Beargrease Blog
Posted on Monday, February 7th, 2011
Posted on Thursday, February 3rd, 2011
Jamie Nelson Near Finish
Time-lapse of Jamie Nelson and her team near the finish of the 2011 John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon
Posted on Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011
Ryan Then Nathan At Finish
A Race for the Ages. The close finish to the exciting 28th running of the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon Race. Ryan Anderson crossing the finish line only seconds ahead of last year’s winner, Nathan Schroeder.
Posted on Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011
A Photo Finish
After four days and 370+ miles, the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon has been decided. Ryan Anderson (Bib #17) is your 2011 Beargrease champion. Victory didn’t come easy. Nathan Schroeder (Bib #10), last year’s champion, appeared to be in control of the race by mile 270 on the Devil Track to Sawbill leg of the race. By the time the two competitors had passed the Sawbill checkpoint and started toward Finland, they were locked in an uncomfortably tight battle that continued all the way through to the finish.
The usually soft-spoken Ryan Anderson was visibly excited about his team’s victory. “I was hoping for a strong finish when we started the race, but didn’t expect to win.” Most of Ryan’s dogs are young, only one to three years old. From the beginning, Ryan planned to run a conservative race. “Neither the dogs nor I have ever run this far,” Ryan confessed. “This team is only going to get better with time!”
Amazingly, Nathan Schroeder finished only 20 seconds behind Ryan. “I made a few errors at Sawbill and Highway 2. Ryan caught me and beat me.”
This has been a fantastic finish to a four-day journey for all of us. By mid-race we could see that this had the potential to be one of those special races, the kind that memories are made of. We got more than we ever could have imagined.
There are still mushers out on the trail pushing toward the finish. We’ll continue to follow them as they stream into the finish.
GBJ
Posted on Tuesday, February 1st, 2011
Bar-B-Que at Sawbill
Chris Callender sets up his LifeTime grill to prepare food for all at the Sawbill Checkpoint.
Posted on Tuesday, February 1st, 2011
Curt Olson Records the Sounds of the Beargrease
Curt Olson has been recording the sounds of the Beargrease for the last five years. Check out some of his other work at Trackseventeen.com.
Posted on Tuesday, February 1st, 2011
Handler’s Duties
Once the musher leaves with the team, the handlers need to clean up the rest site and pack up gear to be hauled to the next area.
Posted on Tuesday, February 1st, 2011
Chopping Meat For The Dogs
There’s lots of preparation required to prepare the food for the dog teams coming in from hours of running. Each musher has their own recipe concocted with a variety of ingredients.
Posted on Tuesday, February 1st, 2011
Hot Water For The Dogs
Betsy Jorgenson shows off her equipment for heating up the all important dog water.
Posted on Tuesday, February 1st, 2011
Peter McClelland Has Possible Sasquatch Sighting
Peter McClelland, bib #5 on the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon, had a possible Sasquatch encounter in the middle of the night while running his dogs on the loop to nowhere.
