Defending champion Lance Mackey waits to draw his start number at the Yukon Quest Start Banquet Thursday night. Mackey will leave the start chute in 6th position Saturday. 9 dogs in this team finished the Quest last year, including Golden Harness winners Larry and Hobo Jim.
For the first time in the race’s history, Whitehorse’s Frank Turner will not be on a sled at the start line. But he’s passed on the tradition to son Saul Turner and will be helping out along the trail, seeing a new side of the race as a handler. At Thursday’s banquet, Saul asked his father to draw his number. Saul leaves 5th Saturday.
Mushers are gathered in Fairbanks for the start of the 2006 Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race. The start chute is set up on the Chena River in downtown Fairbanks, and 22 teams are preparing to hit the trail Saturday.
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22 teams are now signed up to run the Yukon Quest, after several drop-outs in January. Some of the mushers preparing to start Saturday's race had their dogs examined by trail veterinarians over the weekend.
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Alaskan Hugh Neff signs bib 11, his starting number for the race. Neff placed third in 2005.
Yukoner veteran Michelle Phillips drew number 13 at the Start Banquet. As photographers snap pictures of Phillips in her bib, son Keegan mugs for the camera. He’ll be along the race in checkpoints with father Ed Hopkins, a Quest veteran handling for his wife.
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