Ski North Ultra 2026 Elspeth's Version

Last year was the inaugural Ski North Ultra. Erik really wanted to do this 100 km race but given we'd already signed up for The Great Bear Chase and single track sketchy downhills and route finding aren't my jam, I won out and we chased the bear. I've done some long stuff in the past, like the Chippewa Triathlon and the Canadian Ski Marathon, and it turns out I don't do well racing for hours at a time, especially if I can't find the route or if I'm sleep deprived. 

This year though I gave in. I planned on doing the 50 km; however, when I went to sign up there were only two options: 38 km or 100 km. I couldn't "only do" 38 km so against my better judgement, I registered for the 100 km and regretted it immediately.

I debated how specifically to train for the 100 km and then largely out of time, some cold weather, and less than ideal trail conditions, I didn't do much specific training. I figured any extra I skied would be good Birkie training. This did get me to do a 4 hour ski at Wirth and instead of skiing for 1-1.5 hours on week days, I logged 2 hour sessions. But that was it. My longest ski leading up to the race was the 53 km Birkie. Last year there were some significant route finding issues so I printed a bunch of maps and studied the course in detail, as I hadn't skied any of these trails previously. 

2026 Ski North Ultra map. 

 

This all leads up to race day. A couple weeks before the Ski North Ultra, the course got 1-2 feet of snow. It got warm a couple times, including most of the week before the race. Then it rained at least a quarter inch the day before. Fortunately the race wasn't that day because I have not figured out how to stay warm in a cold drizzle for more than an hour. But here was the kicker, overnight, it just might snow. There's also significant elevation change over the course, about 1,000 feet, and so it was possible it might rain by Lake Superior and snow up on the hills. Hmmmmm..... 

I planned to bring 3 pair of waxable skis to the race. Then based on grooming and snow conditions and road/river crossings, I made my plan of which skis I'd use when. But would it snow? How much? Would it be slushy or icy? The race started at 7 am (about the time the precip was predicted to stop) which didn't leave much time for kick waxing the morning of, much less 3 pairs. The sun was supposed to come out around 10 am, then it was 11 am, then the last forecast I last saw said noon. With some time to kill the day before and only 0.1 inches of snow predicted, I betted on ice and went for Purple Oslo for my middle skis and some warm START Terva hard wax for my third pair. Now I had two pairs that could ice and couldn't afford to add Klister to my planned starting pair. So I put on SWIX 45, figuring we could always add Klister in the morning.

We stayed at an Airbnb up the hill from Tofte and when we woke there was a solid coating of slushy snow on the deck and big flakes coming down. Definitely not klister conditions. As we drove down to the lake, it was sprinkling. The course start was squishy soft, perfect warm klister conditions but most of my group knew better. Erik and I lined up near the front and we took off fast. The snow was wet and slow. Soon we were climbing up the Pioneer Loop and I was glad to have kick but lots of skiers passed Erik and I. We were moving good and I was breathing reasonably hard so I tucked in behind Erik. Despite only wearing a spandex suit, I was getting hot. By the time we got towards the top of the Pioneer climb, skiers were stopping left and right to scrape off their skis, icing from klister. Zach Handler was one of many as was fellow Vakaver Ben who had decided to use klister. As we skied up to the Deer Yard Loop we caught up to Molly Watkins and skied behind her into the Deer Loop aid station. Here I found a brownie bite to take down. I wasn't hungry yet and didn't feel like eating after a big breakfast but knew it would be a long day and that I'd have to start fueling early. 

Craig, Brock, me (just behind Brock), and Erik at the start. No new fresh snow down here by the lake. Photo: Tracy Lundberg

Then we headed onto Deer Loop. There was lots of fresh snow up here, maybe 3 inches, and we skied in the skied-in track. Trying to pass was nearly impossible because the non-skied in track was so slow. I think we yo-yo'ed with Zach Handler three times as he had to stop and scrape his skis. Erik and I skied with Molly and some with Tyler Gilbert and Nate Rhode. I liked that Deer Yard Trail but soon we turned right onto the Short Trail which I could tell from the contour lines had some serious downhill. I let a couple skiers pass me so I could take the hills more cautiously, doing some snowplowing when I wasn't sure. The hills weren't too bad except for one that had a big rut at the bottom. 

