Engadin 2005

The FrontRunner & PawPaw's own "Birkebeiner" are headed out for their
annual WorldLoppet adventure, this time the Engadin ski marathon in
Switerland. Anyone else from RSN going ? Look for them if you are
there.

These guys are both hammerheads & we should expect to see them in the
top 100.

FrontRunner is hanging out for another week, heading to Norway for the
Birkebeinerrennet (looong word !) Cool adventure, eh ?

Looks like Birkebeiner was around 200th, and the FrontRunner was around
163rd. I think there was a small bit of time between them, and there
were 3 dozen skiers between them, looks like a large train. Would like
to have the story on that. Around 2 hours long. (is that right ? Wow )

delltodd wrote:
The FrontRunner & PawPaw's own "Birkebeiner" are headed out for their
annual WorldLoppet adventure, this time the Engadin ski marathon in
Switerland. Anyone else from RSN going ? Look for them if you are
there.

These guys are both hammerheads & we should expect to see them in the
top 100.

FrontRunner is hanging out for another week, heading to Norway for
the
Birkebeinerrennet (looong word !) Cool adventure, eh ?

hearing Milan talk about this race a number of years ago I got the idea it
was a big "downhill" race.
Fast times, big elevation drop, easy to keep big groups together....

GREAT RACE TODAY DELL - 3rd !!
JK


"delltodd" wrote in message
oups.com...
Looks like Birkebeiner was around 200th, and the FrontRunner was around
163rd. I think there was a small bit of time between them, and there
were 3 dozen skiers between them, looks like a large train. Would like
to have the story on that. Around 2 hours long. (is that right ? Wow )

delltodd wrote:
The FrontRunner & PawPaw's own "Birkebeiner" are headed out for their
annual WorldLoppet adventure, this time the Engadin ski marathon in
Switerland. Anyone else from RSN going ? Look for them if you are
there.

These guys are both hammerheads & we should expect to see them in the
top 100.

FrontRunner is hanging out for another week, heading to Norway for
the
Birkebeinerrennet (looong word !) Cool adventure, eh ?

On Sun, 13 Mar 2005, delltodd wrote:

Looks like Birkebeiner was around 200th, and the FrontRunner was around
163rd. I think there was a small bit of time between them, and there
were 3 dozen skiers between them, looks like a large train. Would like
to have the story on that. Around 2 hours long. (is that right ? Wow )

Yes, 2 hours is about right. It's a screaming fast course and yes the
train up front is huge. The videos are incredible. 200th is awesome
for Engadin. A short climb right at the finish does interesting things
to the finish order. :-)

This is one of those races I would do every year if I lived a bit closer. :-)

-Mitch

The elevation drop isn't huge but it is a net drop. The course
crosses some lakes and follows a river some of the way. There
are a few short steep hills along the way plus some longer climbs
near midway at St. Moritz that afford the opportunity to try to
break up a group. But the course is flat enough overall that
there's a distinct advantage to staying in a group.

The scenery on this course is awesome. It runs down the valley
right between 2 large mountainous ridges that will take your
breath away. It's amazing how flat the course is right at the
base of all these enormous mountains.

-Mitch


On Sun, 13 Mar 2005, 32 degrees wrote:

hearing Milan talk about this race a number of years ago I got the idea it
was a big "downhill" race.
Fast times, big elevation drop, easy to keep big groups together....

GREAT RACE TODAY DELL - 3rd !!
JK


"delltodd" wrote in message
oups.com...
Looks like Birkebeiner was around 200th, and the FrontRunner was around
163rd. I think there was a small bit of time between them, and there
were 3 dozen skiers between them, looks like a large train. Would like
to have the story on that. Around 2 hours long. (is that right ? Wow )

delltodd wrote:
The FrontRunner & PawPaw's own "Birkebeiner" are headed out for their
annual WorldLoppet adventure, this time the Engadin ski marathon in
Switerland. Anyone else from RSN going ? Look for them if you are
there.

These guys are both hammerheads & we should expect to see them in the
top 100.

FrontRunner is hanging out for another week, heading to Norway for
the
Birkebeinerrennet (looong word !) Cool adventure, eh ?

delltodd wrote:
The FrontRunner & PawPaw's own "Birkebeiner" are headed out for their
annual WorldLoppet adventure, this time the Engadin ski marathon in
Switerland. Anyone else from RSN going ? Look for them if you are
there.

These guys are both hammerheads & we should expect to see them in the
top 100.



Don't forget the Team Leader, "Nordic Norm", aka John O'Connell. He's
originally from Kalamazoo but lives in Saint Paul with the rest of us
cool guys. The Frontrunner and Birkebeiner have been here enough we can
probably call them Saint Paul residents too...

