Once-retired musher Keith Aili wins his second Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon title

GRAND PORTAGE, Minn. — After nearly three days and 300 miles spent cruising near the North Shore, Keith Aili's team of Alaskan huskies stopped Tuesday just shy of the finish line — a swatch of orange paint sprayed into packed snow between the Grand Portage Lodge & Casino and Lake Superior.

Ultimately, it was Rudolph, the dog behind Aili's lead dogs, who coaxed the team through to make it official — 14 hours, 59 minutes, 20 seconds and the veteran musher's second Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon title.

"They're scared of people," Aili said of his young team's anti-social moment in the face of the small crowd of media, race officials and spectators who lined the finish chute.

Aili slid past Ryan Anderson after Skyport Lodge in Grand Marais, one of the last checkpoints along the route, spoiling the defending champion's shot at a record-setting fifth win in this race.

Sarah Keefer, racing Iditarod-bound dogs, was third, but her finish may have earned the most cheers. Her team included Wildfire, who suffered a broken leg after a hit-and-run snowmobile crash during a training run a year ago. The Alaskan husky was able to avoid amputation through surgery, rehabilitation and downtime. Now, the much-talked-about dog has a slew of fans.

Wildfire went the entire distance of the race, Keefer said as she hugged the dog. Ryan Redington, who was with Wildfire during the snowmobile crash and will race this team in the Iditarod in March, dropped a share of raw meat in the snow in front of him. Wildfire responded with what seemed to be a big grin.

"I'm so proud of him," Keefer said. "The whole time, he was like 'Let's keep going.'"

Aili raced a young and inexperienced crew and said he thought it would take one more year to get a win out of the team. Aili, though, has decades of experience as a musher. He started running the Beargrease in the 1990s and won in 2006. In 2021, he finished second in the marathon after a racing hiatus he originally referred to as retirement.

Anderson has been competing alongside Aili for decades — they used to be neighbors in Ray, Minn. — and knew he was a contender. When Anderson, who led much of the race, finally was passed by Aili, he said he knew he wasn't going to win. By then he had thrown his dog Monster, who was obviously tired, into a bag on his sled. Not only was Anderson short another dog, the remaining team was tasked with pulling an additional 70 pounds of Alaska husky.

Anderson admitted he was disappointed, but not too disappointed.

"I'm happy we got to the finish line," he said.

The race finished on an afternoon with a temperature of 4 degrees and a sharp sun. There were subtle swells on Lake Superior — less than 100 yards from the finish line. The 39th annual event started Sunday morning on the outskirts of Duluth with below-zero temperatures in the forecast for the duration.

Where about half of the field dropped out before the finish line in 2022, just two teams scratched this year. Daniel Klein dropped out at the Trail Center north of Grand Marais, and Martin Massicotte was out at Sawbill near Tofte.

Alex Angelos, a race official, said all the trails had been groomed before the race and the cold weather had made the routes fast.

"When you have trails like that, it's just beautiful," he said.

Joanna Oberg won her first Beargrease 120 on Monday morning and Ashley Thaemert won the 40-miler, finishing in just under 3 hours Sunday afternoon.