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2008 Birkie...Said and Done
By Nicole De Yong
It’s hard to believe that the end of the season is nearing! The Birkie is over and the last races of the season are approaching fast.
The Birkie was a huge success this year with nearly a record breaking 7,000 racers. Unlike last year, there was great snow and even some sun to awaken us the morning of the race. Despite the frigid temperatures at the start of the race, the conditions were nearly perfect and warmed up to a comfy 28 degrees by the end of the race.
The night before the race, I was quite nervous and yes a little scared to experience my first 50k starting in less than 12 hours. My goal was to stick with the lead pack of girls and hang on as long as I could. The race started at a comfortable pace as we climbed our way up the power line. I was in a good 8th position. This lasted for 17k until I found myself leading! “What, I’m leading?” I thought to myself. Although it was not my plan to lead at any point in the race, I decided it was okay because I would shortly receive a feed at 18.5k from Hallsey and I would most likely get passed. Well, as I approached Hallsey to take my feed, the rest of the pack slowed down as well and I ended up back in the lead. While I was a little frantic about leading more of the race I figured that if I was in the front, setting the pace for a while, I wouldn’t have to worry about getting dropped. My energy was good and I continued to ski at a comfortable pace. Around 30k I decided to finally let someone else pull the group. Despite a few sporadic surges to break up the pack, the women stayed close together. By 40k the pack finally broke up a bit. I did everything I could to bring up the rear and hang with the lead group of three women. The course became familiar to me as I had fortunately skied it the day before. I knew that the 3k stretch across the lake meant that the finish was quickly approaching. Evelyn, at this point had gapped Kristina Stranberg, Sarah Conrad and I. My skis were still running fast and I decided to lead across the lake, hoping to gap the girls behind me. Unfortunately, that did not happen and as soon as we turned the corner, with 100 meters to go along main street, the two girls made their sling-shot move and started sprinting. My reaction was just a little delayed and wasn’t enough to catch them at the end. I ended up fourth, 9/10th of a second out of 3rd. So close, yet so far!
I was quite pleased with my result. While it would have been exciting to stand on the podium with my teammate, Adam Swank who placed 3rd, I have to look at the positive and realize how far I’ve come. I guess this first 50k sets a pretty high standard for the next one.
I am back in Sun Valley for the next few weeks, getting ready for Canadian Nationals which will take place at Callaghan Valley, B.C. I am excited for these races! I will keep you posted on how things go! Cheers!
Word to the Wise
By Adam SwankThe final countdown to North America’s largest nordic race is on. Winding through wooded landscapes and glaciated hill of the Chequamegon National Forest, the American Birkie is the brainchild of local entrepreneur Tony Wise. Not only is this man responsible for the grueling and scenic course covering over 50kms between Cable and Hayward, we also must credit him with attracting some of the finest international competition seen in any marathon race worldwide.
In 1973 thirty four intrepid langlaufers completed the original Birkie. Five years later Tony Wise formulated a plan to draw international skiers to northern Wisconsin, and thus hatched the Worldloppet series of nordic marathons. As a result, this years Birkie is expected to draw around 9,000 competitors from over 30 countries.
Many skiers in the U.S. now concentrate solely on this race (may be referred to as master blasters or birkie farts). Regardless of your focus, this is a major skiing event for social, financial, and competitive reasons. This year conditions look favorable for a full length course finishing in downtown Hayward. In the weeks leading up to the Birkie I have continued racing, and am feeling well. The frequent arctic blasts have been forcing us to bundle up, but not preventing races from happening.
Two weeks ago, with wind chills around -40, the Mora Vasaloppet had to truncate its event to 35km – but hardy Minnesotans persevered, and there are pictures to prove it. Last weekend, the winds they were a changing, and hiatus in below zero temps allowed me to participate in back to back 10km races.
The Book Across the Bay in Wisconsin brings 2,000 skiers to a luminary lit path on the frozen surface of Lake Superior. A strong tailwind pushed the pack to a speedy 24 minute 10km race, and a fortuitous (for me) equipment failure of another competitor allowed me glide comfortably to a win. Fireworks, a large bonfire, and even bigger beer tent (it is Wisconsin) signal the end of the race.
The following morning the Korkii Nordic ski trails hosted a 10km classic event. This is the retro event of the year without pretentiousness! Cloth bibs from 1970’s, and a single tracked, shoulder width trail added to the bucolic setting. Self seeded start worked flawlessly, and the trail snaked past marshlands and forested hardwoods back to the rustic warming shelter where awards were given and birthday cake was served. Another win added momentum and confidence going into this weekend’s big event!
If you have Birkie fever – now you know you can blame Tony Wise for your symptoms!
See you in Hayward!
Birkie Tune-Up!
This past Saturday was the last race of the 2007/2008 Wasatch Citizen Series race season. The WCS folks hosted at 20 kilometer mass start freestyle race at “the farm” here in Park City.
We raced three laps of a 7 km loop. There were a lot of long but very gradual hills; some of them were serious grinders! There were also a couple steeper, longer climbs which made for a pretty tough and challenging race. The snow was cold and dry but it had set up really nice overnight. Thanks to the White Pine grooming crew for excellent conditions. Thanks also to the WCS volunteers for hosting a great event.
