With 10,000-plus skiers and 20,000-plus spectators, the American Birkebeiner from Cable to Hayward stands alone as the greatest such race in North America and is the third largest in the world.
How did it become one of the nation’s great sporting events, or as the New York Times called it, “The Boston Marathon of Cross Country Skiing”? Why do skiers from around the Midwest, country and world trek to remote northern Wisconsin each February to ski a hilly, 30-mile-plus trail through the north woods. How did the Birkebeiner begin, what challenges has it faced and how has it continued to grow and inspire legions of Nordic skiing devotees, including Olympians, to see how fast — or if — they can make it to downtown Hayward.
Author Jerome Poling of Eau Claire covers 50 years of “Birkie” history in his new book, American Birkebeiner: The Nation’s Greatest Ski Marathon, published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press.