American Birkebeiner

THE RACE CAP HAS BEEN REACHED. THE BIRKEBEINER, KORTELOPET and PRINCE HAAKON ARE CLOSED. The American Birkebeiner has set a registration cap of 9,000 skiers for the 2012 Birkie and Kortelopet races. A cap of 400 skiers has been established for the Prince Haakon event. In addition, to the cap there is also an overall deadline of January 31, 2012 for the events.

Skier registration will close upon reaching the cap or the deadline whichever comes first. The status of registration for the 2012 event will be reported in the Birkie's Carpe Skiem electronic newsletter as well as on the Birkie website.

Wave Placement for the Bikie and Kortelopet is based on a first received, first placed basis.

THE BIRKEBEINER AND KORTELOPET ARE NOW CLOSED. 

Please see percent back charts below:

If you skied the Birkebeiner or Kortelopet in 2009, 2010 or 2011, your wave placement will be based on your best percent back from those years. The Elite Wave skate race consists of the Top 200 men and Top 50 women from results of the previous year (2011).  The Top 35 men and Top 20 women from the previous year's classic race (2011) will start at the front of wave one classic.

If you register for classic and do not have a Birkie or Korte classic time from these years, your best Birkie or Korte skate percent back will be converted into a classic percent back and you will be seeded accordingly. (See the conversion factor information below). The same will hold true if you register for Birkie or Korte skate, but have only Birkie or Korte classic times from the past three years.

Or, if you do not have a Birkie or Korte 2009, 2010 or 2011 time in the technique in which you register for in 2012, you may use a qualifying race from 2011 or 2012 which is officially designated as the technique you will be skiing. There will be no conversion used when submitting qualifying race information. You may be seeded up to wave 4 (depending on wave availability).

Or, even if you have skied the Birkie or Korte in 2009, 2010 or 2011, you may ski the following events to move up as far as wave 4 (depending on wave availability):

• 2012 Pre-Birkie 42K to qualify for the Birkie. New this year - Skate and Classic events.
• 2012 Pre-Birkie 26K to qualify for the Korte. New this year - Skate and Classic events.
• 2012 Seeley Classic 42K for the Birkie Classic race
• 2012 Seeley Classic 22K for the Kortelopet Classic race

If you are a new skier to the Birkie or Korte, you may use a 2011 or 2012 qualifying race for wave placement up to wave 4 (depending on wave availability). The qualifying race must be in the technique in which you are registering. Consideration will be given, at the discretion of the race staff, for higher wave placement based on individual qualifying race results. Factors taken into consideration are race length, degree of difficulty of course, number of participants and placement.

The deadline for requesting the following changes is 6 P.M. ON MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2012.  The only changes that can be made at this time are listed below.

• Technique Change - $15
• Wave Change Requests (qualifying race info must be provided) - Fee $15
• Birkie to Korte - Fee $15 (no additional fee if technique change is made at same time)
• Korte to Birkie - Fee $30 (no additional fee if technique change is made at same time)
• Prince Haakon to Birkie or Korte is not available after the Birkie and Korte registrations close.  The Birkie and Korte registration closed on November 21, 2011.

Availability - If the race has not filled based on the established cap then changes will be allowed until Monday, February 13th. Wave assignment will be based on availability at that time.

All change requests must be made by phone by the skier only. Call 715-634-5025. Credit card number will be required and fees will be charged as listed above.

More information on Qualifying Races and Criteria is available here.