Jay Tegeder
"Keep training, lycra never lies!" JT

wrote:
delltodd wrote:
The FrontRunner & PawPaw's own "Birkebeiner" are headed out for
their
annual WorldLoppet adventure, this time the Engadin ski marathon in
Switerland. Anyone else from RSN going ? Look for them if you are
there.

These guys are both hammerheads & we should expect to see them in
the
top 100.


I wish I hadn't written that we should expect a top 100 finish. That
could undermine a great race @ 200th. I didn't realize the particulars
of this event, only that both gents are competitive in any ski race,
anytime. We can always expect them to fight their best on any given day
would be a better way to say it.

Don't forget the Team Leader, "Nordic Norm", aka John O'Connell. He's
originally from Kalamazoo but lives in Saint Paul with the rest of us
cool guys. The Frontrunner and Birkebeiner have been here enough we
can
probably call them Saint Paul residents too...

Jay Tegeder
"Keep training, lycra never lies!" JT

Did Nordic Norm go to Engadin too ? I didn't realize that (mind like a
steel strainer, they probably told me & I just forgot). Is he doing the
Norway Birkie with the FrontRunner too ? Cool Jay.

Hey thanks JK ! I fetched a 6th overall, 3rd in age. What a great
wrapup to the season (relays next wknd but I cant make it). Man that
was fun. My last 3 races went really well. I definitely found a peak
this year, and the Birkie kicked it off. The season could not have
finished better for me.

Nice to see you at 2 of your 3 races. Nice comeback. For lugging around
an additional 30#, you sure look fit & competitive, and will surely
come up the rankings with only more racing under your belt next season.


DT

delltodd wrote:
wrote:
delltodd wrote:
The FrontRunner & PawPaw's own "Birkebeiner" are headed out for
their
annual WorldLoppet adventure, this time the Engadin ski marathon
in
Switerland. Anyone else from RSN going ? Look for them if you are
there.

These guys are both hammerheads & we should expect to see them in
the
top 100.


I wish I hadn't written that we should expect a top 100 finish. That
could undermine a great race @ 200th. I didn't realize the
particulars
of this event, only that both gents are competitive in any ski race,
anytime. We can always expect them to fight their best on any given
day
would be a better way to say it.

Don't forget the Team Leader, "Nordic Norm", aka John O'Connell.
He's
originally from Kalamazoo but lives in Saint Paul with the rest of
us
cool guys. The Frontrunner and Birkebeiner have been here enough we
can
probably call them Saint Paul residents too...

Jay Tegeder
"Keep training, lycra never lies!" JT

Did Nordic Norm go to Engadin too ? I didn't realize that (mind like
a
steel strainer, they probably told me & I just forgot). Is he doing
the
Norway Birkie with the FrontRunner too ? Cool Jay.


No, he's not doing the Norwegian Birkie. Nordic Norm has his
Worldloppet Masters Gold Medal for completing ten long races. He's now
working on the Silver Medal for completing 10 short races. The Engadin
counts for both but you have to do it two times. In other words, you
can't get credit for the long and short event by doing the race once.
As for the Frontrunner, he's a Worldloppet Masters Gold Medal winner
too. He's working on his second Gold Medal. The Engadin was
Birkebeiner's first Worldloppet race. When I did the race in 2000, I
did it with Mike Brumbaugh, Lori Bezl and Jerry Engen. In honor of
Jerry, we called it the "Engengadin"...

The race itself is huge with 12,000 participants some years. Also, a
bunch of World Cuppers usually show too. As a result, a Top 200 there
is incredibally impressive.

Jay Tegeder
"On the podium if the right people don't show up!" JT

A lot of pole breaking. They should get those start waves down to less
than 1000 people.

I need a new basket for my CT3 pole. One dude broke of half the basket
on my left pole after 5km. "Sorry" will not make it grow back dude!
It didn't affect the race, my pole worked ok. So I guess I was lucky.
And that woman that pushed my ski while plowing in the big downhill...
my ass hurt for a long time after that fall!

But now I need some tall basket that the other skis can't stamp off.
Some of those triangular ones. Toko og Briko? Anyone?

-Lars aus Norwegen


(Mitch Collinsworth) wrote in message ornell.edu...
The elevation drop isn't huge but it is a net drop. The course
crosses some lakes and follows a river some of the way. There
are a few short steep hills along the way plus some longer climbs
near midway at St. Moritz that afford the opportunity to try to
break up a group. But the course is flat enough overall that
there's a distinct advantage to staying in a group.

The scenery on this course is awesome. It runs down the valley
right between 2 large mountainous ridges that will take your
breath away. It's amazing how flat the course is right at the
base of all these enormous mountains.

-Mitch