40th Annual Birkenbeiner Kicks Off, Record Breaking Numbers
CABLE - North America’s biggest ski race took place Saturday as the main race of the American Birkebeiner kicked off.
About 10,000 people took part in the 50 kilometer race from Cable to Hayward, trekking over snow covered hills and trails.
This year the race broke records, and celebrated its 40-year anniversary.
“This is it, we’ve been preparing for this all year, this is the day,” said Birkenbeiner Executive Director Ned Zuelsdorff. “We’re going to have 10,000 people on the start line this morning, an all-time record.”
Dergio Bonaldi from Italy took first place in the men’s skate, with a winning time of two-hours, nine-minutes and 18 seconds.
The women’s winner was Caitlin Gregg of Minneapolis, finishing in two-hours, 28-minutes and 56 seconds.
The classic went to Doug Debold of Wayzata and Ingrid Sopstad of Norway.
