Behind the Scenes at the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon is a Group of Amateur Radio Operators

The 25th running of the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon is gearing up for a banner year. With the cancellation of last year's race due to lack of snow, this year has a solid base of snow and a forecast for plenty more. The excitement is building, the slots are filled, the race will take place as scheduled on January 27. Starting at Ordean Middle School on the East side of Duluth, Minnesota, the race will follow the North Shore trail along Lake Superior, returning after almost 400 miles to a finish back in Duluth. This is the longest, hardest marathon in the lower 48 states and is used as a qualifying event for the great Iditarod in Alaska.

The race commemorates the life of John Beargrease, a Chippewa Chief who delivered mail by dog sled along the North Shore back in the 1800's. What many don't realize is that behind the scenes of this elaborate event is a group of people volunteering many hours of their time and many dollars of expensive electronic equipment in the name of Safety and Health and Welfare. For the sake of both the Musher's and their teams.

Amateur Radio, also referred to as Ham Radio is an activity licensed and controlled by the FCC. Upon successfully completing a testing process, licensed radio operators can maintain and use equipment that will allow them to communicate over long distances. Through a series of repeaters their messages are transmitted from checkpoints along the race route back to race headquarters in Duluth Minnesota.

Repeaters are basically a way that a weaker signal can be transmitted with more power to reach another station a longer distance away than would be possible to reach directly.

Using UHF and VHF repeaters the approximate position of each team is tracked and relayed back to Duluth. This is very important work. In the event of an accident, or a team becoming lost in weather that can easily be in the -30 below range, it is imperative that they be located as quick as possible. Temperatures in that range can become fatal very quick. Dog counts are also maintained in the event one breaks loose of his tow line and becomes lost.

Beargrease Amateur Radio Coalition takes on that awesome responsibility. They know within a matter of minutes when a team is due into the next check point. If a team is running late they inform race officials and snowmobile teams are sent out to find the missing team. With the full distance race involving 30 teams and the mid-distance race at 47 teams, and each team including up to 15 or so dogs, the radio operators will have plenty to do.

Staffing checkpoints and road crossings on a 24 hr a day basis from the start of the race until everyone is accounted for at the finish line. This is a monumental project all done by volunteers that usually end up working around the clock for many days. Catching a bit of sleep or something to eat whenever possible, but no matter what, in the name of Health and Welfare, they are there for the Sled Teams.

FCC regulations forbids any monetary reimbursement for their efforts, this is a completely volunteer activity. The cost for transporting their equipment hundreds of miles down the road, setting it up and spending long hours transmitting information is done simply because they enjoy the challenge and the camaraderie.

The desire to do something positive for the community. These are the people that in the event of a natural disaster are first to restore communications with the outside world. Remember that when you complain about the geeky neighbor with the strange antenna array in his back yard. When the TV, Phone, and everything else goes dead, he's going to be the first to get information in or out of your area.

When you see that man or woman walking around the checkpoint with a walkie talkie, or someone sitting in a car or truck with antennas on the roof and a microphone to their mouth, walk on over and say Thanks for their effort. They'll appreciate it and maybe if they have a free moment they can tell you how you too can become and Amateur Radio Operator and then you can volunteer to work next years John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon.

For more detailed information about the John Beargrease Marathon and the Beargrease Amateur Radio Coalition go to the following web sites.

www.beargreasearc.com/
www.beargrease.com/index.htm