The race was good. I skied most of the race alone as I was out in front from pretty early in the race but was psyched to be able to work on a bunch of different facets of racing and skiing without having to worry about other racers trying to control the pace. I felt like I skied well and at this point in the season it seems like every race I do feels a little better than the last. I’m far from top form at this point but I’m having a lot of fun racing and training which is more than I can say for some of the racing I’ve done in the past couple years. I think today I skied the best technically I have all year. This is such a crucial aspect of my racing that it’s nice to feel like I’m making the most of it. Often, when I’m struggling with my conditioning, I’ll start to ski shorter and choppier. I feel that my strongest technique is a longer, more relaxed tempo that utilizes my general strength which I feel is a strong point for me (seriously, no pun intended…). So it was nice to feel relaxed today and to be skiing really deliberately and making the most of every push and completing every motion.
This was the last race for me before the Birkie! I’ve never raced the Birkie before and everyone’s asking me if I have the fever yet. I’m not sure. I’m not sure what symptoms to look for. I’ve never raced in Wisconsin before and am looking forward to it. I have snowmobiled in Wisconsin and that was awesome. Any place where the bars have happy hour from 10 am to 6 pm is alright in my book…
Hopefully I’ll have some time after I get out there on Wednesday to report some impressions from the spectacle that is the American Birkenbeiner…Until then have fun and get out and enjoy this awesome winter!
Aspen SuperTour
By Colin Rodgers
I just got back from my first tour of Aspen. The altitude punished me both race days, but the rest of the Fischer/Craft crew faired pretty well. Nicole and Zach both finished 2nd in the 5/10k Cl and Brayton was also in the top 5 with a solid classic race. The course was a 5k loop above the Aspen High School and was one of the most fun classic courses I have skied this year. It had a little bit of everything to offer- sustained climbs, switchback downhills and a rolling section in the last kilometer that was great for carrying fast momentum through.
The Owl Creek Chase 25k skate on Sat was a point to point marathon style race running from Snowmass to Aspen on the Owl Creek Trail. On the men’s side two 18 year olds put the hurt on the old boys. Noah Hoffman, Aspen local and Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation club racer, and Tad Elliot, Durango Boy and Pro mtn. biker destroyed the competitive men’s field. Noah won by 56 seconds over Tad and Tad had another 1.46 seconds over Rossignol’s Zach Simons and Fischer/Craft’s Andrew Johnson! This was a pretty impressive performance by the two youngsters and hopefully we will see lots of them in the future. On the Women’s side, former Middlebury skier, Evelyn Dong won by ~1 min over Factory Team skier Christina Strandberg.
Aspen was great stop on the SuperTour and I would say all of the athletes will look forward to heading back there next year. Thanks to AVSC and the Ute Mountaineer for putting on a great show.
Update
By Kate Whitcomb
Another great week of training in Sun Valley is coming to an end. I have been joining the 5th graders and Hemingway Elementary School on Friday afternoons skiing at the Sun Valley Nordic Ski Center (image above).
After racing the Boulder Mountain Tour on Saturday, I decided to opt out of the Owl Creek Chase marathon in Aspen this weekend. Currently in a training block, preparing for the American Birkebeiner and Engadin Skimarathon, I am logging some great hours and staying healthy!
Fellow teammates did make the trip to Colorado and have been skiing quite well - Nicole and Zach both earned 2nd place steps on today's podium.
Great job and good luck in tomorrow's 25k Owl Creek Chase marathon to the Fischer-Craft crew and congratulations Hallsey, Dad x2!
Urban Racing
By Adam Swank
A short jaunt to the Twin Cities provided a pleasant surprise this weekend. Not only were the conditions fantastic for urban racing, I also discovered that I still have a few fast twitch muscles. After a dry month with a little rain, many were worried that the course would be too icy and dangerous to ski. Luckily, with the efforts of volunteers and miracle working groomers, the course was well covered with fast, yet skiable snow.
Uptown Minneapolis was host to a sprint race on Saturday evening. The course was short, but technically challenging with two 180 degree turns, and fast conditions. The first 50 ft was a gradual uphill double pole, followed by a quick turnaround and a gentle downhill slope for 2 blocks. Another about-face at the bottom turned back up the street to finish near the start line. Obstacles of trees light poles were spaced throughout the course to make it interesting, however they rarely interfered with competition. I felt strong and won my first heats, thus making it to the finals. In this heat, the competition was fierce, and the in the double pole segment, my pole strap came undone. I was able to maintain 2nd place while holding onto my pole shaft, and readjust on the fly while no pole skating downhill. At the second turn around, I overtook CXC skier Matt Liebsch and held on to win the Toko/Finn Sisu sprints.
After a successful day in Uptown, I was hoping to repeat on Sunday in the 35 Km Freestyle race. I knew the field was strong, and conditions were fast, so it would likely be a tightly packed race until the homestretch. My predictions were correct, and despite several people up front pushing the pace, a pack of 8 skiers stayed together for most of the race. The course was thrilling to ski at such a fast pace because it’s so narrow and winding, and the pack of skiers being shoulder to shoulder added to the excitement. The last few kilometers is where the pack finally strung out, as skiers fatigued, and the pace continued to inch toward the redline. Andrey Golovko was the man responsible for increasing the pace near the end, and coming up the street toward the finish line, he outlasted me. I finished 5 seconds back in second place after one of the fastest 35 km races I’ve ever seen. The winning time was 1hour 13 minutes, which equates to 2:10 kilometers if the course measurements are accurate.
Overall a great urban skiing experience, and I’m already looking forward to returning next year.
