After trek across northern Minnesota wilderness, Arrowhead 135 athletes reach finish line
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The first athlete to complete this year’s Arrowhead 135 endurance race in northern Minnesota crossed the finish line just before 1 a.m. Tuesday.
Race rookie Patrick Ogden from Michigan biked the 135-mile course from International Falls to Tower in 17 hours, 54 minutes. Race officials shared a quote from Ogden as he reached the finish: “It was a helleva ride.”
He was followed by North Dakotan Ryan Haug, who reached the finish line in 19 hours, 19 minutes.
The top women’s finisher — Minnesotan Kate Coward, a repeat champion — biked the course in 22 hours, 54 minutes.
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More than 150 competitors started the race at 7 a.m. Monday, and dozens of athletes remained on the course on bikes, skis or on foot on Tuesday morning. More than 40 had dropped out along the way.
The cutoff to complete the race is 7 p.m. Wednesday. Racers have minimal if any outside support along the trail — there are just three checkpoints along the course.
Temperatures along the trail were in the 20s on Monday, falling into the single digits above zero overnight with occasional light snow. That’s relatively mild for a race that often sees temperatures well below zero.
Ogden’s time, while impressive, was not a course record. That remains 11 hours, 43 minutes — set by Jordan Wakeley in 2019.