Tour de Finn early January update

• Posted on 7 January 2025
• By Allie
• Posted in #tourdefinn

Okay folks, it’s been a big week! We had the first inaugural showing of the Hiito Relays at Battle Creek Regional Park on Jan 1, which in addition to the notable Battle Creek 50K launching that same week marks an important comeback of citizen racing at Battle Creek, which has a rich history of ski racing, and now of course has the additional benefit of snowmaking. A great turnout of 50 teams raced around a 2.5km loop. Partners alternated 2 laps each, totaling 10 km per team. 

Race Director Rebecca Kolstad commented, “What a great way to kick off the new year! We had 50 teams registered and skiing. Our timing and start line crew did amazing work getting everyone out on course smoothly, and through the tag zone unscathed. This was the first citizen race at Battle Creek in over 10 years, and it will definitely not be the last! We hope everyone had as much fun as we did, and we can’t wait to see you at the start line next year!”

Mere days later, the Tour* took a trip up to Mora, Minnesota for their First Chance Ski Race. Snow farmers took a 1.5k loop earlier in the week to over a 3 km loop in just a couple of days with a drop in temperatures. It sounds like they actually have quite a bit more manufactured trail, but needs a little connection work, so if our natural snow drought continues, you might consider a trip to Mora. While temps were in the single digits race morning, the course was booming fast, and Mitchell Campbell took the overall time for a 10k in 23:46. Thanks to the Vasaloppet USA board for putting on a great event and Paul Olson for putting together a snow trail for us to zip around. Always a joy to visit the Mora Nordic Center, complete with a community wax room, gathering space, a sauna in the changing room and more!

A note on the Dirtbag Series - while we are pausing this week with the lack of natural snow - I smell some snow in the future, and race organizers are discussing options with Battle Creek, so please stay tuned for January 15 plans. 

The teams are in! Presenting our 2024-2025 TDF teams lineup - thank you to all who are participating! And if you’re feeling a little fomo, it’s not too late! Lots of races left on the calendar - you could still register but just receive points for now on.

With that, points from the first three races will be calculated for the teams, and posted to tourdefinn.com asap.

Looking ahead, we have the Low-pet Law-pet Ski Challenge 10K Freestyle race at Wirth Park put on by the Loppet Foundation, and the following weekend, two natural snow courses - the River View Loppet in Brule, WI (18K classic) and the Marine O’Brien Ski Race (12K classic). Reports on status of those races soon. Everyone: hope for more snow!

See you out there!

*not to be confused with the Tour de Ski, which did coincide this week, I like to compare them in significance, although I think maybe the Tour de Finn needs something like the Alpe Cermis)