Racing Outlook

• Feb 25 American Birkebeiner (Hayward, WI)
  • Feb 21 update:
    Course conditions look to be very good.  Trail closures on Friday, be aware.  Official Birkie report and first-hand skier trail reports.
    - Bruce Adelsman
• Feb 25 Lotvola Cup (Callaway, MN)
  • Feb 21 update:
    Current course conditions are pretty much excellent, thanks to 4" of new snow last night and this morning. We groomed the entire course today and skiing later was great. There is one very short trouble area on the north end of Bullhead. There is spring flowage that has not been able to freeze down like other years. However, we have been running grooming equipment through with no worries and it is skiable throughout and will shovel if needed this week. Jens packed out the start area today and one of our neighbors pushed snow from lake to shore for the transition area as the lake level has dropped 3 feet from the high point this summer.
    Even though this winter is being labeled as a low or no snow year, the snow depth on the lake is the deepest it has been going in to Lotvola weekend, the last 7 years. Touch up grooming planned rest of the week with final grooming most likely to occur Friday evening.
    Photos from lake action and grooming at the 1km mark.  Photoset:  Lotvola Cup Prep 3 photos (from Jay Richards)
    - Jay Richards, race director
    
  • Feb 13 update:
    Currently the Lotvola Cup course is in good to excellent condition with full depth tracks set. There are a few trouble areas on the Bullhead lake trail marsh crossings that can easily be repaired with snow from the lake to complete a full, fun safe course.
    If the snow forecasted next week does not happen, we will farm snow from the lake to these few trouble areas. Looking forward to a fun weekend of skiing and winter biking!
    - Jay Richards, race director
• Feb 26 Beaver Dam Classic (Mora, MN)
  • Feb 21 update:
    Due to poor trail condition and lack of snow, the 2012 Beaver Dam Classic has been cancelled. The small snow fall on Monday night is not enough to allow us to set tracks and make a nice trail. Any further snow will come to late for us to make adequate preparations. We look forward to the Canoe race in May, the Half Marathon in August, and the Bike Tour in September. Thank you for your continued support of cross country skiing and other active outdoor activities in Kanabec county.
    - Jon Larson, race organization
    
    
    
• Mar 10 Pepsi Challenge (Biwabik, MN)
  • Feb 21 update:
    We are receiving approx. 4-5" of snow today with more in the forecast. The Piston Bully was out on course today - which is the first time this year - so the majority of our course should be set. We have a couple trails that aren't in great shape and would need 4-5 more inches of snow. If we have to, we can reconfigure our course into a 10K, 20K & 40K. But, if this keeps up, we should be on our full race course (10K, 25K & 50K) with all natural snow! We are pretty excited here and just wanted to update you on the conditions here at Giants Ridge.
    - Deb Maki, race organization