For the last three years, I’ve traveled to Duluth to watch the start of the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon. I went to the starting line the first year because I wanted to get “insurance” shots— photos of the racers as they headed through the chute in broad daylight. That way, whoever won, whether they came through Cook County Beargrease checkpoints in dawn or dusk, I would have a good, clear, action shot of the winner to publish.
That was the reason I drove to Duluth the first year. But since then I’ve made the trip because I’m hooked. The start of the Beargrease is an amazing thing to see.
A hundred or more dog trucks. Vendors selling winter gear. Music blaring from loudspeakers. Shivering tourists unprepared for the cold wind blowing across the field. Friends and family saying their goodbyes and good luck to the mushers. Bored kids building snowmen and crawling around snow banks. Handlers packing, counting, grumbling a bit. And the dogs straining at their harnesses, ready, ready, ready to run.
There is a very vocal emcee announcing the countdown to the race, getting the crowd as excited as the dogs. Then the emcee asks for quiet and everyone stands as the National Anthem is played.
Another moment of stillness follows as the emcee announces the departure of bib No. 1—John Beargrease. The rowdy crowd pauses to remember the man whose memory is honored in the race, who made his living and his life traversing the North Shore. His presence can almost be felt, silently gliding out ahead of the other racers.
Then it’s crazy again as one after another the dog teams roar out of the gate, and up the chute—barely giving photographers time to capture the “insurance” shots.
So it was with great disappointment that I heard that the 2012 marathon had been cancelled due to poor trail conditions. I wasn’t surprised, but I was terribly disappointed.
I was thrilled to hear that Cook County is once again taking up the torch and holding its own, albeit smaller, sled dog race. Cook County did this in 2007 too, when snow conditions cancelled the race. And, as many people know, Cook County mushers were the founders of the current John Beargrease.
There were a number of sled dog races in the 1970s on various routes around the county. I remember watching sled dog teams taking off from The Point in downtown Grand Marais. I moved away before 1980, but I followed mushing news from afar. I was amazed that the race grew to a major event, taking dogs and mushers from Grand Marais to Duluth. I was a bit sad when the race start moved to Duluth.
The marathon still touches us in Cook County. There are exciting opportunities to see the dogs and mushers—at the peaceful Sawbill Trail checkpoint or at the high-energy stops at Devil Track and Trail Center. But the race doesn’t feel like it’s “ours” anymore.
But this year it is “ours” once again. The Gunflint Mail Run of the 1970s— and 2007—is back, taking off from Devil Track Lake at 4 p.m. on Monday, January 30 and heading north to Trail Center, silently gliding through the woods. Mushers will rest at Trail Center for five hours and then will head back to Devil Track, arriving before noon on Tuesday.
Thank you to everyone who is making the race happen. It is a tribute to John Beargrease to see the determination of the community. Somewhere on the trail, I think the spirit wearing bib No. 1 is smiling.
Life is not a matter of holding good
cards, but sometimes playing a poor
hand well.
Jack London
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