Nome, Day 10 - The Musher's Banquet

The final event of the race is a banquet for 400 people in the Nome Rec Center. The Lakeshore Hotel in Anchorage caters the meal and sponsor Northern Air Cargo hauls 7500 pounds of food and equipment in for the event.

The menu includes prime rib, pesto chicken, potatoes, rice, vegetables, pasta salad, green salad, peel and eat shrimp, rolls, pastries, and strawberries.  Each of three serving lines has a flower decorated sled full of strawberries - regular and chocolate covered.

I was standing in line near the stage when a large group edged in in front of us.  Jeff King was at the back of the group and so I kiddingly asked him if the trophy at the edge of the stage looked familiar.  He glanced at it and realized they had created a new trophy since the last time he won... so he stood next to it for a quick picture.  He's the 4-time winner who grew up in St. Helena.







After everyone eats, the awards are presented.  I had the pleasure of sitting next to rookie of the year, Sebastian Vergnaud, one of two French racers.  Turns out he lives near mile 89 of the Parks Highway so he is almost a Talkeetnan.  He was wearing a "There's no place like Nome" tee shirt.

After the awards, each and every racer is called to the stage in reverse order of finish.  I don't have time to go through everything, so I will give you Cindy Abbott the red lantern and Mitch Seavey, the winner.

We're packing up now... tonight is the flight back to Anchorage.  One meal to make and we are out the door.

Bye.   (Just to prove I was here... here's me under the arch!)