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Unraveling the mystery of the bandit Birkebeiner winner

Posted by Tom Held on Feb. 28, 2012

American Birkebeiner

Chad Salmela, coach of the College of St. Scholastica Nordic Ski Team, probably explained it best: “It was a coupla 20-year-olds not thinking things through.”

And he knew it moments after he spotted Joe Dubay, wearing a Saints uniform, coming up Main St. in Hayward and leading Norwegian skiing legend Vegard Ulvang and four-time national champion David Chamberlain. The 21-year-old college freshman beat both to the finish of the 54K classic race.

“Joe just won the Birkebeiner,” Salmela thought, astonished. “There’s a problem here.”

Indeed.

Dubay wasn’t registered to ski in the American Birkebeiner.

He wore a bib registered to his St. Scholastica teammate, Chris Parr, who turned over his spot in the marathon to stay sharp for the USSA Junior Championships in early March.

Salmela told Parr to skip the Birkie. He didn’t tell him to give his bib to his teammate.

“It’s not the right thing to do,” Salmela said Monday afternoon. “It’s an ethical thing. We’re not that kind of program that gets behind something like that.”

Dubay was equally contrite.

The thrill of racing and beating a six-time Olympic medal winner vanished as soon as he saw Parr at the finish, and realized their gig was soon to be up.

“I saw Chris and his mouth was hanging open,” Dubay said. “Then I thought, ‘Oh no, I made a really big mistake here.’”

The mistake wasn’t part of a grand plan to steal a Birkie victory. It was simply that Parr couldn’t ski and Dubay could.

As Salmela pointed out, race bibs are bartered, sold on eBay and transferred in similar races across the country. That doesn’t make it right.

And winning the race makes it hard to pull off.

Because of their banditry, Dubay was disqualified, after standing on the winner’s podium and confusing race organizers.

"It doesn’t bother me that they disqualified me," Dubay said. "I understand. I agree with that. I felt bad about it, after I put two and two together.

 "I was directed to go on the podium and the press conference. I felt bad through the whole thing. I shouldn’t have been up there. It was kind of difficult going through that.

“I hesitate to say I’m happy about anything,” he said. “How I felt during the race, my own performance, it’s hard not to be a little bit happy with how that went.

“But I don’t think about that too much, right now. I definitely feel bad for what happened.

“I shouldn’t have been racing under Chris’ name in the first place.”

Dubay said much the same in an interview with FasterSkier.com, which also gathered comments from David Chamberlain, a four-time national champion who moved up to first place in the Birkie Classic, with the disqualification.

A trend? After posting this piece, a reader forwarded me a similar story. Scott Downard won the Cowtown Marathon in Fort Worth Texas, on Sunday, but was disqualified because he hadn't registered for the race. He also was wearing a bib registered to a friend. Check it out here.

13 Comments for "Unraveling the mystery of the bandit Birkebeiner winner"

  1. Technically not the winner. Still the fastest competitor.

    MikeAAA Feb 28, 2012 12:22 PM

  2. He should have blamed everybody but himself. Like Braun.

    WIHoopsFan Feb 28, 2012 12:30 PM

  3. So did he actually compete in the entire race and he actually was the first across the line? He didn't cheat anywhere in the race or do anything against the rules? The only thing is that he wasn't technically registered because he wore someone else's bib?

    Must suck being the guy that got awarded the win knowing you actually got beat and won by a technicality...

    Kelemvor Feb 28, 2012 2:30 PM

  4. If only 996 people would have done the same thing Joe Dubay did.....I would have won the Kortolopet with my 3:54 minute time....

    Signed,
    997 of 1097 in the kortolpet

    bigmatty Feb 28, 2012 3:10 PM

  5. David Chamberlain got the victory. Not sure how he feels about it, but with his record - four national championships - I suspect he's not going to sweat klister over it.

    Tom Held Feb 28, 2012 3:13 PM

  6. I heard that there were close to 1000 bibs not picked up. Seems to me the Birkie could allow a switch up to a certain time before the race. Just change the name in the computer & pay a fee--maybe the same fee as the fine--$150. Joe clearly belonged in the elite wave. He clearly was the fastest skier. He admitted he was wrong. Did they have to ban him from 2 future Birkies? The lesson was learned. Perhaps there needs to be a way to do this on the up and up.

    Atouchdutch Feb 28, 2012 3:49 PM

  7. I'll bet you weigh more than 300lbs. (lbs is the abbreviation for pounds, you probably didn't know)

    Youknowitstrue Feb 28, 2012 3:53 PM

  8. I am sure the nuns will have them say plenty of penance at St. Scholastica.

    martyd Feb 28, 2012 4:49 PM

  9. I checked with the Birkie officials, and they did not mention a two-year ban. I'd like to add that to the story Atouchdutch, if I can have your source.

    Tom Held Feb 28, 2012 6:05 PM

  10. Sorry Tom, I should have checked about whether or not the 2 year ban was a fact. I really don't know if it's a fact and I hope it's just a rumor. The fact IS that Joe & Chris are good guys who have learned a hard lesson. I DO hope that the Birkie people will learn a lesson from this,too. When you have an event that fills up in November, of the previous year, you should have some measures in place to allow changes. In fact, it could actually be a financial benefit to them to allow it (i.e. they could assess a fee for people to allow changes...and people would pay). I think that the whole elite wave thing is another issue. One poblem that young skiers face (especially collgiate skiers) is that they don't know if they are going to be skiing at Nationals when the Birkie rolls around. Maybe the Birkie should keep some slots open (in the elite wave) just for collegiate men and women--who belong there! Shouldn't we be helping to develop our young skiers instead of putting up barriers?

    Atouchdutch Feb 28, 2012 6:52 PM

  11. That's probably a good suggestion to share with the Birkie organizers. They are fluid with the elite entry list, and allowing some collegians in late might be the ticket. They also seem willing to listen to their customers.

    Tom Held Feb 28, 2012 6:58 PM

  12. Hi Tom, Regarding the punishment for swapping bibs, the rules section on birkie.com state that...

    "the skier and finish time will be disqualified from the race, and both you and the person using your bib will each be required to pay a $150 penalty before being allowed to enter a future event. You and the skier may also prohibited from entering a future event for a period of time."

    ...so it looks like a ban is possible but not automatic. -- Sam

    NorSkier Feb 28, 2012 9:42 PM

  13. I photographed him at the finish..and on the podium.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/69805768@N00/6783982342/in/photostream

    PaulMWalsh Feb 29, 2012 4:34 PM

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