Joanna Oberg, of Grand Marias, Minnesota, celebrates with her lead dogs Viva, left, and Tamar, after crossing the fininsh line first in the Midnight Run, making it her third win thus far, on Saturday at Mattson Lower Harbor Park. (Journal photo by Corey Kelly)

MARQUETTE– Joanna Oberg, of Grand Marias, Minnesota, finished first in the Midnight Run at 2:22 p.m. Saturday at Mattson Lower Harbor Park in Marquette.

The 94-mile race took her 11 hours, 54 minutes, 1 second. The Midnight Run began Friday night on Washington Street in downtown Marquette, went to Chatham and returned to Marquette the next day. Larry Fortier of Gaylord finished second and Joann Fortier of Gaylord finished third. Oberg will take home $2,900 of the $13,575 purse.

Racers arrived at the Lower Harbor later than initially anticipated due to recent weather conditions that made travel slow.

“It’s like running through mashed potatoes or sand. It’s tough,” Oberg said about trail conditions. “I felt like we were going as slow as molasses in January.”

Oberg finished the eight-dog race with six after having to drop two dogs off at the Chatham checkpoint due to fatigue and one with a sore shoulder muscle. This is the third Midnight Run win for Oberg, who also won in 2012 and 2018.

“On that tough trail it was just hard on the dogs,” Oberg said. “They did amazing though. I don’t know how they do what they do.”

Corey Kelly can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 243. Her email address is ckelly@miningjournal.net.