Anticipation builds for Birkebeiner

[Go Big Red!]

Anticipation builds for Birkebeiner

By Michael McFadzen • For Wisconsinoutdoorfun.com • February 25, 2011

Spirits are high among American Birkebeiner skiers, volunteers and race officials, as more than 11,000 participants are registered Saturday's event in Cable.

The granddaddy of all North-American ski races, the 50-kilometer American Birkebeiner and its sister race, the 23-kilometer Kortelopet, will start at 8 a.m.

This is the biggest race ever with 6,300 registered in the Birke and 2,500 in the Kortelopet, according to media director Cherie Morgan.

Festivities kicked off on Thursday with Opening Ceremonies and the kids' race called the Barnebirke. Today, the 3.5-k Junior Birkebeiner will have 400 participants ages 10-18 racing in this Junior Olympic event.

The Birkebeiner pilgrimage is an annual rite of passage with dozens of skiers from the Sheboygan area making the trip this year. Many local skiers have been doing it for decades, getting in practice skiing at local area ski trails including Greenbush in the Kettle Moraine State Forest, Maywood Park Trails in Sheboygan and Point Beach State Forest in Two Rivers.

The Birkie is a family event for the O'Connell family of Sheboygan Falls.

"We really have a nice time connecting with family and friends every year at the Birkie", says James O'Connell who has skied 33 Birkies and is considered a local race legend. O'Connell, who has won many ski events, now skis the Birkie with daughters Kathy Tournour of Plymouth and Bridget Long of Kohler.


Members of the local Kettle Moraine School Team skiing the 23k include Holly Henriksen, Nikki Rhyan, Eric Roberts, Eric Bilitz, Joel Sehloff, Andrew Gunderson, Brett Bilitz and Tim Scharrer. Coaches Tina and Brian Henriksen from Plymouth, ski race veterans with almost 40 Birkies between them, coached that team.

Quantcast

Brian Henriksen has been an elite wave skier for more than a decade and hopes to finish in the top 200 to maintain that status. But skiing races himself isn't the most important element to Hendriksen.

"Nordic skiing provides a great opportunity for young people to develop a lifelong physical activity that promotes a healthy lifestyle and appreciation for the outdoors," he said. "I have been Nordic skiing most of my life and the most rewarding aspect of skiing is getting kids into this incredible sport."

Tina Henriksen is also competitive, skiing out of the second wave and hoping crack the first wave with a good race. "I'm hoping the kids have fun doing the Kortelopet. Our kids are getting good experience skiing the local meets but the Kortelopet is a huge race with thousands of skiers," she said.

"I love to ski. So being a coach and providing youth with an opportunity to learn skiing while also being a part of the larger Nordic ski community is very rewarding."

Brian Schaning is a well known Sheboygan mountain bike racer and Timex Team triathlete who now lives in Colorado. Schaning has had limited on-snow ski time but wouldn't miss the Birkie for anything. He left Colorado on Thursday by car.

"My girlfriend Jessica Gammy and I decided we couldn't miss the Birke," he said. "It will be a red-eye drive. I wish I was skiing more to get ready for the Birkie, but it's not going to happen. I'm hoping to hold on to my first-wave start position."

For more on Schaning visit his blog at http://brianschaning.blogspot.com/

Sheboygan's Mike Janikowski will ski in his 17th Birkie.

While most athletes train right up to race day, Dr. Tom Ries has a different perspective. The Sheboygan physician skis the trails as long as possible but leaves for a one-week annual medical mission trip to Nicaragua in mid February.

Longtime Kettle Moraine Nordic Ski Club Member Dennis Steffen, who participated in dozens of Birkies over 40 years and played a key role in the development and maintenance of the Kettle Moraine trails over the past 30 years, died late last year and will be missed this weekend.

For those who can't make the trip to Cable, the Birkie will be broadcast through a live webcast via http://www.livestream.com/birkie. Central Cross County (CXC) will produce this webcast from 9am to 12 with financial support of the American Birkebeiner Foundation.

For more information on the event visit www.birkie.com.