Skiing Deer Yard with Molly, Erik, and even Maggie Mahota for awhile! Obviously some very pretty but slow fresh new snow up here. Photo: Jordon Woods

 

Allie (Ski North Ultra organizer) had changed the course the previous day to do two laps of Deer Yard instead of two laps of Pioneer to make for a couple more kilometers and a little less climbing so after finishing the Short Trail we headed back around Deer Yard. I didn't mind because the trees were nicely coated in snow. By now the track had been heavily skied in and was slushy and slippery. My kick wasn't as good but on the flip side I double poled significantly more. I curbed my speed again on the Short Trail but found the descent significantly more harrowing as the snow was transforming and grabby. My legs got really tired descending. Erik got a bit ahead of me here and stayed ahead as we turned to head down to the junction with Pioneer. That part was OK, albeit the last hill was really snowplowed out. But as we descended Pioneer, the track was fast but suck. The new snow on the side was uber slow. I was glad to be able to watch Erik ahead of me to see how he was navigating the track but found the fast suck quite scary. 

Then we ended back on the Norpine Trail heading back for our first pass through the Start/Finish. The snow here was a bit slow but reliable. After the descent I was freezing and made plans to grab my jacket at the Start/Finish even though I knew I had a big climb ahead of me. Some skiers were heading out for the Bally Creek lap as I was heading in. I put on my jacket, ate a couple quesadillas and a cookie. My teeth were chattering and I debated adding my pants as well but figured I'd get hot soon so just took off shivering. Erik had already left and Molly had passed me up as well. 

We skied back north on the Norpine Trails before skiing some hiking trails down to the bridge that crosses over the Cascade River where we began a two-way section up to the Bally Creek Trails. Here I was glad for the mandatory walking since the previous section of trail had had some narrow twisting downhills. After crossing the river the Cascade State Park ski trails had a fair amount of debris and my poles punching through. There were multiple well-marked intersections at least. Soon I began climbing the steep pitch heading towards Bally Creek. Then there was a downhill to another creek where I almost went off the bridge despite snowplowing. Then were was a long gradual climb up to Bally Creek. 

My Garmin map with some terrain that shows the Start/Finish on bottom, Deer Yard on left, and the climb up to Bally Creek on right.

Here I was in major trouble.  My energy was good but I had stayed on my skis from the Deer Yard part because I was afraid my Purple Oslo would ice. I hadn't added any extra kick wax and had no kick in the glazed tracks. So I tried to ski outside the tracks but either in the tracks or outside the snow was so soft that my pole plants were constantly punching through, sometimes punching through 1-2 feet! I'd recently changed to some larger pole baskets, BUT I NEEDED FRISBEES!. The small space of snow outside the tracks felt lumpy and I kept rolling my skis over, punching through the snow with my poles. I was super frustrated as a train of skiers passed me. The sun came out and I got hot so I had to stop to take off my jacket. 

By the time I got to the County 45 aid station I was more in disbelief than anything. How could things be going so badly? Then I ate my first cardamom roll, and things got worse. The doughy pastry wouldn't dissolve in my mouth. I couldn't swallow it. Someone had some kick wax I put on and then I kept going. More skiers passed me, including teammate Ben. There was a downhill that was relatively easy but then there was another downhill that was steeper. I snowplowed but I froze and just couldn't move my left ski over and it hit soft snow and I was down. I had to extract my left arm which was up to my armpit. My skis were over my poles. Finally I righted myself, shook some snow from my glasses, trudged across a swamp, and began a slow climb up the next hill. 

Ski North Ultra elevation profile from below 800 feet to over 1,800 feet.

I was looking forward to getting on the Bally Creek Trails, off this connector. If I got to the Bally Creek Loop before the leaders completed their loop, it meant I didn't need to worry about two-way traffic and would give me the slightest belief that perhaps I wasn't moving so slowly after all. 

