Cool Dreams Racing Team - Bill Borden

Brenda's 2003 Daily Iditarod Coverage

Countdown to Iditarod 2003 Restart — Fairbanks, Alaska, USA

February

March

March 4 , 2004

Musher Meeting and Opening Banquet - Iditarod 2004

All race participants gathered at the Musher Meeting held at the Millennium Hotel today. This

is where trail conditions were discussed in detail and all rules reviewed with the mushers. The mushers also had lunch with their IditaRiders. We were still on our way into to town while this was going on. It snowed all night last night and the roads were very slick. We saw seven cars in the ditch and two of those were belly-up. We also spotted a group of four moose in the Palmer Hay Flats, which were very close to the road, enough for us to pull over and take a few snapshots.

After the Musher meeting we met some more ladies from Georgia who were on their first ever Iditarod visit. We helped them round up tickets for the banquet tonight. A brief stop at REI and Fred Meyer were the only break in the action as the Banquet crowd started gathering about 6pm at the Sullivan Arena. With a record number of mushers on tap to draw their bib numbers, everyone expected to be there a very long while. Actually many mushers, rather than thanking every single sponsor, simply walked briskly by the microphone and gave a quick one word, “Thanks!!” This drew loud applause, as everyone wanted to move through the list quickly and get home to get some rest. Others did give longer talks and Jeff King gave his speech in the form of a catchy little poem. Jeff drew number 13, which is said to be the winningest bib number in the race. Judy Merritt who has the Cool Dreams dogs will be bib number 10 on Saturday morning. By drawing #10, Judy will have to stay 26 hours and 36 minutes for her 24hour layover. Last bib to draw was Vern Halter who’ll go out of the chute first behind the honorary musher, Terry Adkins. The full line up will be in the Anchorage Daily News, so please click on the link and find your favorite musher. Earlier in the evening, G.B. Jones and Perry Solomonson each won a chain saw and thousand-dollar gift certificate from Cabela’s. We saw lots of friends from over the years of being Iditarod volunteers which is one of the great things about coming back each year for the race. The festivities ended about 11:30 and the drive home was again very slippery.

Top Headlines from the Anchorage Daily News

See the Cool Dreams Photos Page for more 2004 Jr. Iditarod and
Iditarod Photos

Check this page often for daily updates.

• 2004 Iditarod Pre-race Coverage will begin
here on March 3rd.

• Full 2004 Iditarod Sled Dog Race Coverage
begins here with the race start on March 6th.

Click below for links to CURRENT LISTINGS of
2004 IDITAROD MUSHERS
2004 JR IDITAROD MUSHERS
JR IDITAROD STANDINGS AND RACE UPDATES

WEBCAMS:
START of the 2004 Iditarod
Iditarod FINISH LINE



		February 28, 2003 Start Position — Musher — Hometown 1 — Howard and Julie Farley — honorary 2 — John Baker — Kotzebue 3 — Ted English — Willow 4 — Cali King — Denali Park 5 — Perry Solomonson — Whittier 6 — Jason Barron — Lincoln, Mont. 7 — Tyrell Seavey — Seward 8 — Jessie Royer — Fairbanks 9 — Ed Iten — Kotzebue 10 — Dexter Kancer — Nenana 11 — Blake Matray — Two Rivers 12 — Ben Stamm — Argyle, Wis. 13 — Jim Lanier — Chugiak 14 — Paul Gebhardt — Kasilof 15 — Martin Buser — Big Lake 16 — Karen Land — Sand Coulee, Mont. 17 — Cim Smyth — Big Lake 18 — Jeff King — Denali Park 19 — Vern Halter — Willow 20 — Lance Barve — Willow 21 — Frank Sihler — Wasilla 22 — Gerald Riley — Nenana 23 — Robert Sorlie — Hurdal, Norway 24 — Cindy Gallea — Seely Lake, Mont. 25 — Aaron Burmeister — Nome 26 — Lynda Plettner — Houston 27 — Charlie Boulding — Manley 28 — Ray Redington Jr. — Two Rivers 29 — Todd Capistrant — Emerald, Wis. 30 — DeeDee Jonrowe — Willow 31 — Jack Berry — Salcha 32 — Debbie Moderow — Anchorage 33 — Ramey Smyth — Big Lake 34 — Carla Kelly — Anchorage 35 — G.B. Jones — Wasilla 36 — Ken Anderson — Fairbanks 37 — Bruce Lee — Denali Park 38 — Karen Ramstead — Perryvale, Alberta 39 — Randy Chappel — Arlington, Texas 40 — Peter Bartlett — Willow 41 — Linwood Fiedler — Willow 42 — Ramy Brooks — Healy 43 — Mitch Seavey — Seward 44 — Sonny Lindner — Fairbanks 45 — Aliy Zirkle — Two Rivers 46 — Melanie Gould — Talkeetna 47 — Rick Swenson — Two Rivers 48 — Tim Osmar — Ninilchik 49 — Gerald Sousa — Talkeetna 50 — Ellen Halverson — Wasilla 51 — Mike Williams — Akiak 52 — Bill Pinkham — Glenwood Springs, Colo. 53 — Palmer Sagoonick — Shaktoolik 54 — Adam Scott Gibler — Chugiak 55 — Dean Osmar — Clam Gulch 56 — Jon Little — Kasilof 57 — Jim Gallea — Sterling 58 — Bob Hickel — Anchorage 59 — Keith Aili — Ray, Minn. 60 — Jessica Hendricks — Copper Center 61 — Russell Bybee — Willow 62 — Kelly LaMarre — Geneva, Ill. 63 — Lachlan Clarke — Colorado Springs, Colo. 64 — Robert Bundtzen — Anchorage 65 — Clint Warnke — Bonnie Lake, Wash