The month of September has brought unusually warm temperatures and very dry conditions to the Upper Midwest. Saturday, September 28th was no different. Although the day dawned cool, the sun drenched and cloudless skies quickly yielded hot conditions with no breeze. Even the notorious small biting black flies, a Northwoods nemesis, came to the party. The American Birkebeiner ski trails played host to the 2024 USATF Marathon Trail Championships near Cable, Wisconsin. The course is comprised of 80% ski trails creating seemingly endless runs of steep ups and downs due to the glacial topography. Although a very different terrain from alpine regions, it is equally challenging with hundreds of small to medium climbs adding up to a large amount of total climb and descents. The other 20% of the course is comprised of singletrack trails designed for mountain biking utilizing switchbacks rather than fall lines for ascent and descent. Twenty-one runners from 11 states toed the line for the national championship, ranging in age from 17–70. The course ran two laps of a 13.1-mile loop. In the women’s race, it looked like it might be head to head, at least for the first loop. At 8.4 miles Gracia Sich, 36, of St. Paul, Minnesota was leading Anna Dalton, 35, of Anchorage, Alaska by 26 seconds. But at 13.1 miles, Dalton had pulled ahead of Sich and led now by a mere 8 seconds at the halfway point. Back out on the trails for the second loop, Dalton was able to hold and extend her lead, running alone for most of the last 13.1 miles. Dalton crossed the finish line in 3:24:02 as the 2024 USATF Marathon Trail Champion, with Sich in 3:38:23 taking the silver medal. Holding onto third place was Katia Wanish, 23, of Rinelander, Wisconsin. Wanish started out in 12th place overall and ended in 12th place overall. Similarly, she never wavered from her third-place gender position throughout the race. Remarkable consistency. Dalton, who works for the nonprofit Alaskan Conservation Foundation, has had experience on the Birkie Trails in the past having won the 2022 USATF Marathon Trail Championships. Of the course, “I liked the two loop concept as it gave me a good idea of what to expect the second time around. My goal was to run as comfortably as possible, but I tired on the second lap, especially when the heat became a detractor. The Birkie course is really fun though, I especially liked the single track.” On the men’s side, it was the Brian Whitfield and Ben Blankenship show, at least for the first loop. Whitfield, 27, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Blankenship, 35, of Eugene, Oregon, ran together for the first lap finishing the first half in exactly the same time, 1:28:49. Out on the course, they were within one second of each other at the aid station timing mats. On the second loop, Whitfield began to gradually pull away. Had it not been for Blankenship’s tough last five miles, it might have been an exciting showdown right to the finish line. As it was, Whitfield took the win and the national championship in 2:59:04 with Blankenship coming in at 3:03:46. Equally exciting was the race for third place between Jack Spaulding, 25, of Clinton, Massachusetts, and Kyle Boykin, 29, of Atlanta, Georgia. Spaulding and Boykin ran back and forth for fifth and sixth place before Boykin put on a surge just before the first half, taking over third position. Spaulding had also moved up to the fourth position. Shortly into the second loop, Spaulding ran a fast split to Timber Trail, adding three minutes at that point to his lead over Boykin, and then continued to increase his lead over a fatiguing Boykin, solidifying third place in 3:14:35. Whitfield, a middle school science teacher, and a familiar face at the Moab races, won the 2022 USATF Marathon Trail Championships in Moab, Utah. “Ben and I ran the first loop mostly chatting back and forth and keeping it fun. Tactically, it gave me some idea of what to expect on the second loop. I got away on the single-track portion and by mile 14-15, I didn’t see Ben anymore.” Like so many others, Whitfield described the Birkie course as “beautiful — like running through a tree tunnel of autumn colors”. Of special note are our youngest and oldest finishers, Grayson Neuman, 17, of New Haven, Connecticut, who finished as the fourth overall woman in 4:14:35 and Dudley Blauwet, age 70, of Louisville, Colorado, placing as the 11th overall male. A special thanks to the American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation and to Grace Hoins, race director, for their expertise in orchestrating another wonderful event where a festival atmosphere was omnipresent. The American Birkebeiner and Mount Telemark Village trail systems present an ideal location for this inspiring competition. These Birkie folks and volunteers really know how to put on a class event catering to every need of the athlete at all levels. Contributed by Lin Gentling Photo Credit: Kelly Randolph