Community Pride Fuels Team Birkie's Success

Team Birkie is a manifestation of a community’s pride in itself.  Without a community, Team Birkie fails.

Women and Men Who Cross Country Ski…and Drink Coffee (WAMXC), is a group in the Twin Cities, of folks who obviously love skiing.  And coffee.  This group and individual members of it have gotten behind Team Birkie.  That kind of support not only feels great to the team, but is essential in the belief in our own community to make itself more vibrant.  It is connections with and support from groups of individuals like WAMXC—groups who are proud of their long love and connection to the sport of cross country skiing, that makes a team like Team Birkie viable, vibrant, and effective.

From it’s first iteration under Steve Gaskill in the early 1990s, Team Birkie has been that community-driven and -supported organization.  While many of the more fundamental aspects of developing the sport have been mastered the past couple decades across the upper Midwest, as clubs develop ever greater numbers of young, adept ski racers, the Team Birkie concept has had several iterations.  But the need has been and continues to be the same, only with ever more modern clarity of need and purpose.  With the success of U.S. ski racing at the highest level, and the Midwest’s role in that success, Team Birkie has never been more relevant.

Team Birkie funding relies on community support beyond that of our foundational partnership with The American Birkebeiner, CXC Skiing, and the Loppet Foundation.  Team Birkie volunteer assistance supporting team staff in essential areas of athlete and team support, fundraising, and performance development, to essential health care, nutrition, and race service, creates a platform of stability from which to work towards our goal of supporting our best ski racers to their highest achievement.  It is the community support and connection with Team Birkie to that community that is the most critical element of our success, delivering what the athletes need to succeed.

WAMXC’s support of Team Birkie exemplifies the connection between community, and the inspiring athletes who make the ski racing community more vibrant and connected with the highest level of the sport.  We all feel that achievement when we are invested in it together.

We welcome WAMXC and invite other community groups and clubs to become a supporter of Team Birkie.  We would love to have you engage with us and help take Team Birkie to new heights.

Interested in how your community group or ski club can support Team Birkie? Get in touch at teambirkiepro@gmail.com and let’s explore the possibilities together!

Visit WAMXC.org to learn more. 

By Chad Salmela, Team Birkie Head Coach