In years past, folks at the start of the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon had to shout to be heard above the baying of the sled dogs.
That is, until the dogs were given the command to move.
Then they fell utterly silent as they threw their weight into the traces ... and the crowds took over with whooping and cheering and yes, cowbell.
This year will be a lot different.
Given the choice between having a dramatically different running of the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon and NO running of the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon, the board decided to go with "dramatically different."
The race start is closed to the public and only a minimum of volunteers, race staff, handlers and news media will be allowed on site. Same for the race finish at Mineral Center.
If you do want to position yourselve along the trail somewhere, you need to check out the Marathon's website first. The race starts, finishes, and checkpoints are all closed to spectators, but even if you're watching from nearby, you need to be masked and maintain social distance from other folks.
However, KUMD will be at the start of the race, Sunday morning at 9am, broadcasting live from the race start, and our trail reporters, John Stetson and Jason Rice will have updates for us at 8:00am and 2:00pm Monday until the end of the race. Plus we'll crunch the numbers for you with our 11:00am Beargrease reports Monday and Tuesday on KUMD!
