Three Rivers Parks Ski Rennet
January marks the beginning of what is my favorite part of the ski season; Midwest marathon season. The Midwest has a lot of cultural differences from where I grew up in Pennsylvania, and the biggest is the shear volume of ski racing. If you spend any time on the beloved skinnyski.com, you can quickly find weekend plans from December until March.
With Team Birkie members traveling to Lake Placid and Cable to race, I was happy to stay home and race the Three Rivers Ski Rennet. The Rennet is held every year at Hyland Park in Bloomington, Minnesota. In the past, it has utilized the park’s 5km snow making trails, but was able to run almost entirely on natural snow for the first time ever this year. Going in I knew this was going to be a flat, fast race, so I mentally prepared for some pack racing.
The race started hard and fast. I took the lead looking to break away or split the field into a small lead group. The course immediately turned onto the uneven, fast natural snow. The tricky conditions made it hard to ski fast, but I tried my best to relax and settle in after roughly 5k. There was a group of 4 guys that had formed into a lead pack. Once the pack had gotten away, Brian Gregg’s experienced voice crept into my mind telling me that I shouldn’t take the lead unless I’m looking to make an attack. Drafting in a pack can make for much easier skiing, so my goal became to ski in 2nd unless I was making a strong pull.
1k into the race pushing hard to establish a lead pack
The next 15k consisted of pack skiing, taking turns leading, and trying to relax as much as possible. Occasionally when the course doubled back on itself I could see fellow Team Birkie member Abby Drach comfortably out front of the women’s race. At roughly the 20k mark I decided to make a move to see if anyone in the pack would break. One hard pull up the longest climb on the course (which was still quite short) left only two of us at the front. Looking back, continuing this pull for another 3-5 minutes could have been the deciding factor in allowing me to break away, but instead I tried to relax on the flats and the group of 4 came back together.
At this point in the race I’m starting to look for what’s going to give me an extra kick across the line. I think some of it was the will to win, and some of it was the prize money waiting at the finish that could pay for a month of chipotle. With 250 meters left I sprinted hard for the line and was able to take the win. Not long after I watched Abby break the pack of 5 guys she was skiing with to take the win in the women’s race.
Huge thank you to the race organizers and volunteers that made this such a great event in my backyard. I’ll be back next year.
After waxing Abby’s skis on Friday night I was relieved to see I didn’t screw it up
Perhaps the best part of having all your ski friends leave you to race all over the country is finishing your own race and seeing their success. Team Birkie also saw wins at the Seeley Hills classic 42k and 22k by Coach Caitlin Gregg and Andrew Millan. Brian Gregg and Christian Gostout had podium finishes in the 42k classic. In New York at the Supertour, Zak Ketterson took home a win in the classic sprint and a top 10 in the distance skate. We also saw top 30 finishes from Julie Ensrud and Ingrid Thyr. A big weekend for Team Birkie!
Team Birkie Skiers Christian Gostout and Brian Gregg out to a fast start at the Seeley Hills Classic
Zak on top of the Supertour podium in Lake Placid, New York
