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

Beargrease Amateur Radio Coalition (BARC) Provides Safety Communications for the Race

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.