Anderson Wins His 4th Beargrease Under Tough Trail Conditions

GRAND PORTAGE, Minn. – 2022’s John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon was one to remember, with a recurring champion reclaiming his title — a rookie just behind him, and a race trail that gave teams a run for their money.

Wisconsin native Ryan Anderson, this year’s champion, came through the finish line around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

First and foremost, he kissed every dog on his team — big thank-yous for carrying him through a race that was no walk in the park.

“I’m pretty proud of what the dog team has done this race and so yeah I’m just pretty proud of the dogs for performing the way they did,” Anderson said.

Following behind about an hour later was this year’s “rookie to watch,” Wade Maars.

This year’s trail forced 11 out of the 23 mushers to scratch, or withdraw from the race, due to warm temperatures and snow cover they describe as running through mashed potatoes. So mushers ran smart, not hard.

“One or two days of weather comes in and softens the snow bank. You know it makes a big, big difference,” said Mike Levig, a longtime volunteer who has only missed two marathons that he can recall.

“Ideal conditions are when it’s really frigid. Like I said, you can hear your feet crispness on the snow,” Levig said.

It’s important that the dogs still enjoy mushing, as it runs deep in their paws.

“That’s the main thing, right, I want to keep them happy,” said 1st place Anderson. “I don’t want to overrun them or ask them something that they can’t do, kind of my main goal throughout the whole race.”

It was a storybook ending for 3rd and 4th place. Colleen Wallin and her son. Ero, the youngest musher in history at 19, battling neck and neck.

“You know we were talking about it the whole time at the checkpoint at Mineral Center,” said Ero, “and we knew no matter what it was going to be a blast.”

But Ero says finishing just minutes behind his mom makes the experience that much more special.

“Just so many different emotions between not wanting to end and just thanking the dogs for everything they’d done and just so happy to be here so close to my mom and everything like that it’s just a different feeling, it’s awesome,” Ero said.