Birkie!

Over 9,000 skiiers converged on the Hayward/Cable area this past weekend for the 39th annual American Birkiebeiner ski race.  The Birkie is the largest ski race in North America.  We had 8 members of LPTR doing the full birkie, including 2 skiing their first (Bruce and Jamey).  Deb Vomhof has the most finishes, completing her 19th this year, with Robert just 1 back with 18.  The full Birkie is a point-to-point course, from the Telemark lodge in Cable to the town of Hayward.  Skiiers have a choice of divisions, either the 54K Classic (diagonal stride, 1635 finishers), or the 50K Freestyle (skating, 3738 finishers).  Results were:
 
54K Classic (name, place, time, # finishes)
Brad Birkholz, 860, 4:53:43, 15
Bruce Udell, 992, 5:11:18, 1
Jamey Anderson, 1428, 6:38:33, 1
 
50K Freestyle (name, place, time, # finishes)
Ron Bero, 967, 3:05:00, 5
Joel Lammers, 978, 3:05:31, 5
Robert Wehner, 1250, 3:14:43, 18
Deb Vomhof, 2610, 4:08:29, 19
Mary Gorski, 2783, 4:16:57, 15