Holiday Relays History
On Saturday, December 20, 2014, the Minneapolis Ski Club held the annual high school “Holiday Relays.” This event dates back to 1973, when Pat Lanin founded it while coaching for Hopkins High School.
In current form, the Holiday Relays feature a single team trophy – the “Bill Simpson Trophy” in honor of Bill Simpson who coached at Stillwater for many years. To fully compete, a high school fields 4 relay teams of 4 skiers each – skate and classic teams, both boys and girls. The Bill Simpson Trophy is awarded to the high school team achieving the best placement across all 4 relays. The Holiday Relays also accommodate schools unable to field a full team of 16 skiers – they can enter individual relays. Although these skiers cannot vie for the Bill Simpson Trophy, there is recognition of the top finishing team in each relay event.
Over the years the Holiday Relays have changed venues several times – Meadowbrook Golf Course to Phalen Golf Course to Trollhaugen and this year Wirth. And the event has grown considerably – from 4 teams in 1973 and approximately 50 skiers, to more than 10 teams and several hundred skiers. This year a total of 342 different high school skiers competed on a challenging 3K course. The Minneapolis Ski Club Holiday Relays have become the largest high school Nordic relay event in the United States
It is fun to think about some of the “Who’s Who” in Minnesota Nordic participating in the Holiday Relays over the years. These include:
1980 Olympic skier Todd Kempainen, who had an individual fastest time at the 1975 Holiday Relays.
An individual fastest time at the 1977 Holiday Relays belonged to Brian Knutson skiing for Coon Rapids; Brian won State that season and eventually went on to start Gear West with his wife, Jan Guenther.
At the 1980 Holiday Relays, Todd Boonstra skiing for Burnsville had an individual fastest time. Todd subsequently qualified for four Olympic teams in his career.
In 2005, Olympian Jessie Diggins – then just an 8th grader at Stillwater High School – had the fastest girls individual skate time at the Holiday Relays and repeated that each of the subsequent years she participated.
I am proud to have competed at the Holiday Relays in the 1970s (skiing for Stillwater) and that I can still be part of this incredible event all these years later with the Minneapolis Ski Club. I would like to thank Pat Lanin, Mark Stange and John Strand – for more than 10 years we have worked together on the Holiday Relays. And a special thanks this year to Wirth Park personnel for getting the course ready in challenging warm weather conditions; to Dave Scott and Jack Lindberg; also to several former Minnesota high school skier volunteers including Joe Dubay, Ingrid Leask, Madison Haugen and Matt Freeman.
Finally, congratulations to all the athletes and thank you coaches for bringing your teams. And stay tuned for next year – if feasible, we may move to a weekday afternoon just before Christmas and avoid conflicts with weekend events. For example, this year a number of current Minnesota high school skiers as well as recent graduates skiing for their colleges were at Junior National Qualifiers in Houghton, MI.
A neat feature of the Holiday Relays has been the winter holiday date permitting former Minnesota high school skiers at home on break to attend as volunteers or spectators. As notable ski announcer Peter Graves once observed: “The unique aspect of cross county skiing which keeps us all involved is the camaraderie of the sport and the friendships that are made and renewed every year.” I believe this to be part of Pat’s vision when he started the Holiday Relays more than 40 years ago. In this spirit, we look forward to many more years of Holiday Relays.
Kevin Brochman, Minneapolis Ski Club