Buddy Streeper is a no-show, but the last three men who earned championships will be on Fourth Avenue on Friday to begin pursuit of more glory in this year's Fur Rendezvous World Championships sled dog race.
Some musher named Lance Mackey will be there too.
Mackey is making his Rondy debut and will, as requested, be the last team to hit the trail on Thursday. The four-time Iditarod champion and four-time Yukon Quest champion is running a puppy team and said he doesn't want his team to get in the way of others.
Greg Taylor of Fairbanks will be the first musher to leave the start at Fourth and D Street.
Starting third is 2012 champion Ken Chezik of Fife Lake, Mich., who won the ExxonMobil Open earlier this month.
Going out seventh and eighth are defending champion Arleigh Reynolds of Salcha and 2011 champion Egil Ellis of Willow, who is chasing his sixth Rondy championship.
Streeper, a Canadian racer with five Rondy titles, including four straight from 2007-10, signed up for the race but decided against running. So did uncle Eddy Streeper, a two-time champ.
A field of 15 mushers is chasing a purse of $55,000. They'll race a 25-mile course through the city on three straight days.
Heats begin at noon each day.
Fur Rendezvous World Championship
Friday's start order
1 Greg Taylor Fairbanks
2 John Hanson New Stuyahok
3 Ken Chezik Fife Lake, Mich.
4 Donald Cousins Crooked Creek, Alberta
5 Marvin Kokrine North Pole
6 Jack Berry Homer
7 Arleigh Reynolds Salcha
8 Egil Ellis Willow
9 Jason Dunlap Salcha
10 John Erhart Tanana
11 Bill Kornmuller Willow
12 James Wheeler Clam Gulch
13 Kevin Cook Preeceville, Saskatchewan
14 Dave Turner Sandy, Ore.
15 Lance Mackey Fairbanks
Anchorage Daily News