Canadian Birkie - Slow Mo

As I just caught up to a couple skiers and followed the superb technique of pack skier Karen Messenger, I was surprised to have already reached the Islet Lake feedzone 33 km in. To get to this point, there are normally technical twists and turns in the trail which need quick step turns and footwork.

Since the fresh morning's snow made the trails a slogfest, all the "caution" signs on the steep downhills and corners were ignored. The descents were slow and easy to get down. So, I actually did not notice where I was on course without the normal bombing descents.

The prior day had the best possible Birkie conditions with -6C start and solid snowy tracks. A surprise to everyone was the evening cloud cover that blew in which warmed up the early morning air to +2C and brought along an hour of fresh soggy snow flakes - a x-c skier's race-day waxing nightmare!

Note, the Canadian flag blowing stiffly in the wind!

I did not bother covering my few layers of VR60 on my base binder. It was easy to find a spot in the front at the start and lucked out with being in the right hand lane. All trails merged nicely on that side.

At the start, the fresh snow in the trails and the headwind on the 1-km loop on the lake had skier's merge into single-file quickly. Heading into the double trails in the trees, no grip was to be had. Went with double-poling for a few km with bumper to bumper skiers.

Mito skier Bryon Howard took a pic of his bumper to bumper crowd

Getting further into the trees the snow changed and the skis gripped nicely. I virtually ran up the hills with full-on grip, kicking the clumped snow off at the top to glide onward. Got away on a group of skiers as they stopped at the first feedzone and my Camelbak served me well.

Did not have a train of skiers to follow though usually had a skier in the distance to mark and catch up to. Made it fun! When I did catch up to a skier, the guy followed my heels for awhile.

Crossing Islet Lake behind Karen, I was barely moving skiing into the strong headwind. My poles wavered in the wind gusts and no ski tracks were to be had.

Getting into the hills, I ran up and gradually got away. Was on my own until I saw the odd skier on Fenceline. With only 12-km to go, the course headed off the open trails and back into sheltered Wanison trail. The snow was soft. I had a few scary moments with clumping snow on my skis that would not come off!

As I was immobilized, the only skiers that passed me in the race that I did not catch up to happened to be two women! Chantell Widney, a strong Olympic distance triathlete new to x-c skiing skied by strongly, and a woman from Calgary I did not recognize.

I danced around on my skis, attempting to kick off the clumps. Within a couple hundred metres, I was amazed they started gliding again, though the women were out of sight.

Merging onto the 31-km race course, the tracks were glazed and relatively FAST-er. It was nice to double-pole quickly for awhile. Alas, soon had to turn back to the Fenceline and slow-mo trails.

Plugged along. I had no concept of time. Forgot my GPS in my warmup jacket pocket at the start.

Nice to race and be unaware of time. Only issue was not realizing that the extra effort skiing in slo-mo snow required more fuel. I was in need of a few more calories.


Whoever was coherent with 5 km to go will remember the Viking with the horns at the orienteering feedzone. Found out he is Jim Stewart, uncle to one of my co-workers


Just finished drinking my Camelbak full of fresh coconut water (from the actual young coconut NOT tetrapak or can). Grabbed some water at the last feedzone and had an orange slice tossed in my mouth by a volunteer (thanks!). My date supply had fallen out while skiing and only managed to have one earlier.

The last 4-km was a long period of time to double-pole in, even though it was on slightly glazed tracks. Finally got to the 2-km sign and the 400m sign, yay, the finish! I was surprised my time was almost 1 hour slower than my last Birkie. With 3 speedy 20+ year-olds as top 3 women, came in 6th woman overall.

Carolene Kuschminder - 2nd, Marg Fedyna 1st, Viking Medal Presenter (Age class 40-49)

Fun to hear everyone's war stories of the day! I have not felt every muscle ache in any event I have done like this one, well, at least since a couple of the days at the 28 day adventure race in New Zealand. This was a full on body workout ski race!

