2009 Beargrease 150 Finish Photos

2009 Beargrease 150 Finish Photos
Jul 6th 2009
wolfmoonsleddog
Southeast
Location: Armuchee, GA
Time - 11:06pm Eastern Daylight Time
Temperature: 79 degrees F (26 C)
Conditions: Partly cloudy, humid
Forecast: Partly cloudy today and tomorrow. Lows in the 60s, highs in the 90s


Well, to “celebrate” Summer and our muggy temperatures, I am posting some pictures of something much colder! Jim Benson, who handled for me in the Beargrease 150 sent me these pictures the other day and I wanted to share them. I knew they had been taken but most of these I hadn’t seen until last week! They are of our finish in Tofte, Minnesota last January. Oh I miss the snow! The above picture is me and my team coming into the Tofte finish line.

Getting my sled stopped at the finish. I am braking and putting snowhooks in the snow. For those of you who don’t know, snowhooks are like anchors and (sometimes!) keep the dogs from running away with the sled.


Bag check at the finish line, to make sure I have all my required gear in my sled. The dogs looked great after running the 150-mile race!


From left - Jim, me and Dave at the finish line. Jim and Dave handled for me during the race and forced me to stay warm! Before I left the checkpoints along the trail, they insisted I wear every warm clothing item they could find! The result is that I felt like some giant jet-puffed marshmallow - but I also felt warm, even at temperatures that were reportedly down to -35 F. I am grateful to their help.


Erin, my other handler. Erin was a great help along the trail and always encouraging and upbeat. If I may say so myself, I think I had the best handler team on the trail! I could never have done this race without them. Race handlers are the unsung heros of sled dog races and the tales they tell are as crazy as the tales of the mushers themselves.

If you haven’t before, check out my original post on the 2009 Beargrease 150 at http://sleddoggin.com/blogs/wolfmoonsleddog/2009/01/31/red-lantern/ Be sure to read Dave’s comments at the bottom of that post!

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4 Comments »

4 Responses to “2009 Beargrease 150 Finish Photos”
Dave Lukosik on 08 Jul 2009 at 6:44 pm # edit this

What a fantastic experience you had on the Beargrease 150 trail! Thanks for sharing the photos. Great bunch of handlers you had to help make it happen!

wolfmoonsleddog on 14 Jul 2009 at 7:14 pm # edit this

Yes, sometimes I think the handlers have it harder than the mushers! They were a great crew.

Dave Lukosik on 19 Jul 2009 at 1:29 pm # edit this

You can speak from the perspective of both sides, as a handler for Jen and Blake and as a musher! Nice write up on you at their MCK website!

wolfmoonsleddog on 20 Jul 2009 at 4:53 am # edit this

Yes, it’s been quite a full experience!