A classic reaissance

Yet classic skiing never dropped off in Europe the way it did here in North America, according to Ben Lund, a Toko wax representative. He lived in Sweden in the early '90s and skied the famed all-classic 90K Vasaloppet there.

"Children there start off striding and eventually move on to skating," Lund said. "The pendulum is swinging back here."

Things weren't as bleak in the recreational world either. Long-time Birkie skier and salesman for Wheel and Sprocket, Jerry Kegel said classic skiing has remained strong for them, representing up to 90 percent of ski sales. Classic is considered easier to learn and better for deep ungroomed snow, Kegel said, which may explain the sales figures.

But competitively, things were different. Starting as a race everyone classic skied, the American Birkebeiner attracted only 492 striders to the long race in 2002 - less than 14 percent of the total participation. By 2009, that number was up 250 percent to 1,245 classic skiers.

Classic skiers accounted for 27 percent of the 2009 field at the Birkie, and the majority of first-time registrants were striders. As I write this a few weeks before the 2010 Birkie/Korte, the combined registration was almost one-third classic. In round figures the race has gone from all classic to less than one in seven, and now is almost back to nearly one in three.

The 2009 Gus Kaeding - Bjorn Daehlie classic matchup ending in a photo finish was dramatic and invites comparison of the styles. Say it however you like: Skating is more efficient, classic is physically harder or skaters are faster. The styles are just different. So how do they stack up?

Kaeding and Daehlie finished 584th and 585th among male skiers. But adjusting for the additional 4K they skied (skaters went 50K, striders followed a 54K course), they skied the equivalent of the 290th male skater and about 35 minutes behind the freestyle winner, that is to say 27 percent slower. That's actually pretty good.

For the American Birkebeiner, seven years of separated data is available and we could make four comparisons per race for the winning and mean times for men and women.

The overall average percent pace of classic skiers is 37 percent slower than the skaters. Only in 2008 were the striders less than 20 percent slower. That's when Russian Yuri Kozlov finished only 13 percent slower and the women's winner, Kelly Skillicorn, finished 18 percent slower than the freestyle winners. Interestingly these two worthies are also the first officially recognized classic champions in Birkie history.

The biggest spread was in 2003 when the mean - dead center - men's classic skier was 59 percent in back of the freestyle mean, finishing two hours nine minutes slower and averaging two minutes thirty-two seconds longer per kilometer. This goes a long way toward explaining why classic skiers want to be compared to other classic skiers, and why classic skiers don't generally turn out for races short or long that lump everyone in with freestyle.

So it was with great insight that the Birkebeiner race organizers set about changing the perception that classic was a thing of the past.

Many skiers have lauded the new Birkie Classic Trail. The new trail allows classic grooming so the old trail can have all-skate grooming. We can't say it better or say we said it first, so thank you Aretha Franklin: "R-E-S-P-E-C-T." Recognizing classic as a different sport has resulted in separate recorded results, a trail named for the style, separate classic start waves, and finally, in 2008, an officially recognized classic winners.

Classic is in vogue again.