The Mushers
This is the starting grid for the 2010 Yukon Quest:
1 Abbie West, Two Rivers, AK, US
2 Zack Steer, Sheep Mountain, AK, US
3 David Dalton, Healy, AK, US
4 Sam Deltour, Sint-Kruis, Belgium
5 Gerry Willomitzer, Shallow Bay, YT, Canada
6 Katie Davis, Olney, MT, US
7 Terry Williams, Fairbanks, AK, US
8 Jocelyne LeBlanc, Whitehorse, YT, Canada
9 Cindy Barrand, Kasilof, AK, US
10 Normand Casavant, Whitehorse, YT, Canada
11 Lance Mackey, Fairbanks, AK, US
12 Brent Sass, Fairbanks, AK, US
13 Hans Gatt, Whitehorse, YT, Canada
14 Bart DeMarie, Christopher Lake, SK, Canada
15 Kelley Griffin, Wasilla, AK, US
16 Jennifer Raffaeli, Fox, AK, US
17 Ken Anderson, Fox, AK, US
18 Mike Ellis, Two Rivers, AK, US
19 Pierre-Antoine Heritier, Crans-Montana, VS, Switzerland
20 Sonny Linder, Two Rivers, AK, US
21 Joshua Cadzow, Fort Yukon, AK, US
22 Dries Jacobs, Jabbeke, Belgium
23 Hugh Neff, Tok, AK, US
24 Peter Fleck, Salisbury, UK
The weather at the start is currently forecast to be mostly cloudy with the temperature at 0° F. There should be 7½ hours of daylight plus an hour of twilight on each side that will grow by 7 minutes per day. The moon will be just past its last quarter and waning during the race, so not a lot of help, even if the skies were clear.
Obviously the veteran of the race is Sonny Linder won the the first Quest in 1984. This is his first Quest since 1992 and at 60, possibly his last.
The undeniable rookie is 19-year-old Peter Fleck of Salisbury, England, who has only been mushing for a year.
Sam Deltour of Belgium is a rookie on the Quest, but he was the first Belgian to finish an Iditarod in 2008, coming in 60th, but with all 16 dogs in the Mitch Seavey puppy team that he was running.
Lance Mackey has to be considered the favorite, but there is a lot speed and experience in this field.