A woman in the change room recognized me from skiing the American Birkie last year. Pretty neat to meet Magdalena Bowen who came up from Bozeman, Idaho.

Cool to wear the MitoCanada colours and to see all the Mito skiers out!

Viking skiers congratulate Brian McKeever - photo Shaughn Butts

Probably having raced in these conditions before, the National team skiers knew better. Winner Brian McKeever used skate skis, and a couple others went with the "hairies" technique using a classic ski with roughly sand-papered gripzone and no grip wax.

There was no grip wax job that could combat all the wet varied snow conditions of the day. The learnings from the experienced!

checking out the American Birkie

Back in November my x-c skier friend Marcus Boyle and I decided to enter the American Birkie with his friend Cameron Mahon from Toronto. Marcus and I knew we'd be working 24/7 on the airport expansion project the same day as the Canadian Birkie race Feb 11. The American Birkie date was better timing for us being two weeks later.

We entered days before the race sold its 9000 spots! Bonus was getting into the Elite classic wave based on my Cdn Birkie and Keski results. Otherwise, newbies have to start in the 9th wave. Marcus got into Wave 1 which started simultaneously with the Elites. Cam managed to get into the 4th wave for Skate which was the earliest wave to squeak into without a qualifying time.

So many new logistics to figure out, including a challenge to figure out grip & glide wax in the sparsely snowed area. 2012 will be known as the least amount of snow accumulation up until late Feb.

Decided to fly into Duluth, MN. Even though we had to switch planes in Minneapolis, the flight to Duluth was total $500 vs just stopping in Minneapolis at $800. Made no sense! I was willing to take the chance for a missing bag vs opportunity to stay in a quaint town and fly into a teeny uncongested airport.

Met up with Cam in Minneapolis before flying to Duluth. Picked up the rental, stopped at the community whole foods store for pre/post food, and off to drive 1 hour-ish south to Hayward, Wisconsin. The land was close to barren of snow. Reminded me of Calgary/Canmore after chinook winds.

Chatting it up with Cam as he was driving, we almost drove back to Minneapolis by the time I realized we missed the turn East! Well, only an extra 20 miles. We got to the race expo around 5:30 pm to quickly grab our race packages. The wax prediction didn't alter from the prior day's wax testing... HF blue and a powder for the glide... green base wax, VR40 layers with shorter VR45 layers covered.

Cam, Marg & Marcus chilling at Telemark Lodge before the race

Since there is minimal accommodation in the area for all the skiers, locals are encouraged to rent out portions of their homes. We stopped off at the private housing I found considered out-of-town in this town of 2200 people (barely 1 mile from downtown!).

We stayed with an older woman Serena in the house she basically grew up in. Our accom was in an empty room in her little house, perfect! We all brought sleeping bags and crashed on the floor. Originally, Marcus was adamant to sleep at the startline outdoors in his -40C bag. Cam was great to convince us all to eat dinner, prep our skis and by then Marcus was swayed to stay with us.

My race time was early at 8 a.m. with subsequent waves leaving periodically after. Next morning was super early getting up before 4:45 a.m. Not sure of the post-race congestion of 9000 people, the decision was to leave the car parked close to the finish and walk the rest of the way to the bus shuttle location to the race start. As we were walking on dry roads, the stores down Main St were all lit up like at Christmas. Cam pointed out we were about to walk on the actual ski track as the road turned all snowy white for 400 metres. Snow had been dumped for a main street finish off the lake - very cool to see the pristine white tracks prior to racing on them.

Got to the shuttle at 5:45 a.m. waiting for a 6 a.m. departure. I sat next to Gary Zimbric from Wausau, WI who had done 31 of these Birkies! Gary filled me in on details with me asking tons of questions. A half hour traffic-free bus ride later, we were at Telemark Resort. It was nice to be early and all of a sudden see busload after busload of skiers walk into the lodge. The morning temp was about 15F or -10C.