I indeed made it to the loop intersection and saw the way back tracks were still coated in snow. Ben had stopped (I think for a snack) and I grumbled "I can't ski downhills, I can't ski uphills, I can't corner, I forgot how to double pole" as I kept slowly skiing. All my hope that the Bally Creek Trails would be better quickly vanished as my right pole sunk in a foot, then my left pole in two feet. Apparently they hadn't groomed much in the past two weeks since the two foot snowfall. So I kept a shuffling, stepping, sometimes skiing in the fresh track to get a little kick. Ok, a couple times I did look at some pine trees caked beautifully in snow, but these thoughts were fleeting. All the corners felts terrifying even if there was little elevation change, the new snow condensing and grabby. Don't worry about place. Just keep moving Elspeth because you are going to finish and NEVER do this race ever again! I passed the halfway mark in 5 hours and 7 minutes. Ben passed me back up as I tried to waddle uphill. Then there was a downhill. It should have been a nice downhill but the snow was weird, threatening to stop me and there was a recreational skier ahead of me. I snowplowed some to not overtake her as there really wasn't room. Then we came to a big intersection with a turn and she face-planted in front of me. I was able to step around her to the side and keep going, trying to double pole some gradual downhill but mostly failing.

I was really glad I'd spent so much time memorizing the map because we zigzagged around the Bally Creek Trails. Making it through every intersection felt like a small victory. Then there was a janky section out to the aid station, kinda like a trail just wide enough for skis had been plowed through a snowbank. I just kept my poles in front of me for that. I had a peanut butter rice krispy bar at that aid station and grabbed another brownie bite, then skied through the parking lot where my skis started icing. Fortunately I could kick it off once we got back on the trail but I was still chewing on the rice krispy bar and had the brownie bite in one hand so I couldn't double pole effectively. Finally I shoved the brownie bite in my mouth only to be reminded that my double poling wasn't effective when my poles punched through a foot. So I kept inching forward, mostly skiing in the fresh snow that felt like it had some hidden tracks underneath on any kind of incline. Damn that Erik for wanting to do this race and dragging me into it. Alright, I have almost 7 hours to do the second 50 kilometers. That just might be possible. Since when did I get this bad at skiing???? 

 

The Bally Creek portion of the trail where there were a couple skinny fingers.

My technique must've looked absolutely atrocious out there. I felt like I'd never been on skis before. It turns out that when you can't use your arms to propel you forward, and your skis don't have any kick, and the snow is slow, moving across any flat or uphill terrain is nearly impossible. My shoulders were getting really sore from my poles falling through so far and my forearm tendons were starting to hurt, too. I wondered if I could just run the last 25 km. I may have been dropping some F bombs out loud a few times and staving off some tears. 

After what felt like years, we made it to the intersection with the Bally Creek Loop and began descending towards the Start/Finish. I was with a couple other skiers, one who knew that Peter Daniels was the sweep for this section. We passed him early on which meant I could snowplow the downhills without worrying anyone was coming towards me. I'd kinda timed this section perfectly - no two-way in either direction for me. I snowplowed hard down all those hills and did my best to move up the ones to the 45 aid station where I skied across the road on a small patch of snow. This was the only aid station I skipped since I'd gotten two things at the Bally Creek one which had a better selection in my opinion and none of those acclaimed by others but not me cardamom rolls!

Then it was a fast descent down to the Cascade River. I snowplowed all the hills a lot and made it without falling over. The last big downhill wasn't even that bad because the snow was uniformly slushy. Soon I was going back across the river with my skis off and I looked upstream towards a big waterfall that was covered in ice except for the bottom where I could see the water rushing through. Next up we put our skis back on as I struggled to herring bone up the narrow Superior Hiking Trail, my pole plants still sinking in several inches to feet. After some time of struggling I thought, Elspeth, you can just take your skis off and walk/run! And so I did a couple times, mumbling outloud to myself my frustrations. When the terrain got flatter, I put the skis back on and then we popped out onto the somewhat icy Norpine Trails and I really cruised, even double poling up an uphill. I was really crushing until I hit a slushy sun-baked spot and nearly fell over. I'd have to be more careful. Soon I was back at the Start/Finish area where I grabbed a super yummy chocolate cookie, waded through the parking lot to use the port-a-potty for the first time since the race began, switched to the skis Finn Sisu waxed for me which I hoped had some magic to ease the icy-slush transitions and would also provide me some kick. I drank more water, filled up my bottle, and ate a second chocolate cookie since the first was so good. Then I was off for the last 25 km, happy that the winners had yet to come through.

Indeed it would be a couple kilometers before I met the first skier heading back to the finish. The trail was once again well groomed and my pole plants solid. Despite my aching shoulders, I double poled a fair bit, especially as it turned out I didn't have any kick. When I did get out of the tracks I mostly just walked, but sometimes found some extra energy for a few running steps. 

