John Beargrease Dog Sled Race of Minnesota's North Shore" by Daniel Lancaster (Holy Cow! Press, 2008). John Beargrease Dog Sled Race The John Beargrease Sled Dog Race is a dogsled race held along the North Shore of Lake Superior in northeast Minnesota. At 400 miles, it is the longest sled dog race in the lower 48 states. The "Beargrease" is a qualifier for the famed Iditarod race in Alaska. The name of the race honors John Beargrease, a winter mail carrier who traveled by dog sled between Two Harbors, Minnesota and Grand Marais, Minnesota during the last two decades of the nineteenth century. The race
2005 Iditarod the team of 12 dogs, each dog sled also carried a family member or friend, and an "Idita-Rider". The Idita-Riders seats were auctioned off in January, and raised a total of US$140,021, with an average bid of US$1,918.09. The auction was held entirely online for the first time in 2005. The teams passed through of city streets lined with an estimated 100,000 people. The temperature was . Due to the warm weather and poor trail conditions, the first leg of the race was shortened by the Iditarod Trail Committee on February 27, and ended at Campbell Airstrip from Anchorage, instead