Birkie Blitz

While most rational people spent most of the past weekend inside, bundled up with blankets and cursing that damn groundhog for getting our hopes up and letting us down once again this year, a group of 8,850 crazed Olympic stars and ski- legend wanna-be’s went deep into the snowy forest trails of northern Wisconsin to race 50 kilometers in the 38^th annual American Birkebeiner cross-country ski race, which  began at 8:00 a.m. the morning of Saturday, February 27^th, while the temperature was around negative 10 degrees.

The whole concept of the race has probably left you with many questions, such as: “What were they thinking?!?” “Did an Eskimo win?” and “Why would anyone willingly choose to spend their Saturday in Wisconsin?”

I really can’t come up with a good answer for that first question, so let’s go on to the second. No, an Eskimo did not win. And by the way, they prefer to be called Inuit, not Eskimo, and not everyone from Alaska skies or is qualified to be a politician, contrary to rumors.

Caitlin Compton, from Minneapolis, won the women’s 50K skate course with a time of 2:15:26.0. Compton’s time not only got her the first place finish, it also got her the honor of setting a new course record that was almost three minutes faster than the previous record set by Rebecca Dussault in 2010. The second and third place finishers, Morgan Smyth of Utah, and Evelyn Dong of Oregon, also finished under Dussault’s former record holding time of 2:18:18.1.

In the men’s 50K skate race, the first place title went to Norwegian native Tore Martin Gunderson, who finished with a time of 2:00:32.8. Gunderson said the Wisconsin course was “fantastic,” further evidence the guy is a naïve foreigner who has not yet experienced Minnesota.

And for those of you who thought skiing 50K, or basically 31 miles, was easy enough- don’t worry! There was also a 54K classical ski race, fondly known as the Birkie Classic.

Winning the men’s Birkie Classic for the second year in a row was Juergen Uhl of Vermont. The man got first- place, but did little to break stereotypes for other little boys growing up with the name Juergen.

Another Minneapolis native, Jennie Bender, won the women’s title for the Birkie with a time of 2:50: 09:3.

Back to that last question you were wondering earlier (why would anyone go to Wisconsin, ever, and then go skiing outside for over two hours?)…This race is considered the most prestigious and is the largest cross- country ski marathon in North America, larger than races in Canada even! So I can only imagine the answer the reasons people have for wanting to participate: Pride. Guts. The same reason people go bungee jumping or eat at Taco Bells. The thrill of doing something unbelievable.

And what is the significance in all these results of the American Birkebeiner Championship? Well, if you haven’t caught on so far, I had an agenda to prove to you all that Minnesota girls are the best, and the results of the Birkie did an excellent job of backing me up.