2/2/2010 3:30 PM CT: Matt and crew are in and out of Sawbill and on their way to Finland. The team slowed down a bit on this last run, which was quite hilly, and Matt left one dog on Sawbill before taking off. He left at 2:30PM and if he maintains his current pace he will hit Finland around sometime around 6:00 PM this evening.
2/2/2010 12:00PM CT: Since last update Matt and all 12 dogs are in and out of Devil's Track. They continue to maintain good speed and are sitting somewhere in the top 5 right now. The two dogs that were dropped back down the trail were Panther and Coors. Nothing was really wrong with them other than that Panther was in season and causing problems for the rest of the team. The team took off from Devil's Track this morning at 10:00 AM and they have 8:52 of mandatory rest left to use on their run to the finish. Teams are allowed to take more rest if they want, but that will often knock them out of contention for finishing at the top of the pack. Matt will need to take a mandatory 6 hour layover when he reaches HWY 2, but between Devil's Track and HWY 2 there is about 100 miles of trail and two other checkpoints, Sawbill and Finland. It will be exciting to watch and see what the musher plans to do, this is where the race strategy really starts to show.
2/1/2010 11:15PM CT: According to the posted race updates Matt and team are still posting some great times on the trail. He spent 5:22 at Sawbill before heading down the trail to Trail Center with 12 dogs (when I hear from the handling crew who was left behind I will be sure to post). The team made the 51.4 mile run in 5:49. They are now 172 miles into the race which puts them past the halfway point (the race is 373 miles). The next leg of the race is the longest stretch between checkpoints at 63.5 miles. My guess is that Matt and team will rest for about 5:30 here before taking off on the run to Devil Track.
2/1/2010 10:30AM CT: Matt and the dogs continue to post some of the fastest times on the trail. After a good 4 hour rest at Beaver Bay, they made the 51.2 mile run to Sawbill in 5:22. Matt arrived in Sawbill at 8:16AM and with his mandatory layover of 4:52 (the 4 hours plus his start differential, because the teams leave the starting line in 2 minute intervals the first team out needs to rest extra time to make up for leaving before the last team out) he would be able to leave there at 1:08PM this afternoon. Matt still has all 14 dogs on the string which is a great thing to see.
2/1/2010 1:00AM CT: The team is moving great down the trail. For the second leg, 34.4 miles from HWY 2 to Beaver Bay, they again posted one of the fastest trail times, completing the leg in 3:10. Matt and the dogs took 3:20 of rest at the last checkpoint which probably helped them to keep up their great speed. Hopefully they are all enjoying their time on the trail!
1/31/2010 9:00PM CT: Looking at the posted race results, it looks like the first leg of the race went well for Matt and the team. They completed the first 35.3 miles of the race in 3:08 arriving at the Highway 2 checkpoint at 4:16PM this afternoon. During the race the mushers must take a total of 28 hours of rest, a mandatory 4 hour plus start differential as well as a mandatory 6 hour at Highway 2 on the way back and then the other 18 hours any where they choose. It looks as though Matt and team are resting a bit at this checkpoint before continuing on down the trail. The mushers strategy in how they take their rest is a major part of how the race plays out. We will watch and see what happens.
1/31/2010: Matt and team have drawn bib number 5 for the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon. This means that they will be the fourth team, bib number 1 is an honorary bib that no musher wears, hitting the trail this afternoon a little bit after 1:00. If you are in the area be sure to head out to the race start on Riley Road (from the Beargrease website: 1/4 mile West of Lake Park on Riley Road near Jean Duluth Road). Best of luck to Matt and the team!
1/28/2010: The John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon starts up this Sunday! It is going to be a great event and a lot of fun to "watch" Matt run the race. Hopefully he and the dogs will have a wonderful run. Check back as I will try to keep this page update with info on what the musher may be up to during the race!
2009 Beargrease posts are below.
Wednesday, 1/28/2009: Matt completed the run down to Sawbill checkpoint, reaching it shortly after 9:00PM last night. He decided that it was in the best interest of his team to pull out of the race at that point. We are very proud of our musher. That it one of the toughest decisions that any racer has to make. Check back with the "Daily Scoop", http://www.barkriverracing.com/thedailyscoop.html, for the whole story.
Tuesday, 4:30PM: Matt took a nice long rest at the Devil's Track checkpoint before heading on the 34 mile run down the trail to Sawbill. He left the checkpoint at 4:32 with 8 dogs. Depending on his strategy he may either run just to Sawbill and rest or push onto Finalnd, which would be a 64 mile run. There are now only 7 mushers left running the race.
Tuesday, 1/27/2009: Matt is still moving down the trail and running somewhere near the top 5. Last night he took off from the Trail Center checkpoint, with 8 dogs, for the run to Devil's Track. He was the sixth musher to come into this checkpoint, but all the musher have taken various amounts of their mandatory rest so it is hard to tell exactly who is the leader at this point. This leg they just ran was the longest, 63 miles, of the race. There are now only 8 of the 22 musher left competing in the race, the others have all scratched from the race. I haven't been able to get ahold of the handling crew to get the scoop on the trail, but with all those scratches it must be one tough race.
