Beargrease 2021 Is ON!
The 2021 John Beargrease Marathon is off to a great start!
Race officials decided to start the marathon race with only 10 dogs due to harsh trail conditions. Mushers then traveled to Two Harbors and picked up their remaining 2 dogs at the checkpoint.
Last years champion Ryan Redington had to drop a lead dog in Two Harbors, meaning he left with 11. Officials stated that John Fishers team was still running “strong”, he decided to just keep going and let the dogs burn off a bit more energy.
— if the momentum is up, keep it going!
Two lead dogs excited to get going! Photo: Dan Jandl
Conditions Improving
Trail conditions improved with snow yesterday morning, making everything less icy, giving a bit more base for the teams. However, due to warm temperatures at the start, -1 degrees C (30 degrees F), conditions where pretty punchy and slower than usual.
The Beargrease 40 Champion
Nick “The Terminator” Turman ended up as the winner of the Beargrease 40 Recreational Class Race, followed by Carly Beatty and Billie Thompson.
Dog-team leaving the start-line in Duluth, Minnesota. Photo: Amber Impressions
A Special Rookie-Team
Marci Eiynck, the great, great granddaughter of John Beargrease, was the first family member to ever run one of the Beargrease races. She had a smile from ear to ear at the start and finished with an even bigger smile! Waving from the back of her sled “this was the best day EVER!”. Marci was running a team of dogs from marathon musher, Mary Manning, from Doodle Dog Kennel out of Hovland Minnesota.
The Comeback
A familiar face also made a comeback. The beloved Indy, a blind sled dog of Frank Moe’s, was howling and happy at the entire start. With his signature, distinct howl to his people! Frank Moe was originally signed up for the full marathon, but decided to shift down a race a few weeks back. That said, running 120 miles through the Sawtooth Mountain Range is not an easy task.
A very happy Indy and msuher Frank Moe is preparing for race-day. Photo: Øyvind Nordahl Næss
Mushers are saying the trail is slow, but it doesn’t seem like it has been an issue at the first leg of the race. The teams are strong, clearly many of the mushers have been training rigorously.
Some say they’ve had more time to devote to training due to COVID - so perhaps there’s a bit of a silver lining to this pandemic!
FOR AN UPDATE ON THIS YEARS FORMAT :