The 2020 field of mushers entered in the 100-mile, and 50-mile Gunflint Mail Run is loaded with talent.
Ryan Redington of Skagway, Alaska, is back to defend his 2019 100- mile Gunflint Mail Run championship. One of his main competitors could be his wife, Erin, who placed third in the 2019 100-mile sled dog race.
The couple owns and operates Callin’ Trail Kennel, which has 40 dogs. Ryan’s grandfather, Joe Redington Sr., founded the Iditarod sled dog race. Ryan has raced all across Alaska and the lower 48. Ryan and Erin, who grew up in Northern Minnesota, along with their two children Eve and TJ, spend time in the midwest in the winter to run dogs.
On Saturday, January 11, the first 12-dog team will leave the starting line from Trail Center at 8 a.m. At 9 a.m., the first eight-dog team will start the 50-mile race.
The eight-dog teams will have a mandatory three-hour layover, and the 12-dog teams will have a compulsory four-hour layover. By mid-afternoon, the eight-dog teams will begin leaving for the second course. Sometime late afternoon, the 12-dog teams will start on the second leg, and by early evening the top eight-dog teams will finish at Trail Center.
The 100-mile race will see its’ winner arrive back at Trail Center later that night, with the teams finishing throughout the evening and into early Sunday.
If one of the Redington’s don’t win, don’t be surprised to see Ryan Anderson, St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, cross the finish line in first place. Anderson is a three-time John Beargrease Marathon winner, and last year won the John Beargrease mid-distance race. Ryan has been competing in sled dog racing since 1992. He and his wife have 40 Alaskan Huskies in their Andertier Racing kennel.
Nathan Schroeder, Goodland, Minnesota, should be in the mix. He is a four-time champion of the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon, and he was named the “2014 Rookie of the Year” on the Iditarod sled dog race. Nathan, who owns Schroeder Mushing, also works as a millwright. He and his wife Carmen have six children.
Other competitors include:
John Fisher, Cook, Minnesota, has run dogs since 1985. He quit racing about ten years ago, but he kept a dog team for recreation camping and fishing trips.
John has 24 dogs in his Meander Mountain Huskies kennel. When John isn’t training his dogs, he’s working on dogs—or any number of animals as a veterinarian. He and his wife, fellow veterinarian and esteemed dog sled racer Robin Fisher, have the Vermillion Veterinary Clinic in Cook, Minnesota.
Robin Fisher, who has retired from competition, won the 150-mile John Beargrease race in 1999.
Jay Foucheer, a Mohawk, Michigan musher, started competing in 2003. This year he is working to qualify for the 2021 Iditarod. He races a mix of Alaskan and Siberian huskies.
Talia Martens has been running sled dogs since she was ten months old, but didn’t start racing until she was eight. Her 11-year-old brother and her mother, who used to race sled dogs, and her father help the young Brule, Wisconsin musher.
When Kevin Mathis isn’t working as a pharmacist in Monona, Iowa, he is working with his sled dogs. This is his fifth year building a dog team.
Local mushers
Local mushers entered in the 2020 100-mile field include Rita Wehseler, Tofte. Rita has been running dogs for more than 25 years. She has 37 dogs in her Stoney Creek Kennel, which she operates with her husband, Bill. Her lead dogs are named Clyde, Ginny, Arimis, and Skillsaw.
Matt Schmidt lives on the Gunflint Trail and works as a caretaker for YMCA Camp Menogyn. His kennel is called Mush Lake Racing. In his musher bio, Matt said, “I love this race and even had fun when I was lost on Poplar Lake and went the wrong way on the trail in 2018.”
Frank Moe, Hovland, races out of Moetown Kennels. He and his wife Sherri have 40 dogs, two cats, a mouse, and a pig. Sherri is a therapist, and Frank works as a rock climbing, canoeing, and sea kayak guide for Stone Harbor Wilderness Supply in Grand Marais. Frank took fifth place last year and is looking for a good race again this year.
The guaranteed minimum purse for the 2020 field will be $10,000.
Eight-dog race
Erin Altemus, Gunflint Trail, her husband Matt and 2-year-old daughter Sylvia, have 30 dogs in their Mush Lake Racing kennel. Erin is a nurse at North Shore Health. This is the tenth year she and Matt have been running dogs.
Andrea Deboer, Grand Marais, and her husband DJ operate Amarok Kennel, which houses 40 Alaskan huskies.
In her eighth year of racing, and her 20th year being around sled dogs, Andrea works full-time at Cook County Public Health and Human Services and helps take care of the couple’s three children. In her musher bio, Andrea writes, “We might not have the fastest or most ideal training schedule, but it is still a dream come true. I am looking forward to another year of running dogs, successfully managing a dog team, and learning as much as I can from them.”
Adam Treeful, Grand Marias, missed last year’s Gunflint Mail run but is happy to be back this year. “I will be running a team of youngsters that were mostly born right in my kennel. I am thankful to everyone that makes this great race happen.”
Joanna Oberg lives in Grand Marais in the winter and northwestern Ontario for the rest of the year, where she and her parents own and operate a fishing/ hunting resort. The family owns 18 dogs, 12 race-age adults. “I have always loved animals and the outdoors, and dogsledding is the most fun sport there is,” Joanna wrote in her musher bio.
Stephanie Love, Hovland, will race for Moetown Kennels. Stephanie has run educational tours and youth programs as the co-founder/ director of Positive Energy Outdoors in Duluth with her kennel of 55 Alaskan Huskies. She has introduced thousands of children and adults to the incredible sport of dog sledding.
Christine Richardson, Canaan, New Hampshire has 21 Alaskan and Eurohounds in her Seal Cove Kennel. Christine has been racing sled dogs since 1999. She competed in the 2016 Gunflint Mail run and, following “a recent interaction with breast cancer,” reports that she is glad to be back.
Steve Peterson, Granby, Colorado, is back for the second year in a row. The Chaplin at Snow Mountain Ranch/YMCA of the Rockies, Steve has been mushing for 20 years. Two years ago, his oldest daughter died from cancer. Last year Steve raced to raise money for an endowment that would send underprivileged kids to camp every year in perpetuity in his daughter Beth’s memory.
Kelsey Beaber, Mountain, Wisconsin, is 14 years old and is in her 4th year racing sled dogs. “I enjoy being out with my dogs, especially the way the sun shines off their backs. I enjoy the time I get to spend with my dogs racing.”
Other racers in the field include Janet Bahe, Togo, Minnesota; Dusty Klaven, Togo; Bob Johnson, Togo; Andy Heerschap, Nolalu, Ontario; Nicole Grangroth, Menahga, Minnesota; Blair Braverman, Mountain, Wisconsin; Anna Bolvin, Porcupine Plain, Saskatchewan; Brian Bergen, Sioux Lookout, Ontario; Ryan Beaber, Mountain, Wisconsin.
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