We went to The American Birkebeiner, which is an annual cross country ski race from Cable WI to Hayward WI.  There were participants this year from 47 states and also several countries were represented.  We know a couple people that do the Birkie every year.  One of them skied the classical this year and finished 143 overall, and I think he has done over 30 of them...Good job Mark.  Another fellow we know finished 3594 on the skate side of the track.  I'm not sure if it was his 35th or 36th Birkie and that would be out of only 37 that have taken place...Very Nice.

Main street, downtown Hayward.

This was everyone's goal today...The finish line, which makes the skating side of the track 50k and the classical side 54k.  We hope The Old Bag crossed here today.

This was the overall winner of the skate division. He was the first to cross the line and he was none other than, Fabio Santus from Milano Italy with a new course record of a 1:56:58.6 total elasped time for the 50k.  Last year it was a photo finish.  No need this year.  He won by 8 seconds.

The leaders had an escort.