jonrowe, Willow

46. Justin Savidis, Willow

47. Kristin Knight Pace, Healy

48. Martin Buser, Big Lake

49. Mary Helwig, Willow

50. Ed Stielstra, McMillan, Mich.

51. Jim Lanier, Chugiak

52. Tore Albrigtsen, Tromso, Norway

53. Patrick Beall, Norman, Okla.

54. Alan Eishens, Wasilla

55. Paul Gebhardt, Kasilof

56. Robe Cooke, Whitehorse, Yukon

57. Robert Redington, Wasilla

58. Trent Herbst, Ketchum, Idaho

59. Cody Strathe, Fairbanks

60. Ryan Redington, Wasilla

61. Jeff King, Denali Park

62. Scott Smith, Willow

63. Matt Failor, Willow

64. Tim Pappas, Big Lake

65. Miriam Osredkar, Willow

66. John Baker, Kotzebue

67. Jason Mackey, Salcha

68. Lars Monsen, Skiptvet, Norway

69. Elliot Anderson, Big Lake

70. Hugh Neff, Tok

71. Sarah Stokey, Seward

72. Lance Mackey, Fairbanks

73. Cindy Gallea, Wykoff, Minn.

74. Zoya DeNure, Delta Junction

75. Paige Drobny, Fairbanks

76. Karin Hendrickson, Wasilla

77. Ralph Johannessen, Norway

78. Tom Jamgochian, Nome

79. Geir Idar Hjelvik, Norway

80. Billy Snodgrass, DuBois, Wyo.

81. Ken Anderson, Fairbanks

82. Melissa Owens Stewart, Nome

83. Kristy Berington, Wasilla

84. Hans Gatt, Whitehorse, Yukon

85. Katherine Keith, Kotzebue

86. Martin Koenig, Seeley Lake, Montana