Leanne Bergen of Sioux Lookout, Ontario, gives a kick to help her team up a hill in the Gunflint Mail Run. Bergen was the top finisher in the January 3-4, 2015 Gunflint Mail Run. Twelve teams started the race and nine finished in the biting winter weather.
Frank Moe said—with a laugh— his second place finish might have been the result of “49-year-old legs versus 25-year-old legs” in the Gunflint Mail Run sled dog race held Saturday and Sunday, January 3 – 4, 2015.
Battling high winds and extreme cold, nine mushers finished the Gunflint Mail Run last with Grand Marais musher Frank Moe finishing 10 minutes behind the winner, Leanne Bergen of Sioux Lookout, Ontario.
While the dogs do the majority of running, mushers will get off their sleds and run up hills to assist their teams. Bergen, who is 25, is bit spryer than Moe, he asserted. And, I’ve got a few more pounds on her. I imagine my dogs would be quite happy if I lost some weight,” he chuckled.
Bergen’s winning time was 10:35:52 while Moe came across the line at Trail Center in 10:45:53. First day leader Mike Bestgen of St. Cloud finished in third place.
Twelve teams started at Trail Center and completed two 50-mile loops that ran on snowmobile trails from Trail Center to Devil Track Lake and back. After completing the first loop mushers and teams got six-hour break then repeated the same loop on Sunday.
A reporter from Duluth television Channel 10 interviewed a frozen Leanne Bergen at the end of the race at Trail Center. The discussion was brief—Bergen had to tend to her dogs.
While 14 teams were entered, only 12 teams made it to the starting line and of those only teams finished with three teams dropping out after the first day.
Mushers were allowed to race with as many as 12 dogs but had to finish with at least eight on their team. Moe began with 12 dogs the first day and ran 10 dogs the second day. He trailed Bergen by 6 minutes after the first loop, and despite racing hard, could never catch her, but added, “I did pass Mike to finish second, so I was happy with that.”
One other local musher, Erin Altemus finished in 7th place in 12:13:15. Odin Jorgenson, the 2012 winner, dropped out after the first day to protect his dogs. “I did that last year. If you are having issues with your team there is no shame in dropping out to preserve the safety of your dogs,” Moe said.
The most difficult part of the race was crossing Devil Track Lake, Moe said. Racers followed a snowmobile track laid down by Cook County Dog Mushers President (and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer) Mary Manning, who patrolled the course and made sure all of the racers and dogs were safe.
But Moe said high winds blew snow across the track, obscuring it, and the wind was often in the mushers’ face. “We couldn’t see very well coming across the lake because of the wind and snow. It was supposed to be 20 below zero Sunday morning and with the wind I don’t know how cold it was but it was awfully cold. I don’t know how the dogs could see but they might be operating on smell and sound to keep direction,” he added.
There was one scary moment for organizers when one of the lead race sponsors Sarah Hamilton of Trail Center fell while helping get an excited dog team to the start. Hamilton was run over by the dogs and the sled, but fortunately her quick thinking coworkers lifted the sled and harnesses as she tucked in her head and arms. Hamilton was shaken, but uninjured.
She told the News-Herald it was an example of why race watchers should stay behind barriers. “Those dogs are really powerful and accidents can happen. We want everyone to have fun watching while being safe.”
The experience won’t deter Hamilton from being a mushing fan—and likely sponsor of next year’s Gunflint Mail Run. While presenting prize money to mushers at Trail Center at the end of the race, her co-organizer Jack Stone of Stone Harbor Wilderness Supply spoke of next year’s race in terms of “if it happens again.” However, he laughed, “If Sarah has her way it will happen again!”
Overall, said 2nd place finisher Moe, “It was a great event. It’s really nice that people thought enough to organize it and preserve the legacy and history of the race. I have raced all over the country and I haven’t seen volunteers anywhere else put on a race better or more safely than this one. I also thought from an organizational and safety standpoint it was a good idea to have teams stationed at Trail Center, and have the start and finish at Trail Center. It gave everyone one central location to work from.”
Started in the 1970s, the Gunflint Mail Run was discontinued until 2012 when it was brought back after the John Beargrease Race was cancelled because of a lack of snow. The last two years the race was dropped in favor of the Gichigami Express Sled Dog Race, which was held with the cooperation of the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Conflicts in scheduling prevented the band from participating in this year’s race.
Unofficial times and places: Leanne Bergen, 10 hours 35 minutes, 52 seconds; 2. Frank Moe, 10: 45:53; 3. Mike Bestgen, 10:55:21; 4. Mike Hoff, 11:11:05; 5. Jennifer Freking, 11:11:05; 6. Blake Freking, 11:20:18; 7. Erin Altemus, 12:13:15; 8. Colleen Wallin, 12:18:12; 9. Kevin Malikowski, 12:37:43.
Editor Rhonda Silence also contributed to this article.
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