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| 28th
year of Alaska's great race
|
| 01/06/00 IDITAROD'S RECORD FIELD LOSES FOUR MUSHERS The record field for the 2000 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is shrinking. By the time Iditarod Trail Committee officials got a final count of entries in the mail in time for last month's entry deadline, the field had grown to a whopping 97 -- more than a dozen above the previous record of 84 back in 1992. Since then, however, four mushers have withdrawn. Cim Smith of Big Lake; Jesse Beebe of Bradford, Maine; Dale Myers of Wasilla; and Jeremy Gebauer of Lincoln, Mont., say they won't be able to make the big show. Iditarod officials expect a few more mushers to bail out before the March 4 start of the race, but a record field is still almost guaranteed in downtown Anchorage on Iditarod morning. The biggest group ever to leave Anchorage before was 76 from that 1992 signup of 84. Iditarod officials project that by the time everyone gets to the starting line this year there will be somewhere between 85 and 90 mushers ready to try the 1,100-mile run across Alaska to Nome. Interest in the race appears high, judging not only from race signups but from related events. Iditarod officials report, for instance, that if you don't already have tickets to the annual prerace banquet your chances of attending the celebration range from slim to none. The banquet's 1,300 seats sold out in November. Sullivan Arena then came up with a plan to reconfigure the seating to add another 400 seats, but those immediately went to Iditarod fans who had signed onto a waiting list. Names remain on that list, and the Iditarod is taking more. Some of these people might be able to get the tickets of handlers and sponsors associated with mushers who withdraw from the race before the start. Some of those tickets usually come back to the Iditarod and are handed out to people on the waiting list. But it's a bit of a long shot. -- By CRAIG MEDRED |
©2000
Anchorage Daily News