REGIONAL- This was a year for record breakers in the return of the annual Arrowhead 135 Ultramarathon to far northern Minnesota after last year’s cancellation due to COVID-19. It’s one of the world’s most extreme tests of human endurance for running, biking, and skiing, running 135 miles between International Falls and Fortune Bay Resort Casino near Tower.
Records started falling even before competitors toed the starting line just south of the Canadian border on Monday. Race director Ken Kreuger said at Sunday’s orientation that a record 165 competitors had signed up for the event. The records continued as racers arrived at the finish line during the 60-hour race window, with two competitors, including one from the Iron Range, smashing records so thoroughly it may be next to impossible to top them.
The Arrowhead 135 (A135), which follows the David Dill/Arrowhead snowmobile trail, combines with the Badwater 135 in Death Valley, Calif., and the mountainous Brazil 135 to make up what ultramarathoners refer to as the BAD 135 World Cup, representing the most challenging events at that distance in the world.
While the three races are designed as extreme challenges, safety is paramount for event organizers, and Krueger repeatedly reinforced awareness of numerous potential hazards, including one particularly unique to the A135 – snowmobiles.
“Don’t assume that that snowmobiler coming down the trail is looking out for you,” Krueger said. “Make yourself visible. I’m a stickler for the blinkies and high visibility stuff. The forecast for Monday is pretty nice and there’s a very good chance for a lot of snowmobiles.”
The weather the first day was unusually mild, with temperatures in the mid-20s, followed by falling temperatures and high winds on Tuesday and much colder weather for the final day of the event. The race is held in late January or early February because it typically coincides with some of the coldest temperatures of a northern Minnesota winter.
Krueger said the mild temperatures could impact the race.
“It softens up the trail,” Krueger said. “People on foot, it’s hard on their feet. Bikers have to let a lot of air out of their tires, and they go a lot slower. And they all sweat more.”
Shattering the mark
If anyone should have been sweating, it was Sue Lucas, holder of the women’s foot race record of 42 hours, 31 minutes, a record Gretchen Metsa, of Buhl, was intent on breaking this year. To do so, Metsa would have to shave more than seven hours off her 2020 race time.
Metsa is a familiar face to many in the Cook and Orr area, with family ties and a job at DreamWeaver Salon and Spa in Cook.
“I grew up on Old Ash Lake Rd.,” Metsa said. “I ran sled dogs with my brother on the Arrowhead snowmobile trail. So, this trail, it’s like my home.”
The mother of three has also made a mark with her racing in the broader world through her openness about her Type 1 diabetes, a condition her daughter Mialynn shares. Metsa competes in part to show Mialynn that she doesn’t have to be limited in life by diabetes, and her story has been retold in numerous publications and a feature video by OutsideTV.
Metsa upped her training game for this year’s A135 by getting coaching through Wisconsin-based Trail Transformation to fine tune everything from stride mechanics to nutrition.
“They brought attention to different things I was doing wrong,” Metsa said. “I feel like I trained less but I trained smarter. It was awesome.”
It was effective, too. From the time Metsa hit the trail at 7 a.m., she was in almost constant motion throughout the race. She quickly put previous champion Pam Reed, who won the running competition in 2020 and 2018, in her rear-view mirror and never let up. She skimmed right through the three mandatory checkpoints, kept right on going through the night, and turned in a race for the ages.
When she crossed the finish line at Fortune Bay on Tuesday afternoon in the astonishing time of 33:05, Metsa had pared 16.5 hours off her 2020 race time and obliterated the former record by over nine hours.
“You always want to beat a record good so that you don’t have to come back and re-do it,” Metsa said.
Two hours after Metsa had left the course, the next closest female run competitor was still 30 miles away from the finish line.
Records, winners
The winner of the men’s run was Jake Hegge, of Onalaska, Wis., with a time of 28:27, breaking the old record of 30:54. In addition to being a physical therapist and an elite ultramarathoner who competes across the country and in Europe, Hegge also happens to be the founder of Trail Transformation, Metsa’s coaching service.
An even bigger record-smasher than Metsa’s came in the women’s ski division. Shalane Frost, of Fairbanks, Alaska, covered the course in 20:41, 14 hours faster than the record set by Kate Coward in 2020. Frost’s time also eclipsed the men’s record time, making her the fastest skier the A135 has ever had.
Minnesotan Mike Brumbaugh topped the men’s ski division with a time of 21:48.
The men’s bike race was won by Matthew Bosman, of Minnetonka, with a time of 14:22.
Kate Coward, the former women’s ski recordholder, took first place in the women’s bike division with a time of 17:42. Coward has also competed as a runner in past events.
As of Tuesday evening, no kick sled runners had crossed the finish line.
Sixty-five bikers, 65 runners, three runners with kick sleds, and nine skiers representing 27 U.S. states and four foreign countries started the race on Monday.
As of early Tuesday evening:
• Four bikers remained out on the course, 45 had finished, and 16 had dropped out.
• Twenty-nine runners were still on the trail, only two had finished, and 34 had dropped out.
• Three skiers were still on the course, five had finished, and one had dropped out.
• Two kick sled runners were still on the course, and one had dropped out.