In all the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon races Keith Aili has competed, this year’s was the most challenging.
Still, the Ray musher conquered Mother Nature’s fierce winds and bitter temperatures to take second place in the event Wednesday.
“I didn’t know the wind could be that strong for that long of a period of time,” an exhausted Aili told The Journal on his way home Thursday.
The 2006 Beargrease champion finished the 374-mile race about two hours behind defending champion, Nathan Schroeder of Chisholm.
Aili also took second place in last year’s event after a six-year hiatus from sled dog racing.
The race started in Duluth on Sunday afternoon and took teams up the Gunflint Trail and back. Temperatures were around 20 below zero with wind chills at 50 below zero at times on the North Shore Monday morning.
“I’m lucky I don’t get as cold as some people,” Aili said. “There were some mushers who were literally freezing.”
Aili took an early lead Monday, but later in the day, slow trails dropped him to second place where he stayed the rest of the race.
“There was plenty of speed in my team to win, but snow conditions slowed the trail down,” he said. “Nathan had more power than me.”
Once he realized catching Shroeder wasn’t likely, Aili said he “slacked off” to preserve the team for its next race. At the finish line, Aili ended the race with nine of the 14 dogs he started with.
“They’re all OK, but they had some sore wrists,” he said of the five dogs he dropped along the route. “Once their wrists get sore, I always drop them right away.”
Because the Beargrease trial has more hills and low ditches than other races, Aili said dogs getting frostbite is a major concern. In fact, the fear of frostbie may have played a role in three of the 10 marathon teams deciding to drop out, or scratch, from the race, including musher Amanda Vogel.
“It was a really hard decision,” Vogel, also of Ray, told The Journal Thursday. “I wanted it, I needed it, I had a lot riding on it, but I couldn’t get myself to do it to the dogs.”
Vogel was using the Beargrease as a qualifying race for the Iditarod Great Sled Race in Alaska. Now, she says she’ll have to explore other race options.
“It’s unfortunate,” she said of having to scratch from the Beargrease Monday morning. “It was a really tough call to make.”
But, in the end, she said her four-legged teammates come first. She said her dogs experienced frostbite and other injuries that led her to make the decision. While athletes are prone to injuries, she said the race wasn’t worth the risk to her dogs.
“I would have had to drop three of my four best leaders,” she said. “It just wasn’t worth it to me.”
Still Vogel made the best of the experience.
“As ferocious as the wind and weather was, it was beautiful,” she said. “Cold, but beautiful.”
Aili said overall, he is happy with second place.
“It was a challenge just to finish this year’s race, so I’m happy,” he said.
The musher said he plans to get home and let he and his team recover before deciding the next race.
“I have to get them home and look at their attitudes to see if they recover properly,” Aili said, adding the cold toll the Beargrease took on the dogs goes right along with Borderland’s harsher-than-normal winter. “You know it’s a bad winter when mushers are complaining.”
