2025 Birkie: In All Its Glory!

The Leadup: 

The Birkie is one of my favorite races of the year. As I’ve written before, there is such an amazing energy that permeates the whole week that makes it hard to not get pretty excited for. The Birkie always finds a way to retain its aura, but this year I think I can speak for most people when I say I was pretty stoked to get to ski the full point-to-point course and finish on Main Street! I can only imagine how much work went into getting the course ready to host the race and I want to extend a huge thank you to all the race organizers and volunteers who made this possible. You are the foundation and we appreciate you! 

The Race: 

I was pretty nervous about the Birkie this year. Partly because I didn’t have my best race last year, and partly because without Alayna Sonnesyn on the start line, the field lacked the definitive hierarchy that it has in the past few years. It wasn’t clear who, if anyone, would take charge of the race. I’ve raced most of the women in the elite field for many years, some for over a decade, and you get to know each person’s racing style pretty well. While I don’t base my entire race plan on other’s tactics, I definitely factor in the relative ‘knowns’ of what other racers might do. The group of elite women had a few wildcards and I wasn’t sure how they would approach the race.  That was both daunting because it was hard to make a race plan, and exciting because it meant I had an opportunity to take charge of the race if I wanted to. 

Skis laid out for testing. I ended up racing on a cold hardtrack ski with a N310 Caldwell Grind. 

I’ve had some success in my career, but not a lot of opportunities to race at the front of the pack and feel like I belonged there. But, in the marathon races, I feel a sense of confidence about my skiing that I haven’t in the past,  and a ‘what’s the worst that can happen’ attitude that makes it easier for me to take risks and lay it all out there. Sometimes when you take the pressure off a little, you unlock that extra performance you can’t always access when you are afraid to fail. 

From the gun, the tactics of the race were different from other Birkies I’ve raced. Nobody wanted to push the pace, and it was like pulling teeth to get anybody to take charge and lead the group. The draft this year was really strong, and there was a distinct difference in effort between skiing at the front of the train and skiing behind somebody. 

 Racing below the powerline, heading towards the first Sprint Preem at 2.7 km. Photo by Jackie Schneider & Skinny Ski  

The Draft: You can see how even though I am skiing with intent at the front, Jessica Yeaton is able to stand up, and Chelsea toward the rear is even able to take a feed and easily keep up. 

For me it was like having two devils on my shoulders. One telling me to sit in, let other people lead and save my energy. The other is saying push the pace and see who drops off, because I want as few people at the finish line as possible. Both have their pros and cons, and I tried to do a bit of both. But when everyone was looking around at each other and barely skiing, I got annoyed and ended up leading far more than I should have. But I like to RACE, and I know my strength lies in sustained hard effort, rather than a cat and mouse game ending in a sprint finish. And yes, I know drafting and pack tactics are part of racing, but so is skiing hard and seeing who breaks first. 

Wish someone had told me my headband was on sideways! 

At OO, I wanted to at least try to race for the Preem, since it was at the top of a relatively long climb. I started to push the pace towards the bottom of the climb, but towards the line, the effort required to win didn’t seem worth it. I settled back into the group, which was now down to eight women. I felt like the kilometers were flying by, and it became pretty clear that this group of eight wasn’t going down without a fight. 

One of my favorite parts of the race was around 15 km to go, Erika Flowers came shooting past me to take up the charge at the front of the race. She put the hammer DOWN and I don’t think I was the only one who had an “oh sh*t”  moment when the pace got noticeably faster. Right behind her, and then eventually taking an equally punishing turn at the front was Caitlin Gregg. Despite the suffering, I remember thinking “wow this is so cool.” Both these women are new mothers and here they are proving that they are not to be underestimated one bit. That got me pretty fired up and it’s definitely part of the race that sticks me with. 

By about 7 km to go, I was starting to feel the fatigue set in, and on the last climb to the Highway 77 bridge, it was all I could do to keep a gap from opening up. I just put my head down and stared at the boots of whoever was in front of me, which I honestly cannot remember who it was. I found whatever energy I had left in my legs to keep connected to the lead group heading down towards the lake. 

We had a minor incident on the lake as the six remaining women tried to keep a good position in the pack heading into the narrower trail section before the bridge to Main Street. At this point I knew it was going to be a dogfight to the finish, and I was looking around thinking damn, only two Olympians, and three world cup skiers to outsprint! I knew the odds weren’t in my favor, but I was sure going to try. In the end, my legs completely gave out on the bridge and I finished 10 seconds behind Sydney, who won the race. 

My result was a mix of pride and disappointment. This was the closest I’ve ever gotten to a Birkie podium and to have it be so close and not quite be able to get there is bittersweet. I know by how I felt afterwards that I didn’t have much left to give, and that’s all we can ask of ourselves. And it sure was fun to be in the mix, and to get to race head to head with some pretty incredible skiers. I’m very happy with my race this year, and I joked that as I was lying at the finish feeling absolutely trashed, that you could have put the registration for 2026 in front of me and I would have signed my name. 

I look far more composed in the photo than I felt - all I could think of was trying not to fall over before the finish line.   

The Hangover: 

Everyone talks about Birkie fever, but people rarely talk about the Birkie hangover. There is kind of a ‘what now’ feeling that starts to settle in after the race is done and the roar of the crowd down Main Street has faded. But, if you’re lucky, every hangover has a good story behind it; and mine sure does!  Your ‘what now’ can always be adding 2026 Birkie Registration to your calendar.  

At this point I probably sound like a broken record, but I don’t think I can ever say it enough. What an immense privilege to race and how lucky am I to be able to spend a weekend ripping through the woods in Wisconsin with 10,000 of my closest friends! 

A huge thank you to Marshal Opell and Nick Brown for some amazing skis, to Andy for his post-race attentiveness, to Dennis Kruse for hosting Simon and I, and to every single volunteer, parent and coach who made this race such a success! 

Next up is three back-to-back weekends of racing in Europe! 

March 2nd Vasaloppet 

March 9th Engadin 

March 15th Birken