Nathan Schroeder and his team of talented dogs are shown racing in a previous Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon. The Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa returns as the major sponsor for a fourth straight year.
Sunday, January 28, the 34th running of the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon begins at noon when fans are given a chance to meet the mushers and their dog teams, purchase official race merchandise, buy food and take in the race atmosphere.
The Beargrease starts at the North Shore State Trail trailhead about nine miles north of Two Harbors on Highway 2. There will be free parking and shuttle service from the Lake County Fairgrounds starting at 8 a.m. Sunday.
The first mid-distance teams leave the starting chute at 2 p.m., followed by the marathon teams.
At nearly 400 miles, the Beargrease is the longest sled dog race in the lower 48 and is a qualifier for the famed “Iditarod” in Alaska. Over a dozen world-class mushers compete in the full distance marathon, with over two dozen in the mid-distance race. All competitors are vying for one of 20 cash prizes totaling $30,000. Both races will traverse the Sawtooth Mountains in Cook County, going as far north as Gunflint Lake near the Canadian border.
The race is named for John Beargrease, the son of an Anishinaabe chief who was named Makwabimidem (Beargrease). John was born in 1858 and was noted for carrying the winter mail between Two Harbors and Grand Marais the last two decades of the 19th century.
In the summer John (and his brothers) used a rowboat to move the mail, and in the winter John used a dog sled team to deliver the mail in all types of weather.
John passed away at his home in Beaver Bay in 1910. To commemorate John’s mail-carrying feat, each musher that competes in the John Beargrease is sworn in as an official mail carrier and carries commemorative letters to the post office at the end of the trail.
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