Birkie results from 1999 to 2026
What is this website about?
This website provides an overview of Birkie results from 1999 through 2026 of the marathon length (~50-55k) American Birkebeiner cross country ski race, which is commonly referred to as the “Birkie.” A large database containing 113,000+ individual results from 28,000+ competitors was assembled to address a number of interesting questions. The primary focus is on how age affects performance. Cross country skiing may be unique among endurance sports in that excellent performance can be extended well into the sixth decade and beyond. But this varies depending on skill level, gender, and technique.
Other questions involve how classic and freestyle techniques compare historically, whether relative performance of male and female skiers has changed over the years, …, and these issues are examined as well.
New for 2026: An evaluation of race conditions and a quantitative analysis of condition effects on skier performance is now provided under the Conditions tab. The longitudinal approach has been substanitially improved and expanded. The search capabilities have also been enhanced so that results from all participants in “full-length” point-to-point Birkies are easily retrieved.
This XCSkiStats database was created by a lengthy and cumbersome process of initially downloading publicly-available PDF results files provided by the Birkie immediately after each race starting in 1999. The PDF files up to 2019 were then converted to Microsoft Excel files using the software Enolsoft PDF Converter. Those after 2019 were converted to Excel format from PDF files, or data were directly imported into the XCSkiStats relational database with the help of AI. The current database contains 113,290 individual results from 28,272 competitors.
The process of converting PDF to Excel files, while conceptually simple, is actually quite tedious because of the number of transcriptional errors that can occur. Extensive error-checking procedures were used to eliminate as many of these mistakes as possible.
The Birkie was cancelled in 2000 and shortened to an untimed event in 2007 (for all but the elite wave). Only point-to-point races on the (nearly) complete Birkie trail were included in the overall summary. In 2021 and 2024, the race used shortened courses – one or more loops out and back to the start line – so results from these years were excluded. Open events and the shorter Kortelopet races are not included. In all, the results from 23 full-length Birkie races (classic and skate) were used.
From 2002 on it was easy to distinguish between skiers using freestyle and classical techniques in the Birkie since the techniques were considered as separate entry classes. In 1999 and 2001, all skiers were timed and ranked together, but, fortunately, technique was noted in the printed results provided in the Birch Scroll.
Birkie distances have varied over the years because the courses for both the classic and freestyle events have changed somewhat. Since some of the most interesting questions involve changes in performance over years, finish times are not useable directly. Instead, longitudinal and cross-sectional analyses of performance on this website are based on race pace.
In some instances race pace was used to standardize results to a finish time at a common distance – 55k for a classical race and 50k for a freestyle race, which are close to the stated distances for the current courses (more). It will be noted when these standardized finish times are used.
Year- and technique-specific Condition Effects were used to normalize pace for the longitudinal studies. Skiers completing at least five Birkies using the same technique were identified. For each skier, the logarithm of pace was modeled as a function of age. Each performance could, therefore, be compared with the pace expected from that skier’s own longitudinal performance history. Annual deviations were then combined separately for freestyle and classic skiers. The resulting Conditions Effect estimates how much faster or slower repeat competitors skied in a particular year relative to their expected pace. Each skier’s result was then adjusted by the conditions affect representing the year and technique used. (More on Race Conditions)
Races classified as substantially altered or non-comparable were excluded from the primary longitudinal analysis.
Yes, and this includes all results from 1999 through 2026 for the “full-length” point-to-point competitive Birkebeiner races – Open events are not included. Click “Search” on the menu bar.