The ceremonial start of the 2008 Iditarod is at 9:30am this morning Alaska time. That’s 12:30pm CST. The official restart (the actual beginning of the race) will be March 2 at 2:00pm Alaska time ((5:00pm CST).
Early reports are that the trail conditions are good:
The good news and bad news for 96 mushers getting ready to vault out of Willow Sunday morning behind 16 powerful and enthusiastic huskies is that the Iditarod trail appears to be about “normal.†There’s plenty of snow where there usually is, and not much — perhaps none — where the going is typically barren.
That’s a lot better than the barren trail conditions of last year’s race.
Update
One of Alaska’s senators, Lisa Murkowski, spoke briefly just before the ceremonial start. Alaska’s governor, Sarah Palin, was on hand to sign a bill into law proclaiming the first Saturday in March “Susan Butcher Day”. It was a nice touch.