Marcus and I made our walk to the startline on the snowcovered airfield, only 600m away. A huge warming tent was set up to sit or wax skis in. There was an 800m loop to test skis on. Out of the blue... cool to bump into Roch Frey from Encinitas, CA (originally from AB), Don Sissons from MB (met at Transrockies 2005) and of course the Lifesporters from Calgary, Pep and Kat!.

The trucks to load gearbags were ordered by wave and lined up right at the startline. I dropped my skis in position at the line then fumbled stuffing all my overlayer clothes into my bag, and tossed it over the fence towards the truck. I like that close convenience.

sturgiefamily.com

I was third in line, not many skiers deep behind me. Then I looked to my right and the startline stretched for over 30 skiers, yikes! It did look like a large number of skiers, all similar calibre. I thought the start would be a gong show of flying skis and poles. Anything but... it was an awesome non-frazzling start with politeness of skiers soon squeezing into 6 then 3 tracks. Pretty much bumper to bumper for the first km though reasonably easy to get around. As we approached hills, we split up accordingly.

I was abit nervous of the crowd, getting the wax right, clothing (I overdressed a smidgeon), my lack of high-end fitness (plenty of endurance, too much work, not enough rest)... that within a couple km of skiing on the course, I was smiling knowing it was the right thing to be there skiing at that moment!!

On our first descent, I was ecstatic my skis glided as fast or faster than the men I was around! Yay, tough to do for 105-lber! Thanks to Marcus for zipping up my skis for glide.

The first 26-km, the classic skiers skied on a trail away from the skate course. This made the classic course 4-km longer though the hills were less steep than for the skate course. The course twisted thru the trees and was very quaint. The descents were long enough to get into a tuck for a few moments rest. LOVED the course!! It was totally entertaining.

Could put in a hard effort up the climb, then rest on the descent. 3 tracks set which were close together though awesome for choice on cornering and passing. There was usually 1 track set on the whole downhill, with the other two flattened for most corners. When I could, I'd attempt to stay in the track as it was quicker though sometimes got spit out on a sharp corner.

I carried my camelbak so usually got away from a handful of skiers each time at a feedzone. Whenever there was a huge hill, it rose in camelhumps so it was never daunting. This course rolled super nice.

A few times I could see skaters speeding along on the right when the courses came close together. At 26 km the classic course merged with the skate course, with two classic tracks together on the left hand side. The skaters had enough room for at least 3 skiers across. With the course merging, the trail was wider and less twisty, more open. It was like a different course from the first half.

I cheered whenever I saw women skaters fly by. I`d get a few smiles and cheers back my way. Women were given a distinct navy blue coloured bib so easy to spot.

Plugged along with the km marking signs ticking away. I attempted to ski with a few skiers though eventually got away and eventually hooked up with a couple others. With the interspersed climbs, it was a hard course to get the right calibre of person to ski with. I was alone for times, especially the latter half except for the constant flow of skaters on my right.

Here and there, were sections of people cheering. Earlier in the race I saw a group of people drumming, and later on a group of sledders dressed in what looked more like hunting camoflauge gear. Nice to have cheers!

Coming around a corner at the 38 km mark in the wooded section on the trails, I could hear amplified cheering and was wide-eyed wondering what was up ahead. The small crowd was loud and hearty with major dance music blaring. I lit up taking in their energy and started bopping to the beat as I climbed uphill. The crowd went crazy seeing I was soaking up their excitement. It was awesome!

Another 2 km later I approached the infamous "bitch" hill. It was a sight to see in front of me as the hill was super steep, could say "daunting", with skiers laden all over crawling up it slowly. Lots of people cheering with a man with a mic, dressed up as a reverend announcing humorous religious statements such as... "Sinners, you are forgiven for your blasphemes shouted out loud as you climb Bitch Hill!". His comments were funny and made the hard effort of skiing the steep climb light-hearted. This was the only spot I had to herringbone climb up the last pitch.

