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Several mushers from Cook County will take part in participating in the 2022 John Beargrease Sled Dog series of races that will be held at the end of January. Below is a short piece about each and their pictures.
Only two Cook County mushers will run their teams in the long 400-mile race that starts in Duluth at Billy’s Bar and ends at the Grand Portage Lodge and Casino. The 120-mile race ends in Finland and the Beargrease 40-mile event ends in Two Harbors.
The long race starts at 10 a.m. on Friday, January 30 and finishes on Tuesday, February 1.
Erin Altemus is a busy young lady. She and her husband Matt have a four-year-old daughter Sylvia, and Erin works as an R.N. at North Shore Health. In her free time Erin writes about mushing and trains her dogs at her and Matt’s Mush Lake Kennel. She has been running dogs for about 11 years and this will be her fifth Beargrease.
Mary Manning lives with her spouse in Hovland. The DNR Conservation officer has been running dogs for about 25 years, some of that time has been dedicated to racing and some dedicated to camping. Mary operates Doodledog Kennel.
120 Marathon race
Rita Wehsler, Tofte, is a many times participant of the Beargrease. Rita operates Stoney Creek Kennel in Tofte. She has been a musher for more than 30 years.
Joanna Oberg just won the eight-dog race at the Gunflint Mail Run and now she is taking her team on a 120-mile dash across the northland. Joanna operates a fishing/hunting resort in northwestern Ontario with her folks in the summer and in the winter she and her folks come to Grand Marais. Joanna says, Fall and winter are my favorite times of the year and my dogs and I Love to race! Running dogs can sometimes be like organized chaos and I love it. So exhilarating!
Joanna’s Kennel name is Run Silent Racing.
Beargrease 40
Ann Schultz lives in Hovland with her spouse. She has twin daughters attending UMD. She has a kennel of 40 “happy and healthy dogs”. Her kennel is named WynterFun Kennel. She has been running dogs for 25 years, inspired as a teenager when she learned about dog sledding.
The race is named after John Beargrease, born in 1858, the son of an Anishinaabe Chief. John and his brothers delivered mail between Two Harbors and Grand Marais from 1879-1899, using dog teams in the winter as they followed a well-established Lake Superior trap line. Over two decades the Beargrease brothers used dogs, horses, large boats and canoes to carry mail.
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