It's a green roster for the 28th running of the Yukon Quest, with half of the registered mushers running the 1,600-kilometre (1,000-mile) race for the first time.

"We just find this is where they want to start their professional career,” the Quest's executive director Georgina Leslie said. "We work with them, we try to help support them in whatever development they need.

"I think this race just offers a great experience and a great way to break into the longer races.”

While many of the 13 "rookies” signed up for the 2011 Quest – which this year sets off from Whitehorse on Feb. 5 and finishes in Fairbanks – have never competed in such a long race, a number have run the Iditarod, a 1,840-km race held in Alaska.

The Quest offers a different experience, however. Although it is not as well known in the world outside the Yukon, the Quest is considered by many to be the tougher of the two races. With only nine checkpoints to the Iditarod's 28, mushers on the Quest spend a lot more time on their own with their

dogs, facing stretches of more than 300 km without a mandatory check-in.

Nor is it a race usually won by rookies. They'll have their work cut out for them this year, racing against three veteran Questers who have dominated the podium for the last two years and a handful of others who have made it their business to be in the top ten.

The 2009 champion Sebastian Schnuelle signed up Friday, the last day for mushers to register. That year, he slipped over the Fairbanks finish line just minutes ahead of runner-up Hugh Neff, and set a new record for the international race. He did the trail in just nine days, 23 hours and 20 minutes,

breaking the previous record of 10 days, two hours and 37 minutes set by Lance Mackey in 2007.

That was also the first time in 14 years that a Yukoner took home the crown, the last being Frank Turner in 1995.

After his win, Schnuelle said he would run the Iditarod in March 2009 (he placed second) but would likely retire from dog mushing in 2010. But the trail kept calling and in 2010, he ran the Iditarod once again, this time placing seventh.

His Quest record didn't stand for long. Last year, Hans Gatt crossed the Whitehorse finish line in nine days and 59 minutes, and the following five mushers (Lance Mackey, Neff, Zack Steer, Ken Anderson and Sonny Lindner) all came in under Schnuelle's 2009 record.

Gatt, Neff, Anderson and Lindner, who won the inaugural race in 1984, are all registered to run the Quest this year, as is Brent Sass who has finished strong in the last three runnings and thinks he has the winning formula this year.

"With 10 three- to four-time Quest finishers and a team I have worked with since the beginning of my career, we are ready to put our experiences to work and prove we have what it takes to be a very competitive team,” he writes on his Yukon quest biography. "I have lots of confidence in this group

of dogs.”

Joshua Cadzow, the 2010 rookie of the year, is back and promising to move up from his seventh place finish last year.

Anderson, who came in fifth last year and second in 2008, said he is in it to win this year.

The only reprieve for the newcomers seems to be the absence of Lance Mackey, who came in second last year after winning four in a row from 2005 to 2008.

Another team that is back from a break last year is the Canadian Rangers, who were out packing the trail this weekend, Leslie said.

"We just need a bit more cold weather to get the trail tightened up, and we're in business, she said.

The purse for the Yukon Quest is currently at $150,000, she noted, and is expected to grow as people start bidding on the chance to spend some quality time with their favourite team.

Fans can bid on a package which includes a seat at their chosen musher's banquet table, autographed memorabilia, and VIP access to the staging area and starting line.

"It was actually suggested by the mushers,” Leslie said of the auction, "so they're all excited to have their fans vying for a spot.”