I heard one skateskier comment "only 3 more hills left". I did see the odd skier here and there just leaning over their skate poles resting. Harder to skate up those steep ones.

The temp was warming to below freezing and the sun was peeking out. It was challenging to stay in the tracks for the peak of the climb. I had a wicked technique where once my ski slipped on the track a smidgeon or I could see the grade rise, I immediately jumped out on the open track and literally ran up the climb (this is where Ski-Mo training comes in!). I was going as fast or faster than the skateskiers on these steep climbs! FUN! They would zoom off after the rise.

The last 10 km was flatter. With less than 4 km left, the track went across the lake for 2 km and fortunately the wind was pretty negligible. I was leading then noticed men in tracks on both sides behind me. One guy finally passed on the left. I said to him "it'd be great if you jumped in front of me"... and he did! It was so nice to work to stay on his heels. At the end of the lake, scrambling thru unsettled corn snow, I made my way to the last 400m trackset finish on Main Street and just took in the cheering of the huge crowd.

I was pleased with my effort knowing I can nudge it up a few notches with the right training and rest.

Met Marcus at the finish. The finish corral funnelled the skiers to ski racks where the gearbags from the start line were bunched according to their wave. It was easy to pick up my own bag. Wish the Cdn Birkie set up the bags this way.

We hung out watching the thousands of skiers coming in. And easily met up with Cam who came in one of the top skiers from the 4th wave meaning he had to pass thousands of skiers starting ahead in prior waves.

For accom after the race, I arranged to stay at couchsurfer Jim Levang's place in Duluth. He mentioned his wife Julie was driving down to cheer on their son Sam. Texting my location at the finish, we met up with Julie and Sam. It was great to hear everyone's race story. Sam did the skate race his first time two years ago starting in the 9th wave and earned his spot for wave 2 this year (a tough feat!).

Took in the finishers atmosphere, back to the Serena's house for showers and stories, then off we drove to Duluth. It was the guy's first time couchsurfing and everyone got along well with Jim & Julie and their guest Maureen, not to mention the dogs Chip and Monty. Dinner was full of stories.

It was a race that I`d like to come back to and will have difficulty choosing between skate and classic. As much as I love classic, the skate race looked luring with the momentum-ous hills. Wish the Brkie could set the format up like the Gatineau Loppet (Keski) where classic is on Sat and skate on Sun. No problem to do both!

Now, we`re even considering the original Norwegian Birkie for 2014!!

Shorts & T-shirt Birkie

Mid-way in the 2011 Canadian Birkie 55-km x-c ski race, I thought I could have raced in shorts and a t-shirt. The temperature got to +5C and the high pace effort made for a super warm race. I managed to shuffle my headband down around my neck keeping my Adidas eyewear in place. The breeze on my head helped keep me cool and I made sure I kept hydrated.

Eco-challenge teammate Philip from Winnipeg in the 5.5 kg pack category carrying Alf

The start went smoothly with at least 8 tracks set for the first kilometre with plenty of time before merging into 2 tracks by the second kilometre. All the skiers naturally seeded and it was easy to pass when needed.

With a warm spell of weather the last few days, the tracks set the prior days were solid in a good way and not too icy. With a blue klister base binder topped with a Universal klister, a few layers of VR60 worked quite well. It was awesome to see each posted km sign fly by quickly.

Excited for Alf's 1st Birkie!

After the first feedzone 8-km in, I was skiing in a pod of 4... fellow Lake-Louise-to-Banff Loppet racer Sean Huggins-Chan, fellow club skier John Benskin and Gerhard Lotz from Camrose. We pretty much clung together each taking turns at the lead until I crashed on one of the porcupine trail corners. I chased the 3 skiers just 50 metres ahead of me until I caught them at the Islet Lake feedzone 3-km later.

