Midwest Racing Season Preview

November 2, 2014

With nearly 70 events on the citizen calendar alone (and sure to grow), 2014-15 is shaping up to be another great racing season in the Midwest.

Perhaps one of the biggest events on the calendar is US Nationals at Michigan Tech in early January. Racing opens on Sunday, January 4th, with 10K and 15K freestyle races. The next day features classical sprints on a course that drew rave reviews during a test event last March. Mass start classical races from 5K up to 30K will utilize most of the MTU trail system after two rest days as racing resumes Thursday. And the event wraps up on Saturday with freestyle sprints.

While US Nationals will bring many of the best skiers to the Midwest, for the first-time in many years there will be no SuperTour series event in our region (though technically, the Birkie is a SuperTour event). However, the Junior National Qualifying series remains strong and has some venue changes again this season. The JNQ series opens with another test drive on the US National courses with a pair of weekend races on the MTU trails in late December. The series will return to Cable for racing at Telemark the weekend after Nationals, then pops down to St. Paul the following weekend at Battle Creek. The series wraps up, two days after the Minnesota State Meet, with a weekend set at Theodore Wirth Park.

For citizen races, the season will fire up in early December (depending on snow, of course), with evening weekly series races in the Twin Cities and Duluth. The Hoigaard’s Relays will return to its new venue, Elm Creek, for the unofficial kickoff to the Midwest racing season. January brings the start of the major marathon races, beginning with the point-to-point Sisu Ski Fest races in Ironwood.

There are a couple of prominent changes in the citizen events this season. Perhaps no bigger is the Vasaloppet USA’s move from its traditional Sunday date to Saturday. The move to Saturday opens Sunday for a new event of skijoring on Sunday, along with the Miniloppet. Another event undergoing some big changes is the Sawtooth races in Grand Marais. Organizers are planning for a larger scale, winter festival with sprints on Friday, classical and skiathlon races on Saturday, and possibly skijor and fat bike events Sunday. In Duluth, the Nordic Spirit race in mid-January will switch formats this season, going from a classical only race to freestyle. The Noquemanon has moved their fat bike races to Sunday, avoiding any possible issues with the ski races on Saturday. And a new series, the Wisconsin Winter Trail Assail, will come in to replace older events at Waukesha and Nashotah.

In the Midwest collegiate racing series, there are a few notable changes. The Minnesota College Championships will be hosted by St. Scholastica this season, racing on the trails of Marshall School in Duluth. And new this season, there will be a weekend sprint and relay event, also at Marshall School, in early February.

The closing of Troll Hollow will force some changes on the high school docket. The famed Holiday Relays will return to the Twin Cities, racing at Theodore Wirth on December 20th. The Peter Westra Sprints, formerly an early season event under the lights at Trollhaugen, will now be racing in the daylight on January 3rd, and also at Theodore Wirth. Offering an alternative to the mega-meet Mesabi East, the Loppet Foundation will be offering their own high school meet on the same day -- January 10th. And expect an even bigger Minnesota State Meet, as the new section qualifying format comes into play, advancing the top two teams from each section.

Dropping off the calendar this season, for various reasons: Nicolet Norski (reverting to a high school only event), Finding Rainbow, and Fridtjof Nansen events will be missed.

For the citizen skiers looking for a winter long competition, the Cities Cup will be back again this season, featuring primarily events in the Twin Cities area. For the kids, the Skiwerx Series will offer divisions at many of the same races as the Cities Cup.

Emphasizing the long Midwest race season, Thunder Bay will again wrap up of the season with their epic 24 Hours of Lappe event. The party like atmosphere and famous Finnish pancakes make this a great way to wrap up the season with friends and family.

As usual, there are a few “holes” in the calendar as some events have not yet finalized their race details for this season, and with opportunistic short-notice events, expect a number of updates to the racing calendar as the season progresses.

So pull those skis out of the basement, scrape off the storage wax and get those boards ready for some racing!

Racing Calendar