Beargrease 2010

Beargrease 2010
Feb 5th 2010
wolfmoonsleddog
Midwest
Location: Finland, MN
Time - 8:15pm Central Standard Time
Temperature: 12 degrees F (-11 C)
Conditions: Cloudy
Forecast: Cloudy tonight and tomorrow. Highs in the 20s, lows around zero.


To aim at the best and remain essentially
ourselves is one and the same thing
- Fortune cookie I received the weekend before Beargrease

Above picture is of my team last Monday during the 2010 Beargrease 150. It was taken on the infamous third (and final) leg of the race between Finland and Tofte. “We’re on a bridge, huskies!”

I am happy to report that we had an absolute BLAST running the race and that, once again, all eight of the dogs on my team finished the race in fine form. I love this team. These dogs are so much fun to run with and it was great to see them learning as we went along the trail. Inga and Fiona were great, solid leaders, as they were in 2009 and Hjordis impresses me to no end. I also learned that Violet (Susan’s sister and Inga’s daughter, in case you don’t remember) is a natural in lead. Little Violet ran up in lead with Fiona for a good portion of the last leg of the race.

Since I was running a “puppy team” I was not competing as such but I wanted to improve my time over last year and to beat Dave Lundberg. Dave was one of my handlers in the Beargrease 150 last year but this time he was a fellow competitor. I am happy to report that my time improved but must also admit that Dave beat me - by 10 minutes (and I feel the need to point out that he was about half an hour ahead of me leaving the Finland checkpoint, so we were gaining. Sorry Dave, couldn’t resist putting that in there).

We had a gorgeous full moon to run by and temperatures were not as terribly cold as last year. I think I liked the race a lot more this year (and I loved it last year). However the hills between Finland and Tofte have not gotten any smaller or less steep!

I will write more on the Beargrease in the next few days but I want to end this particular entry by thanking my awesome handler team this year. You guys rock! Thank you for helping make this race a great experience for both me and the dogs.


From left to right: Erin, Kris, me and Don (and thanks Sarah for taking the picture!). This was taken in Tofte just after I finished and we had gotten the dogs settled. Yes, we are standing against my sled!

THANK YOU!

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5 Responses to “Beargrease 2010”
Lori Hedin on 08 Feb 2010 at 5:10 am # edit this

Nice pic! You all look like you could of gone another 150 miles!!!

wolfmoonsleddog on 08 Feb 2010 at 6:50 am # edit this

Thanks. Wish the dogs were in that picture though. They looked great! They rocked on that last run. Despite the hills we had our best time on that leg!

Dave Lukosik on 09 Feb 2010 at 6:56 pm # edit this

Nice work Alice! You and all the team ran a great race. Fiona and Inga proved that age is not liability. Those Siberian yearlings got a good dose of trail experience that should serve them well in the future! Hats off to your handlers for helping make it happen!

wolfmoonsleddog on 12 Feb 2010 at 6:11 pm # edit this

Thanks Dave! Fiona and Inga are just plain awesome dogs. They’ve been running with me so much and I love them. And it was great to see the pups’ world widening. They learned a lot and I’m so pleased with them.

Kris on 23 Feb 2010 at 7:28 pm # edit this

Yeah Alice!! Wish I could head to Red River with you…my daughter has hockey play-offs. Hope to see you soon!