The last 25 km was mostly out-and-back but did have an extra loop (the Massie Loop) on the way back. The top eight or nine skiers, including Craig, all passed me before I got to the Massie Loop cut-off. It was helpful to have some two-way traffic in this section because Craig, Erik, Ben, and I had all car-pooled together so then we'd kind of be able to keep tabs on each other. While the course mostly climbed to Caribou Trail, there were a few downhills on the way out. Despite the trail being quite wide, I didn't trust the various stages of transformed snow and did more snowplowing than I would've liked. I've also discovered I'm not very good at going downhill for a long time. I'm just not used to it on cross-country skis where most of the time in Minnesota our hills are short.

I passed one skier on fish scales and then my teammate Dave passed me. I didn't like this so much but he had klister. He didn't appear to be climbing with much energy so I figured I must've been looking draggy myself. That and after the disappointingly slow Bally Creek section, I had pretty much resigned myself to just finishing. Then after a just "out" section we reached the Massie Trail intersection and saw skiers coming back, including Erik. From here it wasn't far to the Caribou Trail aid station and turn-around. I was getting hungry for the first time all day. Not long before the turn around I saw Ben heading back down. At the aid station I caught up to Dave, took down a brownie bite, and then took off ahead of him. From here it was almost all downhill to the Massie Loop. I knew the turn was coming so curbed some speed and then began the climb up on the Massie Trail. I found some new energy and did a slow run outside the tracks and then began double poling again once the trail leveled off. There's no time like the present to start training for my double pole Birkie! But alas before I reached the top I needed to give my arms a break and walked a bit more.

Then there were some nice flat sections, but with each pole plant the front of my shoulders jabbed me with pain. We hit this super dense dark forest section. Soon we were cruising gently downhill. I half tucked and certainly could have double poled more if not for my aching shoulders. Then I was back down to the two-way section again, very glad I wasn't any of the skiers still heading out. I looked at my watch and thought I might be able to make it back under 9.5 hours which provided me some extra motivation to work hard in the flat or uphill sections, but mostly I flew downhill on trails that were now icy as the sun got lower, often with one ski snowplowing outside the track. This year I've realized I far prefer icy trails to slushy trails or a mix of both.

Erik and Craig were out getting in a couple extra kilometers to get to a full 100 km (the course was less than 2 km short) and I saw them about a kilometer from the finish. I screamed by them on a downhill and then within a couple minutes was crossing the finish. 9 hours 26 minutes. By the time I had my skis off and some pants and a jacket on I was chattering. Between the shivering and my painful shoulders, I had no interest in skiing a couple more kilometers to get to exactly 100 km. Instead I ate a sweet roll and packed up my skis.

 

My Garmin map of the course. I got 4,600 feet of ascent/descent and 61.20 miles. Longest way on skis for me ever. 

A few things to note if you do this race:

1. Ski selection is of utmost importance if there will be transforming/variable snow conditions. Lots of skiers this year had good result on skins or zeros (these did have some icing issues for some). Erik and I and Craig seemed to be the most successful at kick waxing for the first section. Craig said he still had good kick with Rode +2 to -2 on the Bally Loop but otherwise kick wax was very finicky. If you do go with kick wax, consider bringing like 6-9 pairs of skis, all waxed with different kick for the various sections:) My three were woefully insufficient. 

Karl stopped to scrape his zeros. Photo: Jordon Woods

2. What to wear proved a bit difficult for me. I didn't want to get too sweaty and in the end am glad I didn't add any long underwear under my spandex but I was cold for about an hour around hour three. It's hard to dress when climbing uphill for 30+ minutes at a time, then blasting back downhill. 

3. Most definitely have a fueling plan. For me I just like to drink water and since I paid for the race, I wanted to eat what they had there. We would suggest some warm ham and cheese sandwiches for more protein. Otherwise I mostly skied on brownie bites. I don't recommend the cardamom rolls but others really rave about these.

4. You can have a bag (or bags) in the transition zone. I was certain I'd switch out my headband and handwear every time but found that I sweated way less than anticipated and so didn't need to. This is where you can also stash your extra skis. 

Start/finish chaos with lots of extra skis and bags everywhere. Photo: Jordon Woods.

5. Know the course. This year I thought it was very well marked but I also had studied it at length. I think this mentally helped me to know where I was. There was a GPX available that many loaded onto their watches as well. I'm not that high-tech.