I had my Camelbak of Vega sport drink and shorts pocket full of dates & gummies within easy access on this warm day. It was great to feed when I wanted to. I made a little ground at each feedzone when the others stopped and then they had to chase back to catch me.

By km-34, the latter half of Islet Lake loop seemed to be when most everyone's grip wax decimated. After I had another slip out on the left-hand right-hand turn over the bridge, a few guys fell like bowling pins one after another. Fortunately, we all came out unscathed and scrambled up the next herringbone climb. We now had a pod of 6 with Jason Proche catching on and a blue-suit guy taking the lead with good grip.

I played cautious on the next twisty descents on Sisika, snowplowing down. Ah, my klister base wax was no match for the abrasive surface. Little did I know that I had ripped off a good 9 inches of grip from each ski around the critical foot area. No wonder I could no longer stay in the tracks up the climbs.
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The pod then crumbled. Gerhard and blue-suit guy skied away from us. John had no grip and was wondering if he should stop to rewax. With no uphill grip, I herringbone-walked up any steep climb to conserve energy (doh, the climbs are usually where I can make time) and gunned it on the double-pole sections. Sean and John dropped off. Jason clung onto my pace and called me his guardian angel for helping him keep pace.

A few feedzones later, Jason dropped back and I had blue-suit guy in sight. It was fun when the 55-km course merged back onto the 32-km course and to ski fast in the passing lane. Into the last fenceline section, I was passed by Dennis Colburn who was using griptape of all things. If he had shortened his gripzone, he thought he would have had better glide and still awesome grip.

Into the last 5-km, I caught up to blue-suit guy. I wanted to pass him at 4-km to go... when one hamstring almost cramped. I double-poled straight-legged and managed to ease the cramp away. With 2-km to go, I decided to pass cautiously and had a great double-pole to the finish. My fastest birkie time yet 3:23!

grinning after a great day

Every Birkie I've raced has been different. This was was ultra-balmy with surprising solid tracks. The challenge was skiing without grip the last 20-km... and learning to really work the camber of the ski to plunk down for pushoff.

Kelly, superfast Canmore skier, Marg

Super happy to see friends Tanya, Rhonda & Rick as the official race starters

the Birkebeiner Viking

post-Birkie visit to the Art Gallery with Philip, Alf was resting

prehistoric creature made out of white plastic lawnchairs

sunrise before the Birkie start

The Canadian Birkie Adventure Race

Approaching the 5 km mark of the 55-km birkie x-c ski course, I was surprised to see a bunch of skiers grouped up at a left turn into the gated parkland we were to ski through. Apparently, a park person was late in opening the locked gate (which kept the elk in) for the skiers to cross to the other side.

It was a natural reaction from my adventure race days to just do whatever it takes. I removed my skis and poles immediately and squeezed them through the gate holes hoping no-one crushed my carbon fibre poles. I easily scaled the 10-foot fence with its good footholds and jumped over to the other side. Meanwhile, it was a little chaotic with skiers clueing in on climbing over. I quickly put on my gear and continued on. I was surprised to see my Transalp teammate and speedy cross-country skier Nikki Kassel at this part. Being quick at this adventure stop propelled me into a better position in the race.

keeping my hands warm - photo Gail Wozney

The prior day, I tested my skis at the mid-point of the race course and was pleasantly surprised at how blazing fast and abrasive the freshly set tracks were. Wow, it was going to be a fast race. Or so I thought. I prepped my skis accordingly to the fast conditions. To my surprise, the flurries that were forecasted at a teeny % and only 1 cm ended up being lots more and showing up just as I drove out 40 km east to the race site start early raceday morning.

the appearance of a fast start - photo Ryan Jackson

Thanks to ski tech Michael Kennedy helping at the Track 'n Trail tent who put on some colder wax over my warm waxes. On the start line, I was fortunate to get an extra layer of some special wax Coach Corey kindly put on my skis with 10 min to start. The start was one of the most sloppy starts in that the fresh snow had blown in all the tracks set. Skiers were all over the place though the slow start made it a safe start.

funnelling into two lanes - photo Ryan Jackson

After the adventure fence section, the field spread apart. I had two guys in red in sight and gained on them on each climb yet lost them later on the flats. I hung on to Gerhardt from Camrose for awhile then was on my own.

