Rita Wehseler gets second place in Beargrease 120

Last year’s 120-mile Beargrease midrace champion Rita Wehseler moved from third to second place in this year’s race while at home in Tofte.

Following the awards ceremony, Beargrease race officials were notified by several folks who had followed the race on GPS tracking that the second place finisher Nick Tursten, a Two Harbors’ musher, had obviously cut corners in the race. Race officials looked at the evidence and agreed, questioning Tursten, who said it was an honest mistake, that he missed the turnoff and ran his team to the finish without knowing he was taking a shorter route to the Trestle Inn.

Beargrease race officials accepted Tursten’s explanation for missing the turn and listed him as DNF (did not finish).

With the change Grand Marais musher Joanna Oberg’s winning margin stretched from about nine minutes to over an hour over second-place finisher Rita Wehseler of Tofte.

For Wehseler, the move to second place means a bigger purse. But, it also meant a one-two sweep for Cook County mushers in the prestigious Beargrease 120.

With Turstens results thrown out, Lynn Witte moved into third. Witte is a retired teacher who lives in Cheboygan, Michigan.

At the conclusion of the race Joanna Oberg was given the award for having the best-cared-for dog team. The head veterinarian said competition for the award was tough because so many mushers and handlers took great care of their dogs. For Oberg, it was a special award to receive.

Wehseler’s dog team was made up of female dogs and handlers. The top three finishers were women mushers. The 2023 Beargrease 120, run in sub-zero temperatures on fast, hard packed trails, will go down as a race dominated by women mushers.