With the warmest day of the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon behind them, the majority of mushers are just about 80 miles from the finish line.

Erin Aili is the clear leader heading into the overnight run from Skyport to Mineral Center, where every team must rest for at least four hours. But Erin Altemus, who attempted the Iditarod in 2024, is hot on her heels.

The lead pack of three, which includes Canadian Jesse Terry, ran their longest leg of the race – 61 miles – in the heat of the day. But he had a strategy to get them safely from Trail Center to Skyport.

“It’s keeping the dogs cool, letting them stop lots, like every 5 miles or less, they stop and they roll in the snow,” Terry said at Trail Center. “I carry water. We manage them by letting them roll in the snow, eating snow, and giving them lots of extra fluids.”

Current leader Erin Aili wasn’t too worried about the weather.

“It’s warm for sled dogs. You know, we train in hotter weather like that so it’s not going to bother them. We’ll just take more breaks, we’ll let them dip snow, roll around, that kind of thing,” she said. “But they are outdoor, northern breed type dogs, so they like colder weather. But they do just fine in the warm too.”

The team of veterinarians that examines the dogs at each checkpoint were happy with how mushers handled the conditions.

“The mushers are taking lots of breaks on the trail, the dogs are dipping snow when they can, drinking flowing water if they have the opportunity, and they’re all drinking when they get in the checkpoints, so honestly, we haven’t seen any heat-related injuries,” Head Veterinarian Katie Neshek said.

In fact, even with a hard, icy first section of trail, Neshek said they haven’t seen any more injuries than they typically would expect during a competitive dog sled race.

Race officials are expecting a Tuesday morning finish in Grand Portage. GPS tracking is available on the Beargrease website.