In summary:

I wasn't having it on that whole middle section up to Bally Creek and around Bally Creek. I fared better on the descent than I thought I would in that section. Otherwise I wasn't a fan of many of the downhills, but conditions were tricky. As Craig wrote about last year regarding his Ski North Ultra race, conditions significantly transitioned last year as well. Perhaps it's a good thing that we ended on such nice trails to make my experience a bit better. I definitely said I would never do this race again but it's been less than a week and I can't help but think that under some different conditions (like if Bally Creek groomed a bit more often and there wasn't so much suck snow) and if I had some kick (or pole plants) I could've done better. I'm glad I did it,especially seeing as my shoulders recovered quicker than I thought they might.

 

The Tour de Finn Continues at the Pepsi Challenge

First up, a brief recap of my Birkie 

Conditions were icy and this meant fast. I skated the last speedy year in 2020 and this was my first time doing the classic at rocket speeds. I figured this would make the overall race easier, and it was, I just didn't get nearly as fatigued. It also meant less ideal training for the upcoming Ski North Ultra 100 km. 

Kick waxing conditions were tricky and despite building a base of a mix of 1814, SWIX 45, and Oslo Purple and then adding Rex Gold klister on top, I essentially had no kick. Sure, I could shuffle a bit on gradual inclines, but you don't stay in Elite Wave by shuffling. And so I took to the herring-bone run which was difficult on the icy trail.

 

Elena skating to a good Birkie 2026 result.

 

Things went OK until a bit after OO when for some reason, as I went to get back in the track after a herring-bone hill, my ski grabbed and I face planted. Now, this was the ONLY time in the entire race that my skis felt at all sticky so I can only assume I hit some gel packet or a weird piece of ice or something. Then a couple kilometers later I was herring-bone running up a short hill and I slid out and fell over. Chill out a bit, Elspeth. The trail was so icy I really had to dig in my edges to herring-bone and as a result I couldn't run very fast.

Despite being a classic specialist, I have lackluster striding technique and often my kick wax isn't very good. Usually I can still make my skis work but it was too icy to herring-bone run to match my aerobic capacity. I was feeling good and man-grunted every time I had to get out of the track to herring-bone run knowing I was loosing precious seconds that became minutes. In hindsight I should've double poled more but I was afraid it would get my arms too tired. Only after the last aid station did I really start double poling uphills. I must've double poled most of that hill after 77 because all of a sudden I was at the final steep pitch of the climb, which I herring-bone ran. 

Josh had great kick for the 2026 Birkie!

 

Overall a frustrating Birkie for me, my second worse place, and despite all my training, still 10 minutes off a phenomenal placement. Next year:)-

The Pepsi Challenge

After a weekend hiatus for the Birkie, the Tour de Finn returned to the Pepsi Challenge, specifically the 25 km skate race. It's a good thing I've been doing the Tour de Finn or perhaps I wouldn't have done any skate races this year. Pepsi was my third skate ski in as many weeks and as I went to do my warm-up, I could tell. My skis were squirrelly and seeing as a massive cold front had come in and temps hovered around zero, most of my goal was to stay warm rather than get the engine revving.

There was a big field (100 to be exact) and I lined up somewhere in the middle. Within 100 meters the course was down to two skiers wide and after half a kilometer, just one skier wide. I wasn't very aggressive at the start and found myself way back, so far back that I could move up by double poling. I was about to pass a couple skiers and get into great position by going wide as we entered the woods, but when I went to take a step, the snow underneath me gave way and I face planted.  

I struggled to get up and thought surely everyone in the race had passed me by the time I righted myself. Now you've done it, Elspeth! I mean, by this time, I was behind the women in the tutus jamming out to their bluetooth speaker. I spent the next 3 kilometers of the Silver Trail gradually passing people, a couple times double poling uphill, to essentially get to a good place in the race. Largely this meant skiing by myself with a couple women to chase. At the first aid station, about 10 km in, I passed the two women, one of whom was Jenna.  

Then we were out onto the Summit Trail, gradually making our way uphill. I tried to focus on keeping my weight under me as I did my V-2 pushes as I pursued the next skier, and the next skier. The next skier was a woman and as I caught up to her, she surged. I managed to stay not too far behind her for the next several kilometers as we climbed more and more, but once we started going downhill, she gapped me fast. I could also hear someone skiing behind me and wondered if it was Jenna. 

