• Jessica Hendricks, the defending champion and runner-up in 2007.
• Aliy Zirkle and her husband Allen Moore of Two Rivers. Zirkle, the 2000 Yukon Quest champion, has finished nine Iditarods, including a 17th-place finish in March. Moore was the runner-up at Sheep Mountain last year, six minutes behind Hendricks.
• Ray Redington, Jr., the grandson of Joe Redington, Sr., who was 20th in the last Iditarod and 14th in 2002.
• Paul Gebhardt, the two-time Iditarod runner-up who finished 16th in the March race.
Mackey won Sheep Mountain the last time he entered in 2007. The winner's share of the purse is $1,750.
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