Beargrease Needs More Volunteers In Multiple Regions To Keep Race Safe 

DULUTH, Minn. — The John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon is just a few days away, but the event that spans over multiple cities in the Northland is still looking for more volunteers.

Beargrease averages about 400 volunteers every year who help out in a multitude of ways, but COVID has been taking some of them out with quarantine.

Right now, the race still needs a few more hands on-deck to help with the starting line in Duluth, the check-in at Two Harbors, and the Mineral Center in Grand Portage.

The top priority is to have more people who can help with traffic control, especially after a snowmobiler recently hit a musher and his dog team in Bayfield County, and in Alaska, a musher and dog team collided with a truck.

“Volunteers are critical for safety,” Monica Hendrickson, the marking and outreach consultant for Beargrease, emphasized. “We cross a lot of roads. Our mushers, their lead dog is on the road, and they’re back 60 feet on the sled, so we rely on those volunteers, they absolutely have to be there.”

One longtime Beargrease helper, who has been working the race for 36 years, has spent weeks on his snowmobile preparing the racecourse by clearing the trails of debris and putting up signage.

He says the job going back and forth can add up to hundreds of miles, but he enjoys helping keep the race safe for all.

“It’s marking for trails that are unsafe, like there’s holes in some trails, rocks, we go ahead and pick them, branches, we cut, we make sure that no one gets speared in the eyes, it’s a big job” Mike Levig explained. “A lot of responsibility, but you do it for the heart and not for the wallet, but the rewards are so huge.”

Levig says that about a half hour after the last team takes off, he gets on the trail and starts taking the signs down that racers have already passed.

He says he find a lot of little dog boots left behind that he then hands out to the kids watching the race, which makes their day, and his.

There will be shuttles running to pick up spectators and volunteers.

Go to Beargrease.com and click on the “volunteer” tab to sign up, where you’ll see a full list of the shifts and their locations.