Birchlegger Mary Beth had an awesome Birkie. I guess I still have 20 years to learn how to skate ski!

 

My hands got cold as we descended for a couple kilometers before looping around on the Gold Trail by the summit. I knew it might be better tactics to let that skier behind me lead but mostly I just wanted my fingers warm and know that I'm not very good at following so I tried to just keep skiing hard. Except that I'm not very good at V-1ing up steep uphills and there were two times I simply herring-bone walked. My bad. If I'm going to be good at skate skiing, I need to practice:)

Then we flew downhill on the Gold Trail and with half a kilometer to go that skier passed me so fast I couldn't keep up. It was indeed Jenna.  I finished 11/32 women but I got second in my 10-year age class so I got some socks. 

Gabby cruising in this year's skate Birkie and rocking our new Vakava spandex.

And in terms of the rest of Vakava.....well those pip-squeaks put the smack-down on us geezers with Josh 3rd and Ian 4th for the men with Gabby 1st and Laura 2nd. I mean, how are the senile Vakers supposed to top that? For the old codgers, Craig led the charge in 7th with Artie 17th and Erik 25th for the men and my abysmal 11th for the women. But the TCSC Icy Insurgents reign supreme with one weekend of Tour de Finn points on the line having creamed even the Vakava upstarts by 39 points at Pepsi to lead by 64.63 points heading into next weekends' double header (or rather, choose your own adventure) of the Ski North Ultra and the Great Bear Chase. Meanwhile us old farts seem rather solidified in 3rd place barring some geriatric catastrophe. 

The Minnesota Finlandia 2026 Version

After a two year hiatus due to low snow, the Minnesota Finlandia was back this year. But as time moves on, the ski racing season evolves, and land changes hands, this year the Finlandia decided to forego their flagship 50 km skate race and newer pursuit and consolidate to just a 21 km classic and 21 km skate. Then a week out with a considerable warm-up, the 21 km distances were further shortened to 18 km and became a three lap race of "the west side." 

Rosemaled axes are the prizes at the Minnesota Finlandia!

The Tour de Finn began three seasons ago and while the Finlandia had been on their series the two previous years, this was the first year it went off, albeit, not as the originally planned pursuit but instead either the skate or classic counted for official points. 

My relationship with the Finlandia is deep because it's my hometown race. And I've done the race a bunch of times and blogged about it ad nauseam: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 (there's more, but that's enough). 

Hatchets now for 2nd and 3rd place.

I don't much like pursuits (perhaps I'd like them more if I could classic second) and so was more than happy to do the classic race. The previous few days had been sunny and in the 40s with it getting below freezing overnight. Hence, when I went out to ski the hilliest part of the course, it was ripping fast. The race started at 9:45 am and I hoped we'd be done before the snow transitioned to slow slush. I didn't have any kick with the Opti Klister I'd been recommended and didn't have anymore after panic waxing with START Purple Oslo but at least I wasn't icing and while there's some shorter steeper hills on course, there aren't any grinders so I figured it wouldn't be too bad without kick. 

We lined up to start near the "Finish" and timing shack. There was so much room almost everyone could have been on the front line but instead I lined up behind my teammate Laura and behind Kerrie Berg in the classic track. I had few hopes of keeping up with Laura but would try and figured I'd likely be skiing much of the race with Kerrie. I was super stoked though to see the Bemidji high schools girls were carrying on the tradition of touring the classic race, something that dated to before my tenure on the team in the early 00's, because this would give me substantially more Tour de Finn points. 

The start of the classic race. I'm the short one in the middle:)

The gun went off, the flags were raised, and we took off towards the Buena Vista Chalet to do a "promo lap" before skiing through the field and tunnel to the west side. Laura had much better kick than me and quickly gapped me but I was on Kerrie's heels until we hit the S-curve which I snowplowed into to curb a bit of speed before step turning. I did the same on the next hill and was glad I did as Kerrie fell and then I was able to step turn around her. Next was the biggest hill on course. I double poled far into it and then broke into a herring-bone run. This was followed by the biggest downhill on course which fortunately doesn't have as tight of a corner as the previous two. Then there's a brief climb before the double-pole section of the course. 

The sweetest axe painting, at least in my opinion, went to the classic men's winner. 

