Amateur Radio at the Sled Dog Marathon

In Minnesota, the 25th running of the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon is gearing up for a banner year.

The race follows 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.

A group of radio hams volunteer many hours of their time and many dollars of expensive electronic equipment in the name of Safety and Health and Welfare. Both for the sake of Musher's and their teams.

Messages are transmitted from checkpoints along the race route back to race headquarters in Duluth, Minnesota.
Amateur radio VHF and UHF repeaters play a part in getting the positions of each team relayed back to Duluth.

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 quickly as possible. Temperatures in that range can very quickly become fatal.

Dog counts are also maintained in the event that one breaks loose of his tow line and becomes lost.

Source: Wireless Institute of Australia