(snow shuffling) (airy music) - Ah, the Northwoods of Minnesota.

It's rich with outdoor opportunities, from hunting and fishing, to trapping and snowmobiling, but that's not all.

Each year during the coldest part of the winter, a select group of hardy individuals trek to the coldest place in the lower 48 states to take part in one of the toughest races in the world.

(airy music intensifies) - [Narrator] We're up in international falls for the Arrowhead Ultra 135.

Competitors bike, run, or cross country ski 135 miles on the Arrowhead Trail down to Fortune Bay Casino and Tower.

- So, the start is 7:00 AM Monday morning at Kerry Park Arena.

We have fireworks at the start, which is really a neat way to start a race, so the bikers start at 7.

If we have a skier, he/she starts at 7:02, and 7:04, the foot people take off, and they have 60 hours to finish.

So, racers have to have mandatory survival gear, a 20 below sleeping bag, a bivy sack, some type of stove to boil water, some type of fuel to boil water, some type of pot to boil water, reflective gear, headlamps, blinking lights for, so we are on a snowmobile trail, so we need to be safe and respectful of the snowmobilers.

- [Narrator] While this race is normally in very cold conditions, this year's abnormally warm, and that's causing all sorts of new issues.

- The trail is really rough, so it's rough for you, but it's also rough for the snowmobiles.

So, we will have snowmobile rescues, but they will not be patrolling as much as they have in the past.

Warm years, we usually deal with trench foot, and hopefully, people are starting to figure that out, but not everybody does.

This is by far the warmest Arrowhead we've ever had.

The most unusual winter I've ever seen here in 38 years.

- Just because it's not 20 below outside, doesn't mean that the weather conditions cannot be very dangerous, okay?

36, and humid is perfect hypothermia conditions.

- It's gonna be tough going for you and tough going for us.

If we see issues and we see that you're off trail, I'm gonna send good thoughts, and hope you get 'em.

(audience laughing) Really, I hope to see you all at the finish, I really do.

Take your time.

No records are gonna get set this year, so we don't have to worry about that.

- We give thanks for this event, these people gathered, and the adventure to come.

May we all be safe in the coming days.

Amen.

(soft music) (pleasant music) - This is the 20th (atmosphere humming) anniversary of the Arrowhead Ultra.

The first year, I believe there's only like five racers.

The first year I did it, in 2007, there was less than 20 racers.

So, it certainly started as a grassroots kind of, hey, let's, this is doable.

Let's see if we can finish this event.

It's really bloomed and blossomed, you heard the race director say today that it actually crashed the website as soon as you could start registering.

So, it's definitely popular and as people hear about it, and it gets recognition from one of the tougher endurance races in the world, of course people want to challenge that.

(pleasant music) (fireworks popping) (people cheering) This year, the weather's nice.

So, I think there'll be a lot of people that are confident that they're not gonna get frostbit.

But they're gonna have a lot of challenging conditions 'cause the snow is soft, and they're gonna not necessarily have a good surface to be on for either walk, run, or bike.

- [Announcer] I'm gonna (people cheering) thank you again for getting into the (voice drowns) crap.

(people cheering) - [Participant] Go (indistinct) ball!

- [Participant] Yeah!

- This race is a unique, Minnesota isn't necessarily known for its hills, but through the course of 135 miles, you have over 7,000 feet of elevation gain, and about 7,000 down.

(pleasant music) - [Announcer] Release the hound!

(people chattering distantly) (people cheering) (sleds swishing) (pleasant music intensifies) I have don, at 17, finished 16.

I finished the most, I believe there's one other guy that's done it more times than me, and I think he's finished as many as me, John Storkamp, and he's on foot, so he does it a little harder than the biking.

The people are real, (people chattering distantly) they're pretty humble.

There's not a lot of fanfare in this race.

So, it's not about the glory of it.

And these people don't necessarily take a lot of credit for the work they put in to compete this type of event.

They're quite humble.

- I believe I've started it 12 or 13 times.

(atmosphere humming) Twice, I've won it.

When I won it on foot, I was leading most of the way, three quarters of the way.

And then, Scott Holbert caught me at the last checkpoint, and we actually went in together, and we actually tied.

(soft pleasant music) There is no winter trophy.

