Beargrease Cub Run Bringing Young Mushers to the Races

TWO HARBORS, Minn. — With just a week to go till sled dog teams take off at the 42nd annual Beargrease, a little warm up took place Saturday in Two Harbors, helping the Northland get in the marathon mindset.

The Beargrease cub run has been a fan-favorite tradition for years. Families came out with their sleds and dogs to watch young mushers take off on short runs up to 2 miles.

Two time Beargrease champion, Blake Freking,  there with his daughters, was proud to see the lessons mushing has taught his kids.

“So it teaches them a lot of things not only hard work and seeing the results form that but also the compassion and everything else that goes into getting animals to do this kind of stuff for you,” Freking said.

And reflecting on his time as a musher, he’s excited to see the torch passed to the younger generation, which came second nature for his kids, “at this stage, you know previously it was a lot of, you know, more of the competitive aspect of it but as i have kids now and they’re interested, a lot of my focus is now on getting them more exposed to the sport and having fun doing it. So it’s the kind of thing where we’ve never pressured them to be involved, or anything like that, it’s something they kind of just worked into naturally on their own.”

The family time from Saturday’s cub run was the perfect warm up for Blake and his wife Jenn, who will take the starting lineup next Sunday at Billy’s Bar in Duluth, for the 300-mile Beargrease marathon.