Champion musher reacts to 2024 Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon cancellation

[MUSIC PLAYING] CATHY WURZER: Because of our so far mostly snowless winter the 2024 John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon has been canceled. The cancelation is only the third time in the history of the nearly 40 year race. Organizers say they ideally need 12 to 18 inches of snow for the safety of the dogs.

Right now, the entire Northeastern corner of the state has less than an inch of snow. Postponing was not an option because of the other sled dog races that overlap. Here's Beargrease board president Mike Keyport.

MIKE KEYPORT: We really wanted this 40th running to be a kind of a bigger event. And this last minute planning might not allow us to do that. So by postponing the 40th running until next January, we'll have more time to plan, more time to fundraise.

CATHY WURZER: Musher Erin Aili is the 2021 Beargrease winner. She and her husband Keith are both Beargrease champions, along with their award winning Alaskan husky sled dogs who've been diligently training for the Beargrease until this disappointing turn of events. Erin is joining us from Miles Ahead Racing Kennels in Ray, Minnesota. Erin, thanks for joining us.

ERIN AILI: Yeah, thanks for having me.

CATHY WURZER: Where were you when you heard the news?

ERIN AILI: Last night, we were just at home kind of getting ready to turn in for the night, and a friend texted and said, hey, did you see that it was canceled for the year? And that was just kind of some disappointing news to get right before bed last night.

CATHY WURZER: Yeah, no kidding. I know that you've spent I don't know how many weeks and months getting ready for the Beargrease. Give us an idea of the preparation that you have already under your belt for something like this.

ERIN AILI: Yeah, with sled dogs, it's kind of a never ending preparation that's probably the best way to put it. But training in earnest for this season, we started in early September. And so you start then, and you just kind of gear up-- like any kind of marathon athlete, you don't jump in to running 50 mile runs.

You start with smaller 2 to 5 mile runs and work your way up. And so since September, we've been training. We started with about 24 dogs, now we still have 20 in contention for the main racing team. And you get him out at least four days a week and slowly work that mileage up.

CATHY WURZER: So have you been training, because you don't have a lot of snow up there, how has that been working for you?

ERIN AILI: Yeah, great question. So when we started in September, we're using ATVs, four wheelers. We hook the dog team to the front of the four wheeler, we use the gears of the four wheeler to help control the speed-- how fast the dogs are going, how much they need to pull. And usually, we're on sleds somewhere first week of December.

But like you said, with no snow, that hasn't happened. So we are still on the four wheelers. It's a great way to get the dogs trained, but as dog mushers, we kind of do this because we like riding on the dog sled with the team. So we're still hopeful that we might get snow eventually.

CATHY WURZER: Eventually. But I know the Beargrease is an Iditarod qualifier, and the Iditarod is a huge, huge race. So what's next for you without the Beargrease?

ERIN AILI: Yeah, without the Beargrease, training continues. It was Keith's day to train one of the teams today. So he's out there while I'm taking care of chores back at the ranch here. And yeah, we're just getting prepared for the rest of the season.

The next race up on our schedule is the UP 200 in Marquette, Michigan-- I think it's like the 16th of February, just after Valentine's Day there. So with the Beargrease being canceled, that's an additional two-ish weeks or so to put into the training plan to prepare for that race.

Both the races are set up slightly different. So we'll tweak the training program here so that we can be better prepared for that event.

CATHY WURZER: And of course, the UP does have snow, I believe.

ERIN AILI: Yeah, seeing from some friends up there on Facebook, there is a little bit of snow there. I'm not sure it's as much as they usually have. But with a little bit of extra time between when the Beargrease was supposed to happen and when that UP 200 is supposed to happen, hopefully they can have enough snow on the ground to safely hold their event.

CATHY WURZER: Any broader effects of cancelations like the Beargrease as far as when you look at your sport as a whole?

ERIN AILI: I don't think so necessarily. It's weather. You can't do anything about the weather, and why we're all very disappointed and disheartened that we can't do it. I hope it doesn't affect the sport as a whole, just in a smaller scale.

Being long distance dog sled racers, we just have a few events each year. We generally plan to run three different races. And so when one of them's canceled for whatever reason, all of a sudden you're down to just two out of the three left. And it's just a bummer to not be able to have that sense of community you have with your other mushers-- some of our friends and stuff we don't see very often except for at the races.

And we don't get to always interact with other people and show them how cool these dogs are. And so it's a disappointment not to be able to share that with our friends and the communities that love to come out and see dogs doing what they love doing.

CATHY WURZER: I was talking to a musher, I think it was two weeks ago, and she actually was hoping to get to the Iditarod. So this is a new thing for her. And she said, I'm kind of wondering, though, with climate change, did I make the right decision to get sled dogs? And I don't know what you think of that. Have you all been thinking about just the future going forward?

ERIN AILI: No, not really. I think this is just one sad sorry winter. Look back to last year, we had all sorts of snow. We're a little farther North than you guys in the cities or down in Duluth-- we're up by International Falls there.

But I think we were on sleds from the first week of December all the way through the first week of May. And so you can't just lump one sad winter in there with the rest of them. As folks have noted, the Beargrease, they do a great job in organizing their event and trying to make it run as safely as possible when they can.

And so in the past, I think they've only canceled just a couple of times and maybe moved the date one other time. And so just yeah, you take the sad winter for what it is and just keep fingers crossed we might get some snow.

CATHY WURZER: Yeah. So as you heard, and you know this, for goodness sakes-- you need, what, 12 to 18 inches of snow for the safety of the dogs. Can you explain that for folks?

ERIN AILI: Yeah. You do need a significant amount of snow on the ground for safety of all involved. You've got to figure the snow has to fall. And when it comes down, it can be poofy or that really wet thick stuff. But you need to make a base on the trail. That all needs to get squished and compacted.

And so sometimes you might have 8 inches of snow. But by the time it's been ran over, packed down, groomed, that 8 inches might only be 2 or 3 inches on there. And one of the big things you have to be able to do with your dogs is to be able to safely stop the team.

And so we have what's called a snow hook-- basically a sled anchor, for lack of a better explanation. It has a couple prongs on it, and we put it down, stomp it into that snow pack to anchor the team like a parking brake. Well, if we don't have enough snow on the trails, that's an impossibility. And you really need to make sure you can stop any kind of moving vehicle when you need to.

CATHY WURZER: Right. Yes, absolutely. And that's why you need a deeper snow pack, obviously, I'm also assuming to help their paws and their legs not be so beaten down by maybe a harder surface.

ERIN AILI: Yeah. Those are great points as well. The more snow pack you have, the softer a cushion it is. Just like anybody who's out running, sometimes you don't always want to run on the hard stuff. You want to run on softer ground.

So yeah, dogs do like the softer ground. But yeah, big issue is, like you said, having that snow to be able to break and also make the trails smoother. A lot of what we're running over is swamps most of the time.

And so it's not always as smooth as the highways that you're going down. And that snow that we're going to get is going to fill in all the divots and make it a smooth, comfortable trail for everybody.

CATHY WURZER: Well, we'll keep our fingers and toes crossed then for you for next year. But good luck when you get to the UP.

ERIN AILI: Yeah. Thank you. We're looking forward to whatever this winter might throw at us.

CATHY WURZER: All right, Erin, thanks for the time.

ERIN AILI: Yep. Have a good day.

CATHY WURZER: You too. Erin Aili been with us. She's a musher. She won the 2021 Beargrease sled dog marathon, so did her husband Keith. They're both champions.