Erin Letzring won the John Beargrease Sled Dog marathon by the smallest margin in the race’s history. She beat out ex-husband Ryan Redington by seven seconds on Tuesday. -- ALEX KORMANN • ALEX.KORMANN@STARTRIBUNE.COM - Duluth, Minnesota 
For Duluth native, ending first Beargrease with a win was a 'team effort'
The final stretch of the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon was called "no man's land," one mile of trail where regular race etiquette doesn't apply.
For about 300 miles, any time a musher wanted to pass a competitor, he or she would have to "call trail," prompting the musher in the lead to pull over so the other could go by.
But mushers Erin Letzring and Ryan Redington were neck and neck when they reached that last part of the trail, where teams no longer must yield to gaining opponents on the narrow, wooded course. Whoever reached no man's land first was likely going to win the race, the longest sled dog event in the Lower 48 states.
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