 

Here I caught up to former assistant Bemidji Nordic coach Ryan. When I skied out onto the skate deck to pass him I realized it was way faster out there so I stayed out there. Ryan tucked in behind me for awhile. The downhill down to the swampy section was screaming fast and there was a transforming section up the next hill. Then after another uphill there was a downhill and then we were in the rolling hills heading back to the lap. Here I gapped Ryan and set my sights on my bro who was skiing in front of me in a t-shirt and capris. He had some bomber kick though (in typical Ronnander fashion he described his kick waxing as "well, I smoothed out what I had on for the Finlandia three years ago and added some black magic!") and I was very slowly gaining on him. 

My bro finishing the 2026 Finlandia in t-shirt and capris.

Somehow, despite taking the previous week as a "training week" to better prepare for the Ski North Ultra, I had unrelenting energy. I could herring bone run up those hills without getting tired. As I started on my second lap it wasn't long before I hit major traffic. The skate race had started 10 minutes behind us and the Tour 12 minutes. On the first uphill I passed Bruce Slinkman wearing old school knickers on wood skis. There was a fair amount of traffic as I navigated the S-curve and the next couple hills but my herring bone run was still solid. I was double poling on the skate deck, wondering when the skaters would pass me. The first one got me in the flatter section and then my teammate Craig actually jumped in the track to pass me while I was herring boning a small hill. Fortunately despite having no kick, most of the course was icy enough that I could double pole into the hills and even small uphills, like the one heading by the old Cans's Loop intersection. I just double poled uphill by this guy skating! 

I caught my brother at the lap where he was taking down some water at the aid station. I stopped as well and then scooted by him but he caught me on the next uphill with his bomber kick. We skied together most of that lap. My body felt really fresh, my mind was mentally on, and after Mora where things just didn't click as I double poled along I thought, "I needed this race." Coming out of the swamp we lapped the high school girls, one was blasting Taylor Swift from a backpack and I began pulling away from my bro. I knew I had to make my pass decisive while I still had a few hills to work before the last flat field section. As I came up the last hill and went past the lap there was a very confused woman who didn't seem to understand that some people were already finishing the race!

That field section is long and I wasn't sure I was going to hold off my bro, but I got him by 6 seconds. 

Me having just finished, turning around to look for my bro.

 

If I could figure out the secret formula for feeling great on race day I suppose life would be less interesting. Sometimes I taper and it works and other times I follow almost the exact same plan and I'm not at my peak. Sometimes I train through a race and still manage to feel amazing - prior to Finlandia my last rest day was before Mora.  

Laura indeed won the classic race and scored some good points for the Juniorits. Ian was the only other Juniorit skier, finishing 3rd in the skate race. The TCSC Icy Insurgents brought three skiers, including the men's and women's 18 km skate winners and third place in the men's classic; hence, they move ahead of the Juniorits by 25.63 points. For us Seniorits, Craig finished 2nd in the men's skate with Erik 10th and I was 2nd in the 18 km classic. We remain in solid third place, over 500 points below the Juniorits and 500 points clear of the Flying Fungi of Yuggoth who have surpassed Team Yamageddon after the Finlandia. 

Women's classic podium with Laura for the win and myself in second.

 

Men's freestyle podium with Craig 2nd and Ian 3rd.

 

Team points after the Finlandia.

 

Two race weekends are left in the Tour de Finn: the Pepsi Challenge on February 28th and on March 7th, either the Ski North Ultra or the Great Bear Chase. Hang tight as the racing continues. I checked my women's place after missing the first few races and am in 6th. As of now, Ian leads the men's standings and Laura the women's!!! 

Ian leading the men's standings with quite a few Vakava skiers in the top 20 for now.

 

The Classic Birkie, by the Numbers

With the biggest race of the midwest ski season approaching, I thought it would be a good time to take an analytical look at the classic version of the event. This blog post is ultimately about a stats project I’ve been working on that quantifies and visualizes past men’s classic Birkie results. However, I feel like I first need to give some context by telling my Birkie story and what led me to starting this project. 

The classic Birkie instantly became my favorite race after skiing it for the first time in 2014 as a freshman in college, finishing in 308th place. The following year, instead of making goals focused on getting good results in college races, I was dreaming of finishing in the top 100 of the classic Birkie. This dream came true as I surprised myself with a 19th place finish that year. However, with NCAA regionals being held on the same weekend as the Birkie my junior year and the Birkie being canceled my senior year (2017), 19th place was the high point of my Birkie performances in college. 

