Vasa 2005 Newsletter #1

Greetings from the North American Vasa. Online Registration is now open for the 29th Annual North American Vasa. Visit our website @ www.vasa.org to register, we will have the entry form posted on the website soon for anyone who would prefer to mail in their entries.

The 29th Annual North American Vasa Festival of Races will be held on Saturday and Sunday Feb 12th and 13th 2005. This year we have something for everyone that has ever wanted to enjoy the excitement and fun of the Vasa cross country ski race as well as taking advantage of  the health benefits cross country skiing provides. On Saturday we offer the traditional 27K and 50K Classic and Freestyle races as well as the open 12K race. For those of you who like to ski a more leisurely pace without concern for the clock, we have added a 3K untimed tour to compliment our popular 12K tour. We have also added Jr. Vasa Races of 1K and 3K for our youth skiers up to age 15 that will be run on Saturday.   .

The 16K Gran Travers Classic Race will be held on Sunday. The Vasa is also proud to host the Michigan State High School Championships on both Saturday and Sunday. 

We are offering a $10 discount for anyone competing in their first Vasa and a $20 discount for anyone age 24 and under competing in the 27K or 50K races.

Race Registration and Packet Pickup on Friday Feb. 11th from noon until 10 PM and the awards ceremony on Saturday at 5:30 PM has moved to downtown Traverse City this year and will be held at the new spectacular Hagerty Center at Northwestern Michigan College, 715 E. Front St. which is located near hotels, restaurants, shopping, etc.

Vasa Pasta is Back! The hottest new restaurant venue in town is the Hagerty Center. The Culinary Arts Department will host a delicious pasta dinner on Friday from 5-8pm. as a benefit for the culinary program at NMC. Fresh pasta, choice of sauces, bread, salad and beverages will be included.

This year’s events will benefit Tart Trails and the Munson Women’s Cancer Fund, entrants are encouraged to obtain pledges or donate additional money to these worthy causes. Please plan on joining us in February for skiing on the beautiful Vasa trail enjoying some of the best grooming in the Midwest and all that the Grand Traverse Area has to offer.

We will be sending out additional newsletters in the weeks to come with more details on each of the major parts of the 2005 Vasa Festival of Races. If you have any friends who would like to receive copies of our newsletters, have them send an email message to [email protected] with “subscribe” in the subject line. If you no longer wish to receive the Vasa newsletter send a message with “remove” in the subject line.

Think Snow,
Jim Dombrowski
Vasa News