For rookies like Bailey Vitello, the change allowed them to concentrate.
“I’ll tell you, the fans do make it a lot of fun. They do ask a lot of great questions. We really like teaching and telling them all about it. And the dogs seem to get a little more pumped up with it,” Vitello said. “But it was nice just to be able to focus on and prioritize the dogs.”
New or old hat, the first run from Duluth to Two Harbors was a test of trail conditions.
“The fresh snow … slowed everything down. And we haven’t had very much fresh snow, so it felt different than a lot of our training runs,” Altemus said.
“I still saw some bare spots; it was rough conditions,” Vitello said. “It was a lot of slowing down, taking it easy, making sure dogs’ booties were fresh and making sure they kept a good, steady pace coming out. It got sticky pretty quick.”
Vitello is from New Hampshire, but he had a similar experience to many of the local mushers this race season: a lack of snow and a lack of competition.
He and his dad, Gregg Vitello, are doing the Beargrease together. This race is an Iditarod qualified, which they hope to run in 2023.
“We didn’t have any races on the East Coast this year, so it’s been a real rough season for racing,” he said. “But this was a good start. It was a good way to get back into it.”
All of the marathon teams were into the Finland checkpoint by 10 p.m. Sunday night. John Fisher of Cook, Minn., was first, followed by Sarah Keefer of Burnsville, Minn., and Ryan Redington of Wasilla, Alaska.
The Link LonkFebruary 01, 2021 at 09:00AM
https://www.wdio.com/news/fresh-snow-send-teams-off-beargrease-marathon/5997023/
Relieved to be racing: Fresh snow sends teams off on Beargrease Marathon - WDIO
https://news.google.com/search?q=fresh&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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