The Birkie 2015

A few months ago Luke signed up to ski the Birkie Ski race in Hayward, WI. It is the largest and one of the longest (51K) ski races in North America. Just 2+ weeks before the race he wasn't sure if he was going to compete--he went back and forth almost every day as to whether or not he was going to ski. He finally decided to do it and put in a couple long training skis before the big race.

We drove up on Friday, picked up his packet and went to the lodge where we stayed with other friends who were skiing (some skied the full Birkie and some skied the Korte (the 1/2)--I did neither)! :) Luke was nervous as he didn't know what to expect and there is a lot of logistics in terms of getting to the starting line, etc. Since this was his first Birkie he was in the 8th wave (out of 9) and he started at 9:40. We left the cabin at 6:30am in order to have enough time to get there before the race. We got stuck in some traffic on the way to the parking lot. We had to take a shuttle bus to the starting line and we waited in a heated tent when we got there. The temperature that morning was around 10 degrees. He finally took off and I got back on the shuttle bus to get to my car. I planned to see him 2 places (OO and Mosquito Brook) and then head to the finish line.

Before the race!

Walking to the starting line

The heated tent

The starting line

Lining up

Running to get a place at the starting line

After Luke took off and I got to my car I had some time before seeing him ski by at OO. I stopped at Mooselips (and got the worst latte I've ever had) and warmed up a bit. It was a really cute cafe, but I'm not sure what the barista did to make my latte!

Skiing by at OO

Looking good at Mosquito Brook--about 15K left!

The finish line

Skiing up to the finish line

There he is!

All smiles to be done! Such an accomplishment!

After the race we met up with our friends at The Angry Minnow for some celebratory drinks and food!

Luke, Fred and Jeremy!

All first time finishers (Korte or full Berkie) get a medal and all other finishers get a pin.

All the first time finishers! Ang, Luke, Fred, Barry and Dan

It was such a neat event and it was emotional seeing Luke finish such a difficult race! He did awesome and I'm so proud of him! It definitely motivated me to get back on my skis! :) Congrats to all the skiers! Thanks to our friends for a fun weekend--I have a feeling we'll be back! :)