(people chattering distantly) There is just a trophy for finishing.

Yeah, they don't do any age groups or winter trophies, or anything like that.

So, you only get your name first on the list is all you get.

(soft airy music) - [Narrator] Even finishing in the back of the pack is pretty cool.

- 10 years ago, I was a single speeder, still am.

And I did a little research trying to find anybody that had ever single speeded Arrowhead, 'cause that's what I wanted to do.

And I found this guy named Judd, and his brother Ted.

And they had this gig going called Back of the Pack Racing.

Next thing I know, one thing leads to another, we meet at Gateway on the Arrowhead Trail.

They're dressed in plaid, wool outfits matching.

And to me, they were like superheroes.

(soft airy music intensifies) (soft airy music softens) - Backpack racing, we started it back in like 2007, and we would go to single speed races, and our whole goal in that race was to beat Smoking Joe.

We were always at the back of the pack.

(chuckling) And thus, we came up with the name Back of the Pack Racing.

Dead last doesn't mean loser.

Because every now and then, Smoking Joe would get us.

And this guy, no joke, stopped on the race course to smoke, and we could barely keep up with him.

- We became friends and the rest is history.

We've been on this trail, this is my ninth time, Judd's been here 11 times.

So, we don't change our gears because we don't have any gears.

In fact, truth be told, derailers are the path of the devil.

And so, (chuckling) we just run a single speed!

(airy music intensifies) (airy music softens) - The ones that are looking at like, "Hey, look at me, I'm this big racer."

(atmosphere humming) They don't normally come back to this race 'cause there's not enough publicity or fanfare for it, so I think it's really is the people, and people like Lindsay Gold that are just ride for the pure, the passion, he was a Olympic cyclist, and the fact that he's still riding bike, and still passionate about it means a lot to me because he's a role model.

- It was challenging, I ended up just in the pack.

(people chattering distantly) But it was the one when the Israelis got attacked and it set everything back.

And even my race had an incident where these Irish guys, there was two Irish cycling federations.

The one got to pick the Olympic team, the other sent a bunch of cycling commandos, they snuck onto the course, and literally grabbed a hold of the official Irish riders and dragged them outta the race.

And it caused a mass crash at the start that I was involved in.

I was able to go on, but it, yeah, I mean it just was this, I think that was maybe the first real politicizing of the Olympics, and it was challenging for everybody for sure.

(airy music) (snow shuffling) - Man, it's tough.

(chuckling) - [Participant] Good job.

(airy music) - My friend Charlie Farrell and I from Duluth, we've competed here for years together.

He always beats me by one place quite often.

But anyway, we're doing this, and we'd always talked about the old explorers from the early 1900's, but they all dressed in tweeds and wolves, and cotton anoraks, and whatever.

So, we said we're gonna do it and dress like that.

And so, that's what we're doing.

I'd like to tell you these are whalebone, but they're actually 3D printer.

We'll be wearing those out there because it's actually good range of visibility.

They really cut the glare.

(airy music) (people chattering distantly) - [Participant] - Hold that line, hold the line, hold the line!

- [Participant] Let's go!

(people chattering distantly) (people shouting distantly) (airy music) (airy music softens) - There's three checkpoints.

The first one is Gateway General Store, it's a convenience store.

They are just wonderful, it's 38 miles into the race.

We literally turned that place into a locker room on Monday.

I mean, people are runnin' around trying to get their clothes dried, buyin', they have chili and drinks, and pizza, and hamburgers, and whatnot.

(airy music intensifies) (airy music softens) And the next checkpoint is our halfway checkpoint.

That's Mel George's Resort.

(airy music intensifies) (airy music softens) - Well, we're here at Mel George's on Elephant Lake, this is one of the checkpoints here, and the race has been goin' on for about 12 and a half, 13 hours.

We've seen a few of the bikers come in already, but the race got real slow, the trail got real slow.

So, I think it's gonna be a long night.

We're gonna hang out here for a while, see if we see any more racers come in.

I'm sure they'll filter in throughout the night.

In fact, here comes one now.

(airy music intensifies) (airy music softens) - [Narrator] Most racers use the facilities and resources available to them along the way.

But there's a select group that go unsupported and decide to forego that advantage.

