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The Mushers
Nicole, Blake, Elena & Jen Freking.
Read all about us in our bios below.
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Dr. Jennifer Freking, DVM
Dr.
Jennifer grew up near Cambridge, MN and has been
training and racing sled dogs since she was 9 years old.
She began racing her dogs in Junior 3 dog class at North
Star Sled Dog Club races in 1990. She ran her first
mid-distance event in 1994 and loved the silence and
beauty of the longer trails.
She finished 50th of 80 teams in
the 2008 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, 9 seconds ahead
of Blake! She was awarded the Most Inspirational Musher
Award, an honor nominated and voted on by the other
Iditarod competators after overcoming serious setbacks
before and during the race.
She
finished 2nd in her Rookie Year racing in the Beagrease
Marathon in 2005 with our second string and finished
3rd, 10 minutes behind Blake, in the 2006 Beargrease
Marathon! A couple weeks later, she finished 4th in the
2006 UP 200.
Jennifer
has competed in three international junior sprint races,
winning both the Harry Wheeler International Children's
Race in St. Paul and the Trofeo Topolino in Ponte di
Legno, Italy in 1997. She was awarded the European Trail
Club's Most Promising Junior Musher Trophy in 1996. In
1998, she and twelve of her dogs spent six months
training at the Norris' Howling Dog Farm with Earl and
Natalie Norris and Iditarod Musher Shawn Sidelinger. She
placed seventh of twenty teams in the 1998 Jr. Iditarod.
Jenny
finished 6th at the 2004 Apostle Island Sled Dog Race of
51 teams and 5th at the 2004 Empire Sled Dog Race,
averaging over 13 mph for 34 miles per day! Other races
Jen competed in include Beargrease 150 4th, Can-Am 60
8th, Ship Ahoy 100, Sheep Creek Christmas Classic, the
Mid-Minnesota Sled Dog Race, the Elton, WI 80, and The
Flute Reed Challenge, and numerous sprint races
including Cannon Falls, Detroit Lakes, Nicolai Sprints,
Grantsburg, and Babbit.
Dr.
Jennifer Freking graduated from the University of
Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine in May 2004 and
practices large and small animal medicine at the Ely
Veterinary Clinic in Ely, MN.
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Blake Freking
Three-time Iditarod
veteran, 2005 Yukon Quest veteran, and 2004 Beargrease
Champion, Hudson Bay Quest veteran, Can Am veteran, and
Race to the Sky veteran. Blake Freking was born in Heron
Lake, MN. He began skijoring recreationally with his
Siberians in 1991. From 1998-2000, Blake worked with the
Anadyr Siberians at Earl and Natalie Norris's Howling
Dog Farm in Willow, Alaska. He trained and raced the
puppy teams and handled for Shawn Sidelinger's 1999
Iditarod Team.
In 2000, he raced the
Anadyr team in the Klondike 300 and Knik 200, placing
7th and 5th respectively. In the 2000 Iditarod, the 4th
event in his racing career, Blake finished 46th of 81
teams. Since 2001, Blake has been training and racing in
the midwest, including the UP 200 and Midnight Run,
Beargrease, Solon Springs, Bayfield, and Grand Portage
Passage.
Blake and the Manitou
Crossing Siberians WON the 2004 400-mile Beargrease
Sleddog Marathon in Duluth, MN. Then, in 2005, they
finished 11th in the Yukon Quest 1000-mile marathon! In
2006, Blake finished 2nd in the John Beargrease Marathon
and 5th in the Can-AM 250 in Fort Kent, Maine. Email
Blake for more info!
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Elena
Freking
Elena was born in 2010 and started running her own team
in the Beargrease Cub Run when she was 4 years old. She
started running Mid-distance races in 2022, when she was
11. Since then she has run in the Klondike Dog Derby,
the Ely Wolftrack Classic, the Beargrease 40, and the
Copperdog 15. Elena goes to school in Ely Minnesota, and
she loves to read and write.
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Nicole
Freking
Nicole was born in 2012 and started running her own team
in the Beargrease Cub Run when she was 3 years old. She
started running mid distance races in 2023 when she was
10 years old. She has run in the Ely Wolftrack Classic
and the Copperdog 15. Nicole goes to school in Ely
Minnesota. |
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