Mushers from North and beyond get set for 26th Yukon Quest

Twenty-nine mushers and their fastest dogs will line up in Whitehorse Saturday for the Yukon Quest, the international sled-dog race through the Yukon and Alaska.

Teams will depart from First Avenue in Whitehorse at 11 a.m. PT (2 p.m. ET), spending the next two weeks running 1,600 kilometres through snow, ice and Arctic conditions before finishing in Fairbanks, Alaska.

The weather forecast for Whitehorse calls for sunny skies but chilly temperatures Saturday morning, with a low of 28 C and a high of 15 C.

Alongside competitors from the Yukon, Alaska and the northern continental U.S. will be some overseas rookies, including Mark Sleightholme of Mossley, England, whose name was drawn Thursday to be the first musher to leave the starting line.

"If I had been first out in one of the other races I did the qualifiers in, I would have been pretty nervous, [with] smaller trails and stuff. But I figure I can't get lost up the big white river," Sleightholme told CBC News.

"It's going to be pretty cool to lead the race for at leasta few minutes. I think those quick guys will be passing me before too long."

One rookie who has created worldwide buzz leading up to the Quest is Newton Marshall and his Jamaica Dogsled Team.

The 25-year-old from St. Anne's Parish, Jamaica, has spent the past two years in the Yukon preparing for the Quest. He was encouraged to try mushing by the tour company he works for back home in Jamaica.

The team is sponsored in part by singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett and his Margaritaville restaurant chain. His dogs come from Whitehorse musher Hans Gatt, who has been his coach and will be his fellow competitor come Saturday.

"If he takes care of those dogs, then they will get him to Fairbanks no problem," Gatt told CBC News in an interview.

Marshall has been followed by a documentary crew, as well as a team of optimistic supporters.

Gatt's partner, Susie Rogan, said she really hopes Marshall will enjoy and finish the sled-dog race, which is known to be physically and mentally demanding.

"Obviously a lot of people scratch out of the Quest; like, half the rookies don't make it," she said.

"But he's got, you know, the best coach, the best team. ... Obviously, there's other fantastic teams out there as well, but he couldn't have [had] a better team."

Gatt, a three-time Yukon Quest champion, said this year's race will have some tough competition.

"I know William Kleedehn has an awesome dog team. Sebastian Schnuelle has a good team," Gatt said, referring to his fellow Yukon mushers from Carcross and Whitehorse, respectively.

"And then of course, there's the Alaskans Martin Buser is a rookie in the race, but Martin has won the Iditarod four times, and he's one of the best long-distance mushers in the world, and you definitely have to count him in."

Another Alaskan musher to watch may be Jason Mackey, 37, the younger brother of four-time Quest champion Lance Mackey, who dropped out of this year's race to focus on the Iditarod.

The younger Mackey is making his Yukon Quest debut this year. He finished in 26th and 33rd place in Iditarod races from 2004 and 2008.