2019 Beargrease 120 Dog Sled Race

Joanna and the dogs did a super job Sunday and took third place in the Beargrease 120 dog sled race. This was the first time I stayed home, sitting on pins and needles wondering how things were going, while John went with her to help with the dogs and drive the truck and trailer to the two checkpoints. The eleven years we lived in Canada, John had to stay at camp to watch the generators and plow snow, but now that we live in Grand Marais, MN for the winters, he can go with Joanna to her races. He spends a lot of time training with Joanna all fall and early winter and now gets to enjoy first hand the fruit of their labor at the races.

Our son Jonathan called me Sunday evening saying Joanna had called him after the first leg of the race during the rest time so he could call me and ask me a question and he could relay the answer back to her. ( I had given them my cell phone to use during the race)

I excitedly asked him how she was doing. He told me she might be in third place at that time but also quickly told me of a freak situation that occurred. I immediately began feeling the thrill of victory and then the agony of defeat.:)

Joanna had some left over meat in a dish after feeding all the dogs and went over to two dogs to let them finish it up. Suddenly one dog bit the other dog and blood was spurting out his his nose area. John immediately put his thumb over the hole to try to stop the bleeding while Joanna ran to find a vet. The race vets are simply amazing. They freely give of their time and resources to serve the teams at the race, making sure they are in good health and helping those that get injured.

They managed to get the injured dog over to the vet building where they examined him and had to put in four staples to fix the cut. Joanna had been advised by the race judge, who is also a good friend, that if they could take out the staples and superglue the cut, the dog could continue racing. The vets advised giving it two hours to see if the bleeding stopped then they would be able to tell if superglue would work. They eventually determined that superglue would be okay and the dog was able to continue on to the second leg of the race.

Unfortunately, the injured dog did not do well on the second leg and ended up neck lining, holding the team back a lot of the second leg. Apparently he was ready to be done racing. Maybe it was the injury bothering him, maybe other things were going on in his head. Joanna decided she would have to drop him at the second checkpoint. She would then be left with 7 dogs to finish the race. Somewhere along the second leg, she detected a very slight hesitation in one of her main leaders. "Oh no" she thought, " not Viva". Maybe it was just a wrist injury that could heal quickly with some good attention at the checkpoint.
She continued closely observing her as she ran to see if there really was a problem. She sensed Viva was not running full out as usual and was a bit careful to protect herself even though she was pulling tremendously.

Soon as she got to the next checkpoint she had a vet come to document dropping the injured dog and had him check out Viva too. Unfortunately she did have a shoulder injury and had to be dropped also. (It's amazing to me how well Joanna knows and cares for her dogs. She knows exactly how each one runs and with careful observation, can tell if something is not quite right. She's not just standing on the back of the sled hurrying to get to the next checkpoint, but like other mushers, closely observing which lines are tight, which are slack, checking for anything going on that is not normal.)

Another incident that happened on the first leg of the race, which I found out later, was an encounter with a porcupine. That's right a porcupine. I didn't even know they were out and about in the winter. I guess I've never seen one at that time. It was right on the trail in front of Joanna and when Joanna saw it, her heart went up in her throat. She immediately gave the command, "ON BY" to the team and they complied, leaving the porcupine alone as several of them brushed it on their way past it. Joanna saw its tail quiver a bit like it might throw some quills, but all was well and she breathed a sigh of relief.

The third leg of the race was the longest, 45 miles, and also had the steepest hills. Joanna was heading out on this leg with only six dogs, but they were powerful dogs and they brought her to the finish line in third place behind Ryan Anderson and Martha Schouweiler. She is very pleased with her amazing athletes and is eagerly preparing for her next race in Marquette, MI, the Midnight Run.

Congratulations to both Ryan and Martha for their excellent finishes as well.