In many
ways, the 2002 Birkie was a perfect reflection of the kind of cross-country
season it's been this year. The warm weather has cancelled the vast
majority of events, and even made lake skiing a risky venture. For
the Birkie, sparse snow conditions caused the race to be first shortened
to 25K, and then put on the verge of being cancelled. A Tuesday-Wednesday
snowstorm (starting out as rain!) dumped a good 6-8" of heavy snow
on the trail system and organizers were then hard pressed to revive
the 45K distance. Squadrons of groomers descended on the trail system,
making passes with snowmobile drags on a nearly round the clock basis.
Thursday brought sunshine, clearing roads, and opening ceremonies
on Main Street Hayward (complete with snow!). The elite sprints,
using a slightly shortened and narrower course than in the past,
went off without too many problems. The mens race ended in an extremely
close finish that had Pat Casey nipping Colin Mahood by a mere two
hundreds of a second. Brooke Baughman outsprinted Sarah Konrad for
the womens title. Temperatures on Thursday crept into the mid-30's
in town, but seemed to stay below freezing out on the Birkie trail.
A very cold Thursday night (temps dropped to near zero) gave way
to a warm Friday, with highs reaching the upper 30s to upper 40s.
The citizen sprints used a slightly shorter course over that of
the elite sprints, but saw a good turnout. Friday evening, the weather
forecasts turned even grimmer: possibly 2-4" of snow overnight,
with rain in the mix for the big race. Hayward was nearly covered
in a cloud of fluro smoke as magic waxes were caked on.
Waking up Saturday morning, there was good news and bad. The good
news was it hadn't snowed much, if any. The bad: it was raining,
although off and on. Up at the start at Telemark in Cable, the rain
seemed to let up and it even appeared it might be clearing off.
However, as the elite wave started, a light rain began to fall again.
In the
past, the elite skiers have finished the 51K course in just over
2 hours. But those were years with a firm and fast track. With the
warm, wet, and soft conditions, the finishing times this year would
be on pace with last year's snowfest race. Many of the skiers reported
that the first half of the course (up to Hwy OO) seemed like fast
conditions, but south of there things really slowed down. The Italian
skiers were back again this year, and in even bigger numbers, as
they swept 7 of the top 10 spots, including Maurizio Pozzi capturing
the overall victory. Jeannie Wall, sixth last year, won the womens
event.
In the end, the warm temperatures, slow snow, and almost a complete
lack of on-snow training, did little to dampen the enthusiam of
the Nordic community as nearly 6,000 skiers showed up for the starting
line. A huge congratulations to all the skiers who competed, and
to the thousands of volunteers who made it all happen.
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In many
ways, the 2002 Birkie was a perfect reflection of the kind of cross-country
season it's been this year. The warm weather has cancelled the vast
majority of events, and even made lake skiing a risky venture. For
the Birkie, sparse snow conditions caused the race to be first shortened
to 25K, and then put on the verge of being cancelled. A Tuesday-Wednesday
snowstorm (starting out as rain!) dumped a good 6-8" of heavy snow
on the trail system and organizers were then hard pressed to revive
the 45K distance. Squadrons of groomers descended on the trail system,
making passes with snowmobile drags on a nearly round the clock basis.
Thursday brought sunshine, clearing roads, and opening ceremonies
on Main Street Hayward (complete with snow!). The elite sprints,
using a slightly shortened and narrower course than in the past,
went off without too many problems. The mens race ended in an extremely
close finish that had Pat Casey nipping Colin Mahood by a mere two
hundreds of a second. Brooke Baughman outsprinted Sarah Konrad for
the womens title. Temperatures on Thursday crept into the mid-30's
in town, but seemed to stay below freezing out on the Birkie trail.
In the
past, the elite skiers have finished the 51K course in just over
2 hours. But those were years with a firm and fast track. With the
warm, wet, and soft conditions, the finishing times this year would
be on pace with last year's snowfest race. Many of the skiers reported
that the first half of the course (up to Hwy OO) seemed like fast
conditions, but south of there things really slowed down. The Italian
skiers were back again this year, and in even bigger numbers, as
they swept 7 of the top 10 spots, including Maurizio Pozzi capturing
the overall victory. Jeannie Wall, sixth last year, won the womens
event.
39 images
Men's Sprint final
