Fairbanks musher Jason Mackey will hit the trail first when the 2026 Yukon Quest Alaska 750 gets underway Saturday.
Mackey made the random pick at the Meet the Mushers event Thursday night in Fairbanks. That's where competitors and fans chatted over food, drinks, and a poster-signing assembly line. Mushers then determined the race order by drawing their bib numbers in front of the crowd.
Mackey was also first up last year, and he said he considers it a good spot to be again.
"Because it’s not the back of the pack number – even though there’s only six teams,” he said. “I mean, I don’t know, I don’t mind going out number one. I just don’t."
Eight teams signed up by the deadline for the Quest's premier race this year, but that’s since fallen to six. Yukon Quest Alaska Board President Lisa Mackey said in November they were hoping for at least 20 teams to sign up.
Fairbanks musher Keaton Loebrich, who pulled bib two Thursday, has a theory about the size of the field.
"Everybody else is afraid to run this race,” he said. “All the other mushers are scared."
Reigning Quest champion Jeff Deeter, also of Fairbanks, will be fourth out this weekend, and he said he thinks Loebrich is onto something. Deeter said the Quest is known for suffering, but he said it’s also about enjoying the seclusion, having a good time with dogs, and visiting hospitable communities along the way.
“No one runs the Yukon Quest for a nice trail. Like, that’s never been a thing, and it’s never gonna be a thing. But we’re running the Yukon Quest because it’s the Yukon Quest,” he said.
The guaranteed purse this year is $35,000, according to race officials, who’ve also said the 750 trail will actually cover over 800 miles.
The race begins Saturday morning at 11 a.m. behind the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center in downtown Fairbanks.
Here’s the full race order: Jason Mackey, Keaton Loebrich, Patrick Mackey, Jeff Deeter, Jonah Bacon, Josi Shelley. (Mushers Shane Blumentritt and Dereck Starr had signed up for the race but dropped out before the bib draw.)