- A normal racer goes into gateway, "Hey, can I have a slice of pizza and a Gatorade, and a couple hand warmers, and I'm gonna use your bathroom and wash my hands?"

And unsupported racer, "Hey, I'm Krieger, and I'm 147, I'm in and out, see ya.

I get no water, no food, no warmin' up, no nothing.

So, it makes a very difficult race much tougher.

(airy music intensifies) (airy music softens) (soft airy music) - Well, the race has been goin' about 25, 26 hours now or so.

We're here at Mel George's the next morning, and we've got some, in fact, here's another walker coming in right now.

There has already been a finisher!

So, we're gonna go see the rest of the course and make it to the finish line!

- You actually cross The Laurentian Divide, I believe, three times in this race.

So, it really is one of the hillier sections of the state.

So, those are when the demons start talking to you, and you start to, your mind will play tricks, and you'd rather be anywhere but on that course, so.

- What happens is people get frustrated and they quit way too soon.

What my advice would be, if you start to get really tired, throw your sleeping bag down, sleep for four or five hours, and then keep going.

(soft music) ♪ Mmm - Woody's still out there.

We cried and we died.

So, we cried a lot for about 10 miles while we pushed our bikes through single speed snow.

I must have fallen over 20 times trying to get that first pedal on the single speed.

95% of it is mental.

Yesterday, we just didn't do it.

And we live with reality, and reality is, when the temperatures are above freezing and you're on single speed, it's a little bit tougher.

- [Narrator] Luckily, there's someone willing to go get racers on the trail who aren't able to finish.

And this race has been pretty good for his life too.

- So, I've been running around here, and checking on racers for 16 years now.

So, I actually just kinda patrol the trail, and checking on all the racers, making sure that they don't have any physical issues.

I just go out to make sure that they're able to continue on.

And if they're not, then it's up to me to get them in safely.

My wife Carla, Carla is from Brazil.

Carla came for the first time, I think 11 years ago.

The first year she was here, we pulled her just north of Mel George's here.

She was done second year again, she did finish, but it was too late.

Third year, I had to pull her at 100 miles, and that's when we started talking, and within a couple years after that, we actually got married.

(dreamy music) (snow shuffling) (people chattering distantly) - [Participant] How's it goin'?

- [Participant] Woo!

- [Participant] Yeah.

- Yeah, are you the last man standing?

- Yep, they all bailed out on you.

(participant chuckling) - Yeah, but everything's been great out here, dude.

If everything was like this yesterday, it had been a, well dude, I hit rain last night, had to put my gear on.

Stopped raining, took it off 'cause I was warm.

Started pissin' rain again.

Put it on, then it started snowing, dude, across Elephant Lake.

I see, I mean I was completely soaked.

- Nice job, and good luck the rest of the way, and.

- All right, man.

- Finish her up.

- Puppies are having fun with the sticks.

(participant chuckling) - That's right.

- All right, man, nice seeing you, dude.

- [Participant] Yeah, you bet man.

(pleasant airy music) - [Participant] Alright.

- Arrowhead is such a great event, and the thing is, you meet friends, people who you have these lifelong friendships with.

There are people who, at 2:00 AM, I don't see 'em any other time of the year, but we're there together, and we feel miserable but it's great.

(pleasant airy music intensifies) (people cheering) (bells clanging) - All right, we're here at Fortune Bay Casino, and the finish line for the Arrowhead Ultra 135 is right behind us.

Checking the leaderboard here or the the tracker, we notice that Kenneth Landgraf from Winnipeg, Manitoba is about to cross the finish line, let's go see how he's doing.

(soft airy music) - [Participant] Congratulations.

(people chattering distantly) - Thank you very much.

- [Participant] How did it go?

- Good, very good.

- [Participant] Congratulations.

- Thank you very much.

(airy music intensifies) (airy music softens) - We started doing it a long time ago and we just kept doing it, it's just been really wonderful.

It's a wonderful experience.

(people cheering) (bells clanging) - The person who finishes is gonna be a very different person than the person who started.

You can't not love the people that you're sharing the trail with.

- I was struggling for a while, but good.

- If you can just finish this thing, you're in good company.

(airy music intensifies)