Birchleggings Club Dakota Trail 2nd Annual Bicycle Ride Wrap-Up

The Birchleggings Club Dakota Trail 2nd Annual Bicycle Ride was held on Thursday, August 14, 2025, on the beautiful Dakota Rail Regional Trail that goes from Wayzata to Lester Prairie, Minnesota. We had 12 riders that did distances of 57, 38, 29, or 13 miles with starting places in Wayzata, Mound, Saint Bonifacius, and Mayer along the trail.

We were lucky as rain had been predicted on and off all day, but while cloudy and cool, there were only a few sprinkles at the end of the rides.

Pictured from right to left are: Paul, Dan, Dave, Greg, Tim, Dave, Kat, Bob, Kevin, Emily, Matt, and Edward.

Lunch was at the famous Central Café in Lester Prairie, a local establishment that has been run by Mary Kate for 18 years. It is an experience just going in and seeing all the things she has on the walls. The food is always home cooked, and was enjoyed by all.

The group was a good mixture of American Birkebiner Skiers (136 total Birkies, if I counted correctly), Twin Cities Bicycle Club (TCBC) Members, and two riders that just saw the ride when doing a search of the Internet. It was fun meeting old and new friends and spending lunch talking about either Nordic Skiing or Bicycling! Two of our favorite sports!

I enjoyed organizing and leading the ride for the Birchleggings Club for the second year in a row, and posting it as an Outreach Ride for TCBC. Thanks to Paul for the photographs!

Submitted by: Edward Eroe, Birchleggings Club Board Member and TCBC Member.

Notice of Annual Meeting and Election of Board of Directors

The Birchleggings Club of the American Birkebeiner (BLC) will be holding this year's annual meeting on Friday, September 26, 2025, at the SC Johnson Family Outdoor Center at the Double OO Trailhead of the Birke trail near Seeley, WI from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. Following a picnic, the annual meeting will conduct club business that will include a review of the past year's club activities and accomplishments, introduce and solicit ideas for the upcoming year, conduct voting for important club decisions and announce the results of the election of Birchleggings Club Board of Director members.  This event is free. For more information and to signup, click on the link below:

Info and RSVP Here

We ask that you please register so we can plan for the number of picnic and meeting attendees. Board of Directors Election – Nominations are open! There are four seats to be filled for our board of directors. We encourage you to consider running for one of them. The BLC board meets slightly less than once per month to manage club activities, set the course for the club’s future, and formulate input that we send to the American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation. Being a board member gives you a special opportunity with a direct line to influence the Birkie’s future. The BLC board usually meets via Zoom virtual teleconferencing. The term of office will be three years and multiple terms may be held. If you would like to nominate someone, or yourself, please send an email message to Jim Tenorio, BLC Secretary, at tenorioj@uwstout.edu. The nomination should include the name of the nominee and the person who is nominating her/him. State “self nomination” if you are entering yourself in the pool of candidates. Include in your nomination message: 1) a .jpeg-file photo of yourself, 2) your skiing/Birkie background, involvement in the Birkie or the BLC, 3) the skills and talents you would bring to the board, 4) why you would like to be considered for joining the board. Optional-You may also submit a one-to-two-minute video with your nomination. Our club bylaws state that nominees must have the endorsement of two other BLC members. That support may be a verbal message from the member to Jim Tenorio by phone at 715-556-3300, or an email message to him at his email address above. Nominations must be received by Jim Tenorio before Friday, August 22, 2025, at 12:00 noon. Elections will take place during the month of September via online ballot and conclude at the annual meeting. Looking forward to seeing you at the meeting! Stick around for the Birkie Trail Run on Saturday, September 27 Participate: Click on the link below for more information about the event: Birkie Trail Run Information and Sign up Volunteer for the Birkie Trail Run Volunteer: Click on the link below to help with the event:: Volunteer for the Birkie Trail Run

Birchleggings Club Disc Golf and Dinner Wrap Up

On Thursday, June 26, 2025, the Second Annual Birchleggings Club Disc Golf and Dinner was held at the Rosland Disc Golf Course in Edina, Minnesota. Paul Thompson, Birchleggings Club President, organized the event and provided this report.

It was a gray day with the threat of rain, but several participants showed up! Paul put on the event to introduce Disc Golf, that was started in 1974 as a World Championship sport, for Birkie skiers. There were six participants that included Gus Otto, MFA #001 and one of the founders of the MN Frisbee Association, which had their 50^th Anniversary on July 19, 2025.

The Rosland Disc Golf course at the Edina pool and surrounding park was a perfect place for an introduction to the game, as there are few hazards or out of bounds to contend with. All the new throwers showed great improvement through the 9 holes and 45–50 minutes of play.

