Again this year I volunteered at the John Beargrease Sled Dog Race. Last year it was -24 degrees, wow. This year it was about 24 during the day, down to 10 at night. Much more comfortable!
The race is 300 miles. It starts Sunday noon and the last team finishes Wednesday about 6:00 am. These dogs are amazing! Most of the dogs are not big dogs, not long hair, don’t look like they can do this much work. But they love to run!
We had a big crew this year at our checkpoint, Mineral Center. This checkpoint includes a mandatory four hour layover that all teams must do. The support trucks and people are there when the dogs arrive from the trail. The dogs get food and water. Vets check the dogs.
The first team comes to our checkpoint about 8:00 am Tuesday. The last team this year left at after Midnight. Then we need to cover a road crossing that the dogs cross about three and a half to four hours after they leave Mineral Center. THEN we can go to bed. The last one crossed the road crossing about 4:30 am. Jeff and Karen volunteered to stay up this year.
The old log cabin is on the reservation a few miles from Grand Portage Hotel and Casino. It has a barrel wood stove that we keep going for about 48 hours straight. We bring generators and lights, walkie talkies, lots of food and beverages, white board, chairs, and more. Joe and Jodi brought their mini donut maker. Everyone enjoyed the donuts. They made 1040 donuts. We donate the food and let the volunteers, mushers and crew, and spectators to come in the cabin and warm up and have some coffee and cookies. We had hundreds of people come through there on Tuesday.
We had a great time. Lots of work but fun. I had the official watch so I marked the time they crossed the line at Mineral Center. We keep track of the time to the second. Then we radio it into race headquarters. I look forward to next year. If you are interested in helping, let me know.