The feed zone people must be commended on assisting with my food intake. I would holler out "food" when approaching a feed station. They would yell back cookie or banana. I would yell "banana, out of the peel". I heard them holler "banana, out of the peel, up ahead". I would see my potential banana piece and ask "in my mouth please". The volunteer did their darndest to feed me as I skied by. I must apologize for any fingers my teeth grazed! I was impressed to get at least 2-3 banana pieces and 2 cookies this way. I heard laughter amongst the volunteers about what just happened as I skied away happily with food in my mouth.

Meanwhile, I mastered placing of my yummy energetic dates strategically on the front of my camelbak straps so I could easily grab them with gloves/poles on to pop in my mouth. They just stuck to the strap and I was surprised they stayed while I skied until I happily ate them.

heading into porcupine trail - photo Gail Wozney

Onto skiing... wow, it was going to be an extra food and beverage kind of day with the extra energy required to ski in conditions like that. The lead skiers found that it was easier to ski in the middle between the tracks set than to plow thru the snow-laden tracks. This made for a sloppy ski for alot of the course. Or only one side of the tracks was skied thru then the other so had to cross over again and again which actually made it kind of entertaining not to fall in the soft snow.

Temperature-wise, it was what sounds like a balmy race temp at -11C. The windchill was high making it feel -16C. Alot of the course is sheltered by trees though a good part of the course is open along fenceline and the section backtracking to Islet Lake is into the wind. The fact this course is a point-to-point course makes it unique.

I was adamant to finish this race as I chose to pull out at the 33-km point last year due to hypothermia. My hands/feet were warm, my chest was like a block of ice. This year I wore warmer everything and was comfortably dressed. My body adjusted to it. I even carried a windjacket in my rear pocket, just in case. Today, the cool windchill was welcome to cool my warm body. Skiing thru familiar sections, I laughed to myself as memories of last year's hypothermia had me believing we were on a "new" course.

I pretty much kept my position with only my strong skier friend Darryl who was racing in the pack division (5.5 kg pack) to pass me. I've known Darryl to "over-wax" his skis and still finish fast only this time the over-waxing worked highly in his favour. I had no problems scaling the short climbs or double-poling, Anytime I needed to single-kick double-pole or diagonal stride was when the lack of grip held me back. I used more force to plunk down the skis (my hipflexors will be crying tomorrow!).

Throughout the day I had three separate face dives into the snow. Just caught a ski in the fluffy snow and poof, it all happens pretty quick. On my face-dive in the last 15-km I felt a twinge in my right inner thigh. Yikes, it felt it could cramp any moment. Fortunately, it didn't until I was relaxing on the couch later that night.

Loved it when the trails merged back with the 31-km course that is run 1/2 hour after the 55-km start. It felt good to see skiers again and it increases the motivation to go quick again. Also, this is one of the few times, the tracks were nicely skied in thanks to the 31-km skiers.

Last turn-off on the fence-line I caught another handful of skiers. I kept them at bay with 3 km to go where one tall man from Banff Ski Runners glided a little stronger. I could hear another guy close behind and it was incentive for me to keep focussed to go strongly to the finish. I think he was surprised when I thanked him for being there as it helped me work harder, and I did keep away!

I am super happy to have finished strongly! When I was in the change trailer, I just sat in a chair for a good 10 min before changing - just slaughtered. Nothing beats that feeling!

It was awesome to catch up with old friends at the finish. The birkie brings out alot of good people.