It all began with the 1911 Mt. Baker Marathon and evolved into the “Ski to Sea” race here in Bellingham, every Memorial Day weekend.This years Ski to Sea Race is on Sunday -May 27, 2012 It’s a Relay Race of Seven Legs – Seven Different Sports – Over 90 Miles from Mt Baker to Bellingham Bay, where it all ends in Fairhaven.
A Ski to Sea Race team will have 8 racers (2 in the canoe leg) for the seven race legs (Cross Country Ski; Downhill Ski/Snowboard; Running; Road Bike; Canoe; Mountain Bike; Kayak). The race is a showcase of Whatcom County’s recreational playground and the ‘Ski to Sea’ Experience.
QUOTES FROM RACERS IN 2009 AND 1911
“This race is so epic and engrained in our culture…. even the watchers wait for us who have been training in the dark wet months to tell them its time to be alive, like the groundhog on groundhog day. When we do ski to sea, the rest can wake up and get out there and shake off winter and move…..”
-Mary MacDonald, Racer/Captain, Saggy Bottom Girls, April 10, 2009
“Speed, molise, speed! the trail is past, Heisler’s house appears at last. And peeps like moss grown rocks half seen, half hidden in the copse of green. There may’st thou rest, thy labor done, Hugh Diehl and “Betsy” shall speed thee on.”
-Joe Galbraith wins the first Mount Baker Marathon on August 11, 1911. He wrote this to the editor of the Herald, Oct 4, 1911
image courtesy of flickr.com by mikebaird