Injured musher Beckie Hacker finishes Beargrease to cheers, support from Billy's Bar

No better way to start your day than with a good musher story!

PHOTO: "I can't believe I finished," said injured musher Beckie Hacker (left) as she gets a big hug from veteran Beargrease musher Jamie Nelson at the finish line of the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon Wednesday night. Hacker injured her shoulder but still made the finish in time to qualify for the Iditarod. Bob King / rking@duluthnews.com

A cheer came from the crowd outside at Billy's Bar at the announcement that musher Beckie Hacker was less than a mile away from the finish line.

The light of Hacker's headlamp flickered through the trees as she approached on her dog sled, "Beckie! Beckie! Beckie!" the crowd chanted as her lead dogs came around the bend toward the orange line painted in the snow.

More than 14 hours after the first musher crossed the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon finish line, Hacker was the final musher to finish the race at 8:18 p.m. Wednesday after spending a majority of the 383-mile race nursing a bad soft-tissue injury to her shoulder.

Four-time Beargrease champion Jamie Nelson was waiting at the finish line and after she greeted Hacker with a hug, Hacker told her, "I can't believe I finished." Hacker made her way down the line to congratulate her dogs while laughing, smiling and stopping to give long hugs to her friends and family as they wiped away tears.

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