Erin Letzring Wins Closest Beargrease in History Against Ryan Redington

Seven seconds separated the top two finishers making Letzring the second female champion in marathon history. 

DULUTH, Minn.- History was made at Mineral Center in Grand Portage Tuesday evening. The 37th Annual John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon ended with the first woman to ride away victorious in 23 years.

Seven seconds separated the top two finishers. The closest race in Beargrease history made Erin Letzring the second female champion in marathon history.

“Pretty cool,” said the champion. “It was pretty neat to be able to change that, get a woman back up on the scoreboard.”

One last push by her dogs, she said, put her team ahead.  “He was a ways away; we didn’t see him for many, many miles for a while there.”

“And then we went around a corner and then we saw him and we’re like ok, I think we can do this and we just kept plugging along and these guys just had a little bit more in the gas tank,” said Letzring.

The runner-up by “just that much,” Ryan Redington had nothing but congratulations for his fellow racer. “This is a big deal winning this race and for her first time it’s pretty awesome.”

The 2020 winner says throughout the neck and neck battle with Letzring, the two stopped less than a mile from the finish to rearrange dogs.

“We passed each other quite a few times back and forth. I passed her about 3/4 of a mile before No Man’s Land,” said Redington. “And I just couldn’t stay ahead of her.”

He says while he’s proud of his team, the absence of snow on this year’s trail was more than he expected.

“It was my own mistake for training on snow machine a little too much,” said the former champ. “I only had two sled runs before this race and we had low snow where we were and I felt like it was the safest for my team.”

Dog safety was a high priority for this year’s vet team. Less snow meant more exposed dirt and debris on a less even trail and the warmer temperatures could lead to over-exertion.

“After 300 miles we’re mostly concerned about: has there been an excessive loss of body condition?” Head Vet Gregg Phillips said. “Have they burned a lot of calories up during this trip? We’re also concerned about their hydration levels.”

But they say the top teams were the cream of the crop.

“The dogs are the reason why they’re in the position that they were,” said Phillips.

While content with his performance, Redington says he’s still hungry for the title.”I’m looking forward to a rematch…I’ll be back.”

Now, Letzring walks away from a difficult unpredictable race victorious.

“You don’t assume anything until it’s done,” she said. “So yeah, you’re out there, you just, we didn’t give up, we kept on going.”