Broken wheels, broken poles: Grand Marais Rollerski Marathon

Wed, Oct  5, 2011 - By Randy Bladel

The first Grand Marais roller ski marathon took place Saturday under good conditions. The temperature at the start in the pre-dawn light was about 40, with a breeze from the north that was only evident on some of the course. It warmed to the mid 50s under sunny skies. The 50 K out-and-back road surface was fairly clean and smooth, except for the oldest pavement nearest the start, and that was still better than my home roads. Even though the road was not closed, traffic was sparse. We estimate that we saw only 15 vehicles during the race.

Perennial favorites Milan Baic, Jeff Koch, and race initiator Denny Paul, along with Yvonne Dufour, led from the start. I held on for a few K, but found my skis too slow on the downhills and them too strong on the climbs, and had to back off before I blew up.

As expected in a roller ski race, the race order depended largely on the equipment used. The most common skis seen were Marwes, including the top three finishers,, but they seemed divided into two wheel speeds. Dell Todd and John Gravlin, for example, who would normally be found near the front of a race on snow, suffered greatly from the slow wheels they train on. (Maybe that's why they're found near the front in the winter). At least one skier seemed to suffer from misalignment. A few skiers came with very fast wheels, allowing them to breeze along with little perceived effort. Composite fabrication wizard Yvonne Dufour showed up with custom carbon fiber skis with ultra fast wheels, allowing him to leave the lead group with ease. He had a three to four minute lead at the turn-around point, and had a big smile on his face when I saw him. Unfortunately for him, one of his wheels failed at about 28 K, forcing him to withdraw.

Milan broke a pole near the Hurricane River, and in a sporting move reminiscent of Tim Burke in this year's Climb to the Castle race in New York, Jeff and Denny waited while he got a replacement. They traded the lead for much of the rest of the way, with Denny falling off the pace towards the end. Unfortunately, the spectators at the finish were robbed of a great sprint spectacle when Jeff broke a pole tip with a few hundred meters to go.

A real race? Nah, too equipment dependent. A great course? For sure. A good workout? I'm think I'm still recovering. A great time? Absolutely. Plan on it for next year. Thanks to Denny Paul for the idea and the promotion of the race to Grand Marais, and thanks to that beautiful town for sponsoring the event.