On course during my second Birkie in 2015

After college, I struggled to find motivation and consistency in my training. I skipped the 2018 Birkie, then finished 102nd in 2019 and 447th in 2020. I then skipped the race for two years in a row while doing very little skiing in general. I had lost motivation and any thought of improving on my previous best of 19th was long gone. However, in 2022 I started pharmacy school and moved to Duluth. The new environment gave me an unexpected new motivation to start training and racing again. As I approached that year’s Birkie I was hopeful, but unsure of how this new motivation would impact my finish. Starting in wave 2, I skied most of the race by myself and felt the best I had on skis in a long time. After finishing I quickly found out I beat my previous best from 8 years prior, finishing in 9th place. This inspired me to train even harder the following year and I went into the 2024 Birkie looking to improve again. However, due to a strong men's field and a short, looped course, the competition was difficult and I ultimately came in 9th place again.

Finish line of the 2024 looped course Birkie

That brings me to the reason for this post. As I was nearing my thirties with two of my best ever ski race results in the books it was obvious to me that I wouldn’t keep improving forever. Being honest with myself I knew that if I didn't have a goal to chase that made me feel like I was building towards something new I might find it difficult to motivate myself and stay active in the sport.
So what could I do to make sure I had something to motivate me in the next few decades while I inevitably slow down? I thought I could set a goal to be the most consistent Birkie skier I could be over multiple years. But how would I measure consistency? I ended up looking to another area of cross country skiing that uses a points system to score and rank athletes over a series of races: the World Cup Overall Crystal Globe. In short, athletes on the World Cup get 100 points for winning a race and 1 point for finishing in 50th place. Here’s a full breakdown: 

World Cup Scoring Points by Position 

I realized that if this same scoring system was applied to each edition of the Birkie we would get a pretty good sense of which skiers were performing the best year after year. I recorded the results and corresponding points for the top 50 skiers from each classic Birkie since 2008, when separate skate and classic races were first held. After tallying up the points I ended up with graphs showing who the most consistent skiers have been and how their results have trended over the years. With this data I could both appreciate great Birkie performances in a new light as well as motivate myself to reach for longterm goals in the future. For the following graph I selected the 10 male skiers who have had the most cumulative points based on my scoring system, and plotted how they earned those points over each edition of the classic Birkie.

With Murray Carter ranking in first, different skiers in the top 10 show various career trajectories

As you can see, some skiers have been putting in consistent performances since 2008, racking up points every year. Others have had long gaps between performances and others still had stopped scoring altogether at a certain point. Of note, when we see a skier stop earning points it's impossible to tell from the graph alone whether they're simply not finishing in the top 50, have decided to race the skate Birkie instead, or have given up skiing entirely.

Next, I thought it would be interesting to see if there was an age where top skiers tend to become less competitive. I used age data from Birkie results to look at how the best skiers have performed over various ages. The following graph shows the same top scoring skiers as the previous graph, but plots them by the age they were as they accumulated points over their careers.

Skiers showing that it's possible to be competitive across a large age range

This shows there are some skiers finishing consistently in the top 50 well into their 50s, as well as one or two stand out skiers who started having top results right away as teenagers and continued into their twenties. As impressive as it is to see someone get good results into their 50s, I realized I was missing some equally stand out performances from older skiers who might not be racking up top 50 performances. Because of that, I went back and looked at the best performance for every age, up to 86 years old, which is the oldest male finisher I found in all editions since 2008. 

Best performance by finishing position for every age

For instances where multiple people of the same age had equal results in different editions of the race, I listed the result from the earlier edition. To get a better visual of how best-ever-performances change across ages I converted the table above into the following graphs:

We see there are quite competitive results from skiers in their 70s still finishing in the top 250 skiers at times, with some more variability in best-ever performances for skiers in their late 70s and 80s. 

After looking at all of these different ways of measuring and visualizing consistency, I’ve personally found greater motivation to keep competing while having something to aspire to. If you’ve stuck with me through this post I hope you’ve found a small piece of inspiration too. 

If you want to see my full google sheet including a few additional graphs and tables feel free to take a look here: 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lbQpML62-7OW1xqAYoPgbj_BnQBKOAc0FQstrgcAXPw/edit?usp=sharing

If you have any feedback, questions, ideas, or anything else you want to let me know related to the classic Birkie or skiing in general feel free to reach me by email at leif.a.hanson@gmail.com