With the musher’s headlamp glowing, teams looked almost ghostlike as they softly padded into the Devil Track Lake checkpoint. The John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon started in Two Harbors on Sunday, January 25. Mushers and dogs traveled the trails of Cook County from the Sawbill Trail checkpoint to Devil Track Lake to Poplar Lake and on a wilderness loop on the Gunflint Trail before heading back down to Two Harbors.
The hardy tradition of life in the Northwoods lives on in the men and women who participate in the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon. The 2015 race almost didn’t take place, but volunteers as determined as the mushers found a way to develop an alternate route and the 31st running of the Beargrease took place on schedule.
Ryan Anderson of Ray, Minnesota is the 2015 John Beargrease Marathon champion with a time of 2 days, 11 hours and 55 minutes. He crossed the finish line at Billy’s in Duluth at 2:53 a.m.
Three-time Beargrease winner and Iditarod racer Nathan Schroeder of Chisholm, Minnesota was close behind him finishing the race at 3:21 a.m.
Three of the four Cook County mushers finished in the top 10. Erin Altemus, editor at Northern Wilds who recently wrote a feature article about the women who race in the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon joined those ranks with a phenomenal 4th place finish. Her team from Mush Lake Racing of Grand Marais came into Billy’s at 6:20 a.m.
Left: A warm welcome on the Beargrease trail. Ryan Anderson’s dog gets a friendly greeting during a midnight stop. Right: Mid-Distance Race winner Martha Schouweiler of Irma, Wisconsin looked right at home on the runners.
Hovland’s Frank Moe of MoeTown Kennels, who had to miss a county commissioner meeting because he was on the Beargrease trail, finished in 6th place at 6:41 a.m.
Odin Jorgenson of Grand Marais also had a fast race, finishing in 8th place at 8:38 a.m.
The other Cook County musher in the full marathon was Rita Wehseler of Tofte, who made the decision to scratch at the Devil Track checkpoint at about 6 a.m. on Tuesday, January 27. Wehseler told Beargrease organizers her team from Stoney Creek Kennel was starting to tire. Because she has plans to participate in other races this season, she decided not to overwork them.
Claiming the “Red Lantern Award” in the marathon was the dogged Saul Ellering of Sauk Center, Minnesota, who was the last team to cross the finish line at Billy’s at 4:14 p.m. on Wednesday, January 28.
The history of the Red Lantern award goes back to the early days of dog sled racing, when race officials would put a lantern out on the trail for the last musher because there were so few people left at the finish. Ellering crossed the finish line with a smile on his face and the red lantern in hand.
Schouweiler wins Mid-Distance race
Winning the John Beargrease Mid-Distance race was Martha Schouweiler of Irma, Wisconsin. Schouweiler also received the award for “Best Kept Team.”
Schouweiler arrived just minutes ahead of second place finisher Frank Holmberg of Newberry, Michigan and Joanna Oberg of Run Silent Racing Kennel in Ignace, Ontario in third place.
The Mid-Distance was a tight race altogether with teams coming in to the Devil Track finish within minutes of one another all morning, to the delight of racing fans.
All the teams were in by 1:51 p.m. when Tony Mai of Big Falls, Minnesota and his dogs of the Mai Dream Kennel finished to claim the traditional “Red Lantern Award.”
LeAnn Bergen, of Gone to the Dogs kennel of Sioux Lookout, Ontario, who made friends in Cook County during the 2015 Gunflint Mail Run received the “Sportsmanship Award.”
Carrying on the mail tradition
One of the things that makes the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon special is the remembrance of the man for which it is named. At every race start, there is a symbolic sendoff of musher No. 1—John Beargrease.
John Beargrease, a member of the Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe, and his team delivered mail between Grand Portage and Two Harbors from 1887 to 1900, via boat, foot, and dogsled.
To honor the historic mail carrier, today’s dog sled teams still carry the mail. Mushers are sworn in as mail carriers and carry a bag of mail on the trail. It is then delivered to the Beaver Bay Post Office and sent out through the postal system. According to Beargrease organizers, this was a banner year for trail mail, with more than 500 pieces of mail stamped with the special “Delivered by Sled Dog” stamp.
All touched with a bit of adventure of the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon.
Leave a Reply