| City of Lake Loppet director John Munger, with the Minneapolis skyline in the background. |
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HIGH HOPES
Despite a lack of snow, two new ski races plan their unveiling
By Greg Marr With the cross country ski season being woefully brief these past two winters, it would not be surprising to see fewer and fewer races on the schedule. What is somewhat surprising, then, is to see some new races. There is, however, a problem for skiers who like to do new races: You can't be a founder at two of them because both are scheduled for Feb. 1. Skiers can choose to do either an urban race in Minneapolis or venture to
the North Shore for a marathon.
The North Shore Mountain Challenge and City of Lakes Loppet share more than just a new race status on the same day both are anxiously checking weather forecasts to see if they'll need to wait until next year to be unveiled.
Even on the North Shore, where snow used to be as reliable and predictable as a politician saying "no new taxes," there was still not enough snow in mid January.
"The only real place we have any kind of skiing," says Pat Christopherson, director of the race and executive director of the Lutsen Tofte Tourism Association, "is River Road and Moose Fence Trail." Unfortunately, those trails do not offer enough skiing for a race.
Lack of snow is only one problem: on skinnyski.com, the Minnesota Nordic Ski Association reported that a four wheel drive vehicle did extensive damage to the trail system on which the race is to be held.
"Last weekend (Jan. 3 4)," says Jeff Lynch, trail maintenance supervisor for the North Shore Mountain Challenge, "a four wheel drive truck drove into the Britain Peak parking lot, past the signs and right onto the ski trails. The truck tracks extended onto the Homestead loop and onto the Picnic loop. This most recent past weekend, a similar vehicle entered the Oberg Mountain parking area and drove onto the groomed Onion River Road ski
trail, went down the road and past a closed gate onto the Oberg Mountain ski trail. This individual purposely opened the gate to get onto the ski trails. There are clearly over 25K of ski trails damaged by wheeled vehicles."
The ski marathon is planned to start at the Superior National Golf Course trails in Lutsen and follow the Picnic loop to the Homestead loop, through Oberg Mountain ski trails, then back to Lutsen.
Assuming there is adequate snow and the race is on, Christopherson says it will be a dandy. Skiers can choose one of two events, a 25K or a 45K run mostly on separate courses and set up for skating or striding. The long course Christopherson describes as "very demanding. It takes recreational skiers four to six hours to ski it." As one might expect in skiing in the Luften Mountain area, there is a lot of up and down.
Should there be insufficient snow, the event will likely be canceled and not postponed, according to Christopherson. The Nordic race was squeezed into a busy schedule dominated by the alpine crowd, so finding an alternative weekend where there's adequate lodging available is next to impossible. A decision will have been made by press time. To find out the status of the race, go to www.northshoreskitrail.com or call 888/616 6784.
The good news for the city of Lakes Loppet in Minneapolis is that it will be held, in some fashion, regardless of snow. As of mid January, the best option seems to be a lake race.
"We planned to finish on the lakes anyway, so if we have to we'll run the entire race on Cedar and Calhoun lakes," says John Munger, race director. If necessary, organizers will plow snow into a ribbon around the shorelines.
Munger, of course, is hoping for a full course race, because he says the course will be a great one to ski using Theodore Wirth Park and urban lakes.
"What a lot of people don't realize," Munger says, "is that Wirth Park is bigger than New York's Central Park, so it provides a lot of space for doing this."
"The 35K starts out on a wide uphill that will separate the field then goes
through the hills of the normal ski trails. I think this course has the hilliest trails in the city outside of Battle Creek. It then crosses over, does flatter stuff, then goes through the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden, with two challenging climbs in there. It crosses over a road to more ski trail. After about 17 20K, it comes out of Wirth, crosses 1 394, and onto the Brownie Lake."
To get from Brownie to Cedar lake, Munger says skiers will ski through a
"tunnel" passing under a railroad corridor, onto Cedar Lake, finishing by skiing across Lake of the Isles and onto Calhoun Lake.
There is also a 10K that concentrates on flatter terrain.
The mere idea of an urban ski race is intriguing and that's in large part what got the thing going in the first place. Minneapolis happens to have a skiing mayor, R.T. Rybak, who also happened to do the Kortelopet last
year. On his way home, he starting thinking, why not a Birkie type event in his city? Others in the Twin Cities had been thinking along the same lines; it just took the mayor to get it off the ground.
And you have to admit, the very idea of a 35K ski race in a major metro area is unique: Skiing over an interstate highway, trucks and cars roaring by beneath, skiing from a park onto urban lakes, the skyline of Minneapolis in the background? That has to have appeal, if only because
it's so very different from most other races.
"It catapults the imagination," says Munger, and that's why he assures us that something will happen on Feb. 1.
"I don't think we would lose as much as some other races. Our goal was to get more everyday folks there anyway, and they'll be there if we're on the trails or on the lakes. We'll still have bands along the course, drums, community involvement and, because we are an urban area, more spectators."
For Munger, the race is "a great way to focus energy" on cross country skiing in the Twin Cities. Now if we could only draw some energy from the clouds, it will truly be a spectacular event.
For more information on the City of Lakes Loppet, contact City of Lakes Loppet, P.O. Box 50304, Mpls., MN 55405; Claire Wilson, 612/715 1479; info@cityoflakesloppet.com; www.cityoflakesloppet.com.
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