It's official: Canada will be represented in the 2012 Yukon Quest.

Yukoner Maren Bradley yesterday became the first representative from this side of the boarder to sign up for the 1,600-kilometre sled dog race from Fairbanks, Alaska, to Whitehorse, starting Feb. 4.

As a rookie, Bradley was the 19th musher to sign up for this year's Quest.

The first 18 mushers to sign on since the Aug. 6 opening day are from Fairbanks. Ten are veterans and the remaining eight are rookies.

Notable returning mushers are 2011 fourth-place finisher Brent Sass of Eureka/Fairbanks, Alaska, and sixth-place finisher Allen Moore of Two Rivers, Alaska.

Absent from the list as of today is last year's champion Dallas Seavey – who at 23-years-old was the youngest musher to win the Quest – and Canadian Sebastian Schnuelle, who took second last year with a time of 10 days, 12 hours, 26 minutes.

At 28-years-old, Bradley has the Yukon Quest 300 and Percy de Wolfe Memorial Dog Sled Race out of Dawson City under her belt.

Executive director for the Yukon board, Sue Thomas, said having one Yukoner committed in the early going is par for the course.

In 2011, 25 mushers signed up for the Quest, with three withdrawing before the race and nine scratching.

Early registration for the 2012 Quest ends Dec. 9, at a cost of $1,500. The late sign up goes until Jan. 6, with a late-registration price tag of $2,000.

"There's still several months for mushers to sign up,” said Thomas, who was hired as the Yukon board's executive director on Aug. 6. "So no, it's not alarming. Also, we knew there were some mushers getting into the retirement phase; having a rookie come in and sign up, that's exciting, that there's new blood, if you will, coming into the Quest.”

Last year, four-time Quest champ and record holder Hans Gatt signed up late after weighing his options between running the Quest, the International Pedigree Stage Stop Sled-dog Race in

Wyoming and the famed Iditarod in Alaska.

Thomas said the Yukon board is confident more Yukon mushers will sign on in the coming months.

"There's always the discussions that take place in the rumour mill amongst the mushers,” Thomas said. "But until someone comes in and says, ‘Yes I am (signing up),' or, ‘No I'm not,' we're not sitting here fretting about it. Priorities change in everybody's life, so whether or not they sign up, that's the decision they make.”

The Yukon board announced earlier this month a minimum purse of $150,000 US for the 2012 Quest.

That sum pales in comparison to the purse for the 2011 Iditarod: $528,000 US, as reported by the Anchorage Daily News.

And while both the Quest and Iditarod are generally separated by a few weeks, some mushers run both, as Gatt did last year, finishing third after scratching in the Quest.

But for drawing those mushers to the Quest who chose between races, the Iditarod purse is difficult to contend with.

"In order to put on a race of this magnitude, there's funding required to do it,” Thomas said. "We're a not-for-profit organization. Any funding that comes in either goes to the purse, or it goes directly to running the race.

"There's a lot of logistics to do on this race because it's crossing so much remote area: there's the trail to set to make sure it's safe for the mushers, there's the checkpoints, there's the veterinarians, there's layover in Dawson City, there's all of the safety pieces that need to be attended to. So funding is critical to put on a successful race that is safe for the mushers and for the dogs.”

This year's Yukon Quest board has put a focus on securing sponsors and funding to put on the 29th running of the race.

That's already been a challenge, Thomas said.

"There's quite a push on right now, and I hope it doesn't annoy too many people,” she laughed.

"We're having to do this to make sure there's a race; it's a major part of our work, is seeking sponsorship and seeking funding to make sure the race happens.”

That funding goes directly to the purse, she added.

"If we get additional money through sponsorships, donations, it can all go to the purse. Sometimes that puts the Quest organization, the actual administration of the Quest, in a little bit of a deficit, because the focus is the purse and making sure the purse is there for the mushers.

"This funding, and the purse, is very much community-based, so if the community is not supporting the Quest, either in kind contributions or financially, then it makes it hard for the race to happen; and that would be pretty sad.”

Especially considering the Quest is coming on its 30th edition, in 2013, said Thomas.

"It's a long-standing race, and it really, really needs community support to continue. And I'm not sure that's understood, just how much the community contributes to the success of this race.

We're just the coordinators making it all happen and making sure it's safe for the mushers, and that there is a race for the mushers,” Thomas said.