Joanna Oberg wins the John Beargrease 120-mile race

Joanna Oberg

Finally, Joanna Oberg completed the Beargrease 120 with eight dogs and her first victory in the mid-race.

“I’ve always finished with seven dogs or six dogs, so this was really nice for me to finish with my whole team,” said the Grand Marais musher who operates Run Silent Racing Kennel, a kennel that holds 15-20 dogs with adults and puppies.

Joanna’s team won the John Beargrease 120-mile race in 15 hours, 5 minutes, and 15 seconds. It was a fitting win for Oberg, who pulled her team from the Gunflint Mail Run while leading because of open water on the trail.

After the first mandatory stop, Nick Turman was in first place by about five minutes, with Oberg in second.

“My team just flew during the second leg,” Joanna said. “I felt like I was on a magic carpet ride.”

And despite the below-zero temperatures, Oberg said she had to take a layer of clothing off because she was getting too hot.

With the second leg completed, Joanna checked her team’s place and found out she was not only in the lead, but she held a commanding 30-minute advantage over Turman, who had to pull a dog and place him in a basket on his sled due to some malady.

By some strange coincidence, when Joanna asked when her team was supposed to line up for the third and final leg, a race official told her she was to leave at 1:08. “My bib number was 108, so that was kind of strange,” she said.

Despite running seven dogs, Turman cut into Joanna’s lead and lost the race by nine minutes and thirty-five seconds.

When asked if she was concerned her team was going to be caught, Joanna replied, “No, not really. I didn’t push my team during the last leg, but I would have if Nick had gotten close to us.”

Tofte musher Rita Wehseler had a good race, placing third out of a field of 23 mushers. Rita operates Stoney Creek Kennel.

Ashley Thaemart and her team of speedy dogs won the 40-mile race, crossing the finish line in Two Harbors in 1 hour, 56 minutes and 2 seconds. Derek Nechuta, Ann Stead, Brynn Santi and Ben Amat placed second through fifth in that order.