Ryan Anderson, of Ray, Minnesota, crosses the finish line in first place to take the 2017 John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon championship. This was Anderson’s third Beargrease win. Anderson said he has been running dogs his whole life. Next up for him is the Iditarod race in Alaska.
Ryan Redington of Wasilla, Alaska had a lot of firsts in the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon.
Redington was the first musher at Trail Center, the first to leave Grand Portage, the first to go from Skyport, the first to come through Sawbill, the first to leave Finland on the way back to Duluth… but hot on his (dogs’) tail was two-time Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon winner Ryan Anderson and in the end, Anderson won a close race, crossing the finish line at Billy’s Bar in Rice Lake at 10:03 a.m. on Wednesday, February 1. It was Anderson’s third John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon victory.
In a game of cat and mouse, Redington, who had not taken all of his mandatory layover time earlier in the race, was in the lead, but by just how much was hard to figure. And at the halfway point, Redington was down to running seven dogs when he left Grand Portage, while his stiffest competition was still running teams of 12 to 14 dogs. So it seemed inevitable that he would be caught, but when? By the time he reached Finland, he was down to the limit of six dogs and the track was slowing because of a light snow that had fallen.
After pulling Ryan Anderson for 373 miles through rugged, hilly, sometimes-twisty John Beargrease trails, Ryan’s dogs were adorned with flowers at the finish line. Anderson and his team of champion sled dogs will get little rest as they prepare for the famed Iditarod race in Alaska. The dogs will pull his sled over 1,000 miles in the biggest mushing event on the planet. A strong finish there might result in two rings of flowers around his beautiful dogs’ necks.
Anderson, too, pared his team to 10 dogs at Finland and caught Redington before the Highway 2 checkpoint, which is north of Two Harbors. At this point, it was the two Ryans against each other, with Anderson having a 12-minute lead over the Alaskan musher.
Teams had a mandatory four-hour layover at the Highway 2 checkpoint before heading to the finish at Billy’s Bar on Jean Duluth Road in Rice Lake, located on the hill above Duluth.
Anderson left the Highway 2 checkpoint on Wednesday morning at 5:46, just 35 miles from the finish. Matthew Schmidt of Grand Marais left the checkpoint at 6:02 a.m. Anderson finished in first place with Redington in second. Four-time Beargrease champion Nathan Schroeder placed third, and Schmidt took fourth.
For his victory Anderson received $6,125 for first place. Redington took home $5,145, Schroeder $4,165, and Schmidt $3,185. The next six finishers received $2,205, 6) $1,225, 7) $980, 8) $735, 9) $490 and 10) $245. Marathon finishers also split $2,800 evenly in the finisher’s pool while mid-distance finishers split $1,200 evenly.
The top three finishers will race against each other at least one more time this year. Each has declared he will run in the granddaddy of all sled dog races, the famed Iditarod races that will start March 4 in Anchorage, Alaska with dog teams covering more than 1,000 miles as they head for Nome, the finish line.
After the finish of the Beargrease, Race Director Jason Rice had this to say, “What Ryan did throughout the 2017 Beargrease was show us that a steady and methodical approach is still the most reliable way to be first to the finish line. He had a plan that he stuck with and did not make any serious gestures at trying to follow Ryan Redington’s lead. He must have had a lot of faith in his game plan and that faith turned out to be well founded.
“Anderson has won this in the past with a lot of training miles and conventional strategy. But those were years where the Beargrease was the pinnacle of his season. This year, he had a lot riding on his trip up to Alaska for the Iditarod. He’s too smart of a musher to chase the rabbit and risk soreness or injury with dogs that still need to take him another thousand miles this season”
Mid-Distance Race results
Martha Schouweiler or Irma, Wisconsin won the mid-distance Beargrease race for the third time in a row. She finished two minutes ahead of Ross Fraboni, of Duluth.
Bruce Langmaid of Kearney, Ohio placed third, Mike Beston of St. Cloud fourth, Rita Wehseler of Tofte, moved up two spots from her 7th place 2016 finish to place fifth. Mary Manning of Hovland placed 9th.
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