Monday, 7:24 PM: Matt has arrived at the Trail Center checkpoint and was the second musher to get there. He dropped 3 dogs before leaving the Sawbill checkpoint and made this run with 10 dogs. I haven't heard from the handling crew on who the dropped dogs are yet but if I do I will be sure to post it. At this point Matt is 178 miles into the race, which means there are only 202 miles left. Go team go!!!
Monday, 4:00PM: Finally an update, Matt made it into Sawbill checkpoint right on time at 9:03 this morning. He was the 4th musher to arrive at this checkpoint and posted the second fastest run time on this leg of the race. At Sawbill the mushers are required to rest for at least 4 hours plus their start differential. This means that Matt would have needed to rest at least 4:02. I can't find an "out" time for him, but I think he may have taken a little bit longer of rest. It was a run of 51 miles to reach Sawbill and he has another 51 mile run to reach the next checkpoint at Trail Center.
Monday, 1:00PM: Christa has finished in 22nd place! She and the team made it across the finish line at 10:27AM this morning. Congratulations to Christa and team! Matt should be into the Sawbill checkpoint, they just haven't posted updated times yet. I will update as soon as I can.
Monday, 1/26/2009: Matt is still running near the front of the pack. He rested at Beaver Bay for 5 hours and 10 minutes before taking off on a run of 51 miles to the Sawbill checkpoint. He and 13 dogs (I will try to find out who was dropped) took off on the at 3:46 this morning. If he was running the same pace as previous legs, he would make it to the Sawbill checkpoint at about 9:00AM.
Monday, 1/26/2009: Christa and team made it to the Finland checkpoint at 2:42 this morning. They rested for 4 hours and took off for the finish line at 6:49. It is a run of about 32 miles from Finland to Tofte, so she should be in to the finish anytime!
Thanks to Leona Krieg for the pictures!
Sunday 10:37 PM: Christa has departed the Highway 2 checkpoint. She left after resting for 4 hours and dropped one dog at the checkpoint (I will let you know who ASAP). She has a run of about 37 miles to get to Finland and after another 4 hour rest she will be on to the finish line!
Sunday, 10:36 PM (Minnesota time): Matt is the fifth musher to arrive in Beaver Bay! He will now take his first rest of the race. I am guessing that he will rest between 4 to 6 hours. The mushers in the marathon race need to take a total of 28 hours during the race. They will decide how much to rest at each checkpoint based on the preformance of the dogs and on their on own strategy. Matt is posting some of the best run times so far for each of the legs. The teams are now about third of the way into the race.
Sunday, 1/25/2009: Matt and team are in and out of the second checkpoint at Highway 2. He stayed there for about 30 minutes, most likely to snack the team and check on the booties of the dogs. He is running great trail times and looks like he may currently be the race leader!!! Matt and team have now completed about 42 miles on the trail. The next stop is another 31 miles away and he will probably stop for a few hours to rest the team.
Sunday, 1/25/2009: Christa and team are now at the Highway 2 checkpoint. They are resting there before continuing on to the checkpoint of Finland 37 miles further down the trail. She needs to take a total of 8 hours of rest between the two checkpoints. The team's run times look good, so hopefully everyone is having fun. Looking at the weather on-line, the temperatures are about 10 below zero with a windchill advisory out for the night. This is a great temperature for the dogs, they generally run quicker in cold temperatures and the trail should be hard and fast. As long as the mushers are bundled up, everyone should enjoy the night.
Matt and team at the start of the Beargrease.
Sunday, 1/25/2009: Thanks to Mr. Mark, a 2nd grade teacher at Hermantown Elementary, for the great pictures. These are photos of Matt and Christa at the start of the race. They sure look like they are taking off strong!
Christa at the start of the race.
Sunday, 1/25/2009: Matt posted the second fastest time to the first checkpoint! He passed several mushers on the way to Billy's Bar checkpoint which is 6.4 miles down the trail. Hopefully this is a great sign of things to come!!!!
Sunday, 1/25/2009: Christa has reached the first checkpoint. She is traveling at about the middle of the pack but there is lots of racing left to go!!!
Saturday, 1/24/2009: Matt has drawn bib number 21, which will make him the second to last musher to hit the trail. He will be leaving the starting line at 3:10 PM. Leaving this far back in the line-up can somtimes be a good thing. It will add some excitement to his team by having lots of teams to chase and hopefully he will be able to pass many of them! His team of dogs is: Calvin, Charlsie, Africa, Anna, Vinny, Mak, Gretchen, Guiness, Gedewike, Tswana, Bots, Dik, Dimitri, and Vargas!
Saturday, 1/24/2009: Christa will be wearing bib number 134, which means she is team number 34 in the 150 mile race. This also starts her team near the back of the pack, but hopefully they will have fun chasing other teams. She and her team will be taking off at 1:34 PM. Her group of dogs is Rat, Linyanti, Flake, Chat, Orville, Gator, Coors, and Guma.
Friday, 1/23/2009: The Beargrease race is almost here. Matt and Christa, from the Bark River Racing Kennel (www.barkriverracing.com), will be hitting the trail on Sunday. Matt is running in the Marathon, which is 375 miles, and Christa is participating in the 150 mile event. The bib draw is on Saturday night, so check back to see which numbers our mushers have drawn.
