Iditarod 36 restarts today

Frontiersman staff

WILLOW — Thousands of fans and a record number of dog teams will hit the ice of Willow Lake today for the official re-start of the 36th running of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

The race officially begins at 2 p.m. today, when Big Lake’s Cim Smyth hits the 1,063-mile trail to Nome. Smyth will be the first of 96 mushers out of the chute, the largest field in Iditarod history. Among those will be 26 from the Mat-Su Valley.

The Willow Community Center will again serve as the official starting area, though parking is limited. As in previous years, the Iditarod will provide complimentary shuttle service from parking at Willow Airport for spectators, although anyone wishing to park at the airport will be expected to cough up a $10 fee.

For fans who don’t want to pay for parking, the race will also offer free shuttles running continuously between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. to the Wasilla Sports Complex and Houston High School. Shuttles from the start location to the Talkeetna Sunshine Station will leave at 11 a.m. and noon.

Following the race, buses will run from Willow back to the original pick-up sites through 6 p.m.

A variety of vendor booths will be available for fans on the lake, as will rest room facilities. Mushers will leave the starting chute at two-minute intervals on their way to Yentna Station, the first checkpoint in the

race.

For more information, visit www.iditarod.com.

Iditarod 36 start order:

1. Max Lowe, Anchorage (Honorary Musher; 2. Cim Smyth, Big Lake; 3. Jessie Royer, Fairbanks; 4. Jim Lanier, Chugiak; 5. Matt Hayashida, Willow; 6. Lance Mackey, Fairbanks; 7. Gerry Willomitzer, Canada; 8. Bruce Linton, Kasilof; 9. Ken Anderson, Fairbanks; 10. Gerald Sousa, Talkeetna; 11. Jeff King, Denali; 12. Joe Gans, Willow; 13. Martin Buser, Big Lake; 14. Aaron Burmeister, Nome; 15. Clint Warnke, Fairbanks; 16. Hugh Neff, Skagway; 17. Aliy Zirkle, Two Rivers; 18. Art Church Jr., Willow; 19. Karen Ramstead, Alberta; 20. Rick Holt, Willow; 21. Deborah Bicknell, Auke Bay; 22. Wayne Curtis, Wasilla; 23. Jessica Hendricks, Two Rivers; 24. Sigrid Ekran, Norway; 25. Eric Rogers, Eagle River; 26. Zack Steer, Sheep Mountain; 27. Sue Allen, Wasilla; 28. Joe Garnie, Teller; 29. Laura Daugereau, Port Gamble, Wash.; 30. Matt Calore, Trapper Creek; 31. Kirk Barnum, Seeley Lake, Mont.; 32. Ed Iten, Kotzebue; 33. Mitch Seavey, Sterling; 34. Rick Casillo, Willow; 35. Scott Smith, Willow; 36. Jason Mackey, Kasilof; 37. Rohn Buser, Big Lake; 38. Hans Gatt, Canada; 39. DeeDee Jonrowe, Willow; 40. Silvia Willis, Deshka River; 41. Jason Barron, Lincoln, Mont.; 42. Kjetil Backen, Norway; 43. Jake Berkowitz, McMillan, Mich.; 44. Warren Palfrey, Canada; 45. G.B. Jones, Wasilla; 46. Michael Suprenant, Chugiak; 47. Heather Siirtola, Talkeetna; 48. Ramey Smyth, Willow; 49. Ray Redington, Jr., Wasilla; 50. Jeff Deeter, Wasilla; 51. Ryan Redington, Wasilla; 52. Rudi Niggemeier, Germany; 53. Gene Smith, Omak, Wash.; 54. Blake Freking, Finland, Minn.; 55. Rachael Scdoris, Bend, Ore.; 56. Cliff Roberson, Corvallis, Ore.; 57. Steven Madsen, Cougar, Wash.; 58. Lachlan Clarke, Buena Vista, Colo.; 59. Melissa Owens, Nome; 60. Jennifer Freking, Finland, Minn.; 61. Rick Swenson, Two Rivers; 62. Molly Yazwinski, Fairbanks; 63. Sam Deltour, Belgium; 64. Benedikt Beisch, Germany; 65. Dries Jacobs, Belgium; 66. William Kleedehn, Canada; 67. John Baker, Kotzebue; 68. Sebastian Schnuelle, Canada; 69. Paul Gebhardt, Kasilof; 70. Robert Nelson, Kotzebue; 71. Jon Korta, Galena; 72. Sue Morgan, Richmond, Utah; 73. Sven Haltmann, Willow; 74. William Hanes, Kasilof; 75. Liz Parrish, Klamath Falls, Ore.; 76. Allen Moore, Two Rivers; 77. Fabrizio Lovati, Italy; 78. Rodney Whaley, Franklin, Tenn.; 79. Kim Franklin, United Kingdom; 80. Louis Nelson Sr., Kotzebue; 81. Darin Nelson, Kotzebue; 82. Cindy Gallea, Seeley Lake, Mont.; 83. Joe Runyan, Cliff, N.M.; 84. Rich Corcoran, Valdez; 85. Trent Herbst, Homer; 86. Kelley Griffin, Wasilla; 87. John Stetson, Duluth, Minn.; 88. Anne Capistrant, Healy; 89. Zoya DeNure, Gakona; 90. Richard Savoyski, Palmer; 91. Benoit Gerard, France; 92. Ed Stielstra, McMillan, Mich.; 93. Peter Bartlett, Wasilla; 94. Tom Roig, Shreve, Ohio; 95. Rick Larson, Sand Coulee, Mont.; 96. Martin Koenig, Seeley Lake, Mont.; 97. Robert Bundtzen, Anchorage.