Beargrease Teams Rest Before Continuing Journey

Team Handlers Prepare Mushers and Dogs for the Next 200 Miles

GRAND PORTAGE, Minn. – The John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon is about halfway done. Teams rested in Grand Portage before the second leg of their journey.

As mushers and dogs took a well deserved eight hour rest in Grand Portage, the team handlers were at work preparing the teams for another two hundred miles of racing.

While the dogs pull sleds through the treacherous Beargrease race course, handlers drive from checkpoint to checkpoint supporting their teams.

“When they come to a checkpoint, you have to make sure you’re taking care of the musher and taking care of the dogs so they can take care of the dogs the best they can while they’re on the trail,” said Erin Redington, team handler for her husband, Ryan Redington’s team.

During the race, mushers constantly watch their dogs and relay their status to the handlers.

“Musher comes in, he kind of gives us the low down on the dogs, we all take the booties off together, once he knows the dogs are eating then he’ll go get some food himself and take a nap while we finish bedding down the dogs,” said Redington.

There, the dogs rest and go through medical examinations.

“We get them bedded down, we get them laying down on the straw nice and warm, cover them up with blankets if we feel like it if it’s cooler,” said Jake Hway, a handler for musher Nathan Schroeder’s team.

Dog safety is a top priority for Beargrease team members.

“Yes, everybody would obviously like to be out here and win, be the coolest musher around, but what’s best for the dogs is what you have to do,” said Redington.

Sometimes, during races, dogs have to be dropped. The teams then continue with fewer members.

“So if someone’s not quite keeping up with your team or if they don’t seem like you’re having fun anymore, you leave them at the checkpoint with the handler and you’ll head back down the trail with one less,” said Redington.

Alaskan Huskies are bred for health and endurance and continue to wow their people.

“They’re amazing, phenomenal athletes and it’s amazing to work with them because they just keep amazing me every step of the way,” said Hway.

The dogs love racing and it’s the handlers’ job to make sure they cross the finish line as happy and cheerful as when they started.

The John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon is expected to end on Wednesday at Billy’s Bar in Duluth.