Duluth — Bear Grease Masher spends months, even years building and training a dog sled team, but what decisions can he make to give himself an edge in the race itself?
The News-Tribune asked the three champion mushers what strategies they employ between the start and finish lines.
Gary Meader/Duluth News Tribune
Ryan Anderson, St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin
- 2011, 2015, 2018, 2022
marathon champion
; 2019 Middle Distance Champion
- Competing in the 2023 Marathon
Steve Kuchera/Files/Duluth News Tribune
Beargrease has a few strategies, but not many, as everyone is basically on a level playing field. So that’s kind of what your team can do.
We all need to get the same amount of rest, so it’s not like, “I have a team that can run long distances slowly, so I can cut my rest.” That’s not it. Watching Iditarod and the like, yes, having a team of dogs that you can hang out with for long periods of time doesn’t give you much rest. But if you have a team of fast dogs, you probably need more rest.
But not so much at Bear Grease, as everyone has to rest for 24 hours (all six checkpoints in the race combined).
In fact, the only strategy is the run-to-rest ratio. Do you rest earlier so you can get more rest at the end? Or do you rest more at the beginning and less at the end so the team doesn’t get tired?
Since 3 of the last 4 runs (checkpoint to checkpoint) are long runs, you usually want to take more breaks in between. Word of mouth is something like a 50:50 run-to-rest ratio. If it takes him 3 hours to reach the first checkpoint, it is recommended to rest for 3 hours. At the next checkpoint, we will rest for three and a half hours.
So all you have to think about on the trail is, “Do I need to save 5 hours to get to the trail center (checkpoint)?” But if at the trail center he needs 5 hours he should rest somewhere else.
I think I’ll take a 5 hour break to the trail center. It’s like a halfway point, you’re about to finish a 5 1/2 hour run or a 5 hour 20 minute run.
Gary Meader/Duluth News Tribune
It’s usually difficult to get two meals within your dog’s caloric intake if you only rest for 3-4 hours. Five hours of rest is usually enough for him to have two meals.
With 6 checkpoints and 24 hour breaks, you’ll have about 4 hours of rest at every checkpoint. We recommend that you rest at least 3 hours at each checkpoint, as there are a lot of breaks. Between 3 and 5, with small increments and decrements from there. That’s what most people end up doing. I don’t think anyone would rest for an hour before going to the next checkpoint. This race isn’t really set up that way.
Ryan Redington, Skagway, Alaska
- 2018 and 2020 Marathon Champion
Steve Kuchera/Files/Duluth News Tribune
Our strategy is set to allow 4 hours at all checkpoints with mandatory rest. Some mashers are different. They may rest short on the first couple and rest long on long runs.
Each spot will take 4 hours, but we hope we can keep up the speed to compete with the others. I believe you can charge it to almost 100% in 4 hours.
Due to the longer distances between checkpoints later in the race, some teams may have a little less than four hours rest time at each spot. So some people try to rest more before them, but then instead of giving them a 4 (hours rest) give them a 5.
Another thing is to slow down when going downhill. With the dog’s momentum, they’ll want to go down the hill fast, and that’s the musher’s job…to keep the dog slowed down enough so as not to affect their rhythm up the hill. People can be too fast on the descents and slow down near the end of the race, so what we’re trying to do is run fast on the hills and slow on the descents.
Gary Meader/Duluth News Tribune
Blake Flecking, Finland, Minnesota
- 2004 and 2019 Marathon Champion
Steve Kuchera/Files/Duluth News Tribune
The most important thing… (it is) taking care of the dog. That’s the most important thing. We go into checkpoints, we try to get some calories in there, we get massages, we get the treatments we need. It’s important, absolutely important.
So to speak, you don’t want to go out of the race by choosing a slow pace at the beginning, but going too fast or too fast can be detrimental later in the trail. All teams vary based on training throughout the year. So some teams will be faster in the beginning and others will be more stable.
Gary Meader/Duluth News Tribune
I also like getting the team ready for the run between Sawbill (checkpoint) and Trail Center. To me that run seems very decisive. Usually after a few miles of that run you can see how my team is looking for long haul. I spend all my time focusing on my team and making sure they are performing as best as they can.
Bear Grease, in particular, has a lot of forced breaks, so it’s really a competition from checkpoint to checkpoint and how to manage the time. Many people have very different approaches to checkpoint-to-checkpoint time. You can run hard all the time.
(Jen Flecking, wife and fellow dog sled) and I tend to stop every once in a while and the dogs have a treat. If it’s warm, roll in the snow to cool off. It’s optimized for running like the end of that race.
