Four-time Yukon Quest finisher Gerry Willomitzer of Whitehorse led the pack of frontrunners out of Finger Lake at 6:04 a.m. Willomitzer, who finished 30th in his rookie Iditarod race last year, has been moving among the leaders early this year. His best finish at the Quest was third place in last year's Quest.

The man who beat him in that race, defending Iditarod champion Lance Mackey, followed Willomitzer 52 minutes later.

"People might expect me to do well here," Mackey said Sunday as well-wishers flocked around him on the frozen Willow Lake just before the clock started ticking on the run to Nome. "As far at that goes, there is nobody putting pressure on me except for me," .

Within a half-hour, three other mushers were out of Finger Lake -- German rookie Benedikt Beisch at 7:05 a.m., four-time Iditarod champion Martin Buser at 7:21 a.m. and Hugh Neff of Skagway, who's beginning his fourth Iditarod.

All had their full complement of 16 dogs.

Thirteen mushers had reached Finger Lake early Monday morning. Among them was the winningest Iditarod musher of all time, Rick Swenson of Two Rivers. The aging Swenson is coming off two of the worst Iditarods in his illustrious career -- 26th and 25th places -- but the notorious slow-starter seems to be making a harder push this year. He started 61st out of Willow on Sunday afternoon and was up to ninth by Monday morning.

Also into Finger Lake was Kjetil Backen of Norway, the kennel partner of two-time champion Robert Sorlie. Backen finished third in 2004

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So far, only G.B. Jones of Willow has scratched. He did so after Saturday's ceremonial start through Anchorage.

However, one musher at the back of the pack -- Trent Herbst of Homer -- was not yet reported out of the Yentna checkpoint, just a few miles into the race.

Mushers are chasing after a $875,000 purse to be paid out among the top 30 finishers