Birkie 2014
by David Mathews
The 41st Annual American Birkebeiner took place February 22, 2014. Widely recognized as North America’s most prestigious cross country ski race, it attracts nearly 10,000 skiers from all over the world. The marathon course starts near Cable, WI and ends in Hayward, WI. The race is 50 km for skaters and 54 km for classic skiers. There is also a shorter companion race, known as the Kortelopet, which starts with the marathon race, then loops back for a distance of 23 km. There are hills, no matter which course you ski.
Five KC Nordic Ski Group members participated in the race this year. Ed E. (transplanted from Overland Park to Minneapolis a few years ago) was in the area a week early. Kent F. and Tony A. made the 10 hour drive from Kansas City on Wednesday, 3 days before the race. This allowed them to ski parts of the race course in advance. But more importantly provided some quality shopping time at well stocked cross country ski stores. Tony snagged a new pair of Salomon skis. He said something about getting a great deal, but I knew he was just trying to rationalize the purchase since it was his second new pair this season. Traveling on Wednesday also ensured that Kent and Tony reached northern Wisconsin a day ahead of the blizzard that overtook Iowa, Minneapolis, and Wisconsin.
Bob and I, on the other hand, departed Thursday afternoon. The good news is that I-35 was closed due to treacherous road conditions. The bad news is that we were already on it. The condensed version of our trip: easy drive the first 4 hours, inched along I-35 in near zero visibility, got within 3 miles of our Clear Lake motel, parked the car well off the road for safety reasons, spent a frigid night in the car, got towed out of the ditch at 8:30 Friday morning, completed the remaining 300 miles on ice covered roads - occasionally exceeding 35 MPH, and reached Hayward in time for race packet pick-up Friday evening. Ready to race!
Saturday morning the race course offered some challenges of its own. The area had received in excess of 12 inches of new snow over the previous 36 hours. It is reported that the grooming crew worked feverously to prepare the course, but there just wasn’t enough time for the snow to firm-up. This made for a slow course. The slow snow had only moderate impacts on classic skiers, but major impacts on skaters, especially those in the later waves. Thousands of skaters tend to tear-up the snow and those near the tail end were faced with skating through ankle deep snow all day. Many racers reported race times increasing by as much as 50% over previous years.
Irregular and imperfect tracks are more natural to me, and the deep fresh snow in made the Wisconsin forest even more spectacular than usual. The slow snow also made some of the steep downhills much easier to navigate. I’m pretty sure I represent a minority position, but I enjoy the Birkie trail more in fresh ungroomed snow.
The weather was sunny, but cold. The air temperature was right around zero for the race start, reaching a high of 13 degrees. The wind was blowing about 20 MPH. Perhaps just a normal winter day in northern Wisconsin, but the soft boys from Missouri and Kansas judged the conditions to be rather chilly. Fortunately the woods provided protection against the wind along most of the course.
The Birkie Skate race was won by Tom Riechelt of Germany in a time of 2:14. The Birkie Classic was won by Santiago Ocariz of Ely, MN in a time of 3:01. The table below demonstrates that KC Nordic Skiers have a little work to do if we are looking to make the podium in 2015.
KC Nordic Skiers results
Race Finish Time Rank
Tony A. 23 k Kortelopet Classic 2:54 515 of 1015
Ed E. 50 k Birkie Skate 6:38 3504 of 3769 Finished 27th Birkie
Kent F. 54 k Birkie Classic 6:23 1320 of 1861 Finished 27th Birkie
Bob B. 54 k Birkie Classic 8:33 1832 of 1861
Dave M. 54 k Birkie Classic 6:20 1296 of 1861
It was fun, but it was hard.