American Birkebeiner will go on with shorter races, revised schedule due to lack of snow.
The 50th American Birkebeiner and its associated cross-country races will be skied next week ‒ albeit under less than ideal conditions.
Forty-foot-tall hills of stockpiled snow held up through temperatures in the 50s and rain last week and will provide a base for a 10 kilometer loop near Telemark Village at the Birkebeiner's Cable trailhead, Ben Popp, the American Birkebeiner Foundation's executive director said during a livestreamed update Monday night.
That the Birkie can be held at all this year is the result of foresight by trail crews who took advantage of a cold snap in January to stockpile snow, recognizing that the weather might not cooperate during the month leading up to next week's events, Popp said. On Sunday, the crews began moving snow to the trail using front-end loaders and dump trucks.
"It's been a Herculean effort," Popp said. "It's been a huge mobilization from the city of Cable, Bayfield County and all kinds of contractors to come together and try and bring you the 2024 American Birkebeiner."
Holding the Birkie on a compact course with skiers making multiple loops resulted in some creative event scheduling, including shortened events to reduce crowding on the course and to preserve the quality of the snow as much as possible.
"We know it's going to be really, really tight out there. It's only 10 kilometers and there's a lot of you," Event Director Kristy Maki told the roughly 2,000 skiers, volunteers and others on Monday's call.
The current plan is to spread ski events over five days beginning Feb. 20; most non-skiing events will be at the Cable trailhead. The schedule includes:
Open track days Feb. 21 and 22
To ease congestion on the weekend, a second open track day was added as an option for participants registered for the American Birkebeiner Classic and Skate races, the Kortelopet Classic and Skate 29K and the Prince Haakon 15K.
"The bonus for Thursday is we're adding another day of open track events," Maki said. "So if you are supposed to ski the Kortelopet, which will be on Friday, or the American Birkebeiner Skate race on Saturday, or the American Birkebeiner Classic race on Sunday, you can move to Thursday if you want a little more relaxed experience."
American Birkebeiner Classic race
Normally a 53 kilometer race from Cable to Hayward, the race is shortened this year to a 30 kilometers, or a three lap race to be held on Feb. 25.
American Birkebeiner Skate race
The race on Feb. 24 is also reduced for most participants from 50 kilometers to 30. Elite skiers will compete in 50 kilometer men's and women's races.
Kortelopet Classic and Skate 29K
The race that normally begins at the trail's midpoint and ends in Hayward will be reduced to 20 kilometers, or two laps. The races are scheduled for Feb. 23 for those who don't want to ski early.
Prince Haakon 15K
The event for first-time racers and skiers looking for a shorter event is reduced to 10 kilometers this year. It's also scheduled for Feb. 23.
Popp said this year's events are possible only because the ski community came together to fund snowmaking equipment after the Birkie was canceled in 2017.
"The Birkie's all about bringing the community together skiing and biking and rocking the lifestyle, but we know this is the centerpiece event, and back in 2017 when we were cancelled, unfortunately, due to weather, many of you really got behind us in believing this vision of creating infrastructure that would ensure that no matter what happens, we're going to be able to put on American Birkebeiner," he said.
The foundation has received $500,000 in matching grants to fund an additional $1 million of snowmaking equipment. Popp said about $300,000 of the match has been raised so far, and the foundation hopes to hit the $500,000 total at the annual Birkie Bash fundraising party in Hayward on Feb. 22.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 50th American Birkebeiner will go on with shorter races, revised schedule
