2020 Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon
Homegrown Alaskan Ryan Reddington clinched the title in this year’s John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon. It was the 36th running of the 300-mile race (approx. 480 km), which crosses tough terrain along the coastline of Lake Superior in Northern Minnesota (USA).
Redington, the grandson of Alaska’s Iditarod founder Joe Redington, Sr., was joined by thirteen other competitors who left the start line in Duluth, Minnesota. Redington spent just over 28 hours on the trail, the second fastest run time for the Beargrease, according to the race’s archives. Gary Hokkanen, of Minneapolis Minnesota, set the race record, finishing the 1980 inaugural race in just under 16 hours back in 1980.
Fifteen minutes after Redington’s team celebrated their victory, the second-place team, driven by Ray Aili of Minnesota crossed the line. Aili’s team is also out of Reddington’s Skagway, Alaska-based Callin’ Trail Kennel.
This was Redington’s fourth Beargrease. But this year, he said he employed a different strategy. He told the Duluth News Tribune he has “learned patience” and so he didn’t start pushing the pace until he was within 100 miles of the finish line. Redington also said he’s to blame for his close friend Ray Aili’s coming out of retirement. Aili had called it quits after the 2018 race season.
The back-to-back finish for teams from the same kennel is a repeat of last year when Minnesota-based mushers Blake and Jen Freking clinched both first and second place titles. The Beargrease trail goes right through the Frekings’ backyard in Finland, Minnesota. This year, Blake Freking crossed the Beargrease finish line in seventh place, fourteen minutes behind four-time champion Nathan Schroeder.
The top finishing woman, Colleen Wallin, came in before both former champions in fifth place. At the finish line, she relayed a harrowing tale. She told local ABC television affiliate WBIO she’d had a run-in with two bull moose on the trail. “They were looking at me and I was looking at them, and I thought, wow, what a moment.” She said she was lucky the moose didn’t charge her team. She said moose, and not predators like wolves, are the biggest concern for mushers, “because they don’t want to give up the trail,” she said.
Ryan Anderson was last man on the podium in 3rd, followed by Martin Massicote in 4th crossing the finish line just over an hour after the winner. Mushers must accumulate at least 24 hours of rest for their dog teams in checkpoints along race route. The Beargrease is the longest race in the Lower 48 United states and some fans this year followed along on fat-bikes. A few spectators wore coats made from the region’s iconic woollen Hudson Bay Company blankets. The Beargrease is named for the son of an Anishinaabe Chief, the indigenous American Indian tribe of the region.