The second part of the evening was a reserved dinner at the near-by Good Earth Restaurant (side note this is where Paul was working in 1979 when he skied his first Birkie and started his decades long campaign for supporting various causes, that year of ’79 The Hunger Project).

The six participants were joined by special guest and Disc Golf Hall of Fame member Tita Ugalde from Los Angeles CA, who was in town for the World Masters (40+) Disc Golf Championships with her playing partner, and ‘Lightnin Lyle’ Jensen another MFA founder and historian of all things flying disc related. The meal was enjoyed, and the conversation shifted from Frisbee to skiing and back to the games we loved as youth.

Thanks to all for an enjoyable gathering and sharing and combining three of Paul’s passions, skiing, Frisbee and bringing people together in community.

Second Annual Birchleggings Club Golf Classic Wrap-Up

The Second Annual Birchleggings Club Golf Classic was held at Creeks Bend Golf Course in New Prague, MN on July 17, 2025. In addition to supporting the Birkie experience, participants enjoyed a great day of golf on a bluebird morning with temperatures in the high 70s. There were 77 golfers on the course, plus additional people who did not golf but donated directly to the event.  The goal for next year is 100 + golfers! Mark your calendars for next year’s golf scramble, scheduled for Thursday, July 23, 2026

Folks from the American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation said, "It was great to spend the day with a group of amazing, passionate people supporting the lifestyle we all love! Getting people out, enjoying new friendships while raising money for the Birchleggings Club was awesome - the start of a new summer tradition!"

 

At the time of this article, the final numbers are still coming, but the money raised will be similar to last year. Money raised by the golf event will be used to keep improving the Birkie trail system, maintain grooming equipment, support youth skiing, support the Birkie Green sustainability initiative, and contribute to the development of Telemark Village.

Many event participants went home with raffle and silent auction prizes donated by over 50 vendors. New this year was moving the silent auction to an online bidding site called Givebutter, which went very well.  Thank you to Gina Fadden, Kelli Hall and Paula Britz for assisting golfers with setting up bidding accounts for the website on their phones.

Team and individual prizes were awarded to the following golf participants:

The Golf Tournament Championship Team was awarded to the foursome team of Mark Strege, Dave Hovel, Steve Davis and Ben Robe.

2^nd place – Jason Stockwell, Matt Folkerds, George Allendorf and Curtis Johnson.

Tie-3rd place – Jody O’Brien, Scott O’Brien, Luke O’Brien, Tracy Bruan.

Tie-3rdplace- Kyle Nordine, Chris Knoll, Mike Flicek and Scott Blum.

The 150-yard target course winner was Willie Borm.

Kyle Nordine was closest to the pin contest winner. 

The longest golf putt was awarded to Dave Britz.

Accuracy Drive goes to Willie Borm.

Early bird registration drawing goes to Ralph Bovard.

The putting contest was won by Mark Busse.

 

The Birchleggings Club board of directors sends its thanks to all the volunteers, the American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation staff, especially Louise Droessler, and vendor sponsors for making the 2025 Birchleggings Club Golf Classic a huge success.

 

Special thanks to Jim Haubrich, Paula Britz, Kelli Hall, Gina Fadden, Linda & Dick Perbix, LuAnn Tangen, Linda Davis, Linda Hovet, Sue Strege and JoAnn Rutherford for helping with all the activities the day of the golf tournament.

 

Thank you, Louise Droessler, for assisting us with registration on the RunSignup website again this year. Thank you to Gina Fadden, Paul Thompson and others who contributed photographs of the tournament for our website. A big thanks to James Tenorio for all his technical support in getting the golf information out to last year's golfers and the Birchleggings Club membership. A huge thanks to Bob Britz for the overall coordination and leadership of the event and for the vision to create such a successful fundraiser for the Birchleggings Club. It was very much appreciated! 

 

More photographs from the event can be seen on the Birchleggings Club Facebook Page. You do not have to be a member of Facebook to view the photos!

 

 

The Birchleggings Club Golf Outing is Thursday, July 17, 2025, but the auction bidding is open NOW!

 

Birchleggings Club Golf Classic Sign Up Donate

The Birchleggings Club Golf Outing is Thursday,  but the auction bidding is open NOW! There is still time to participate. Only four days before we tee off at the second annual BLC Golf Tournament at Creeks Bend Golf Club in New Prague, MN. You can still register and take part if you have not already signed up to play. Here is the link: Sign up for golf here

The auction is live right now! Bidding opens on Sunday, July 13, 2025 at 9:00 am CDT. Bidding closes on Thursday, July 17, 2025 at 3:30 pm CDT. The auction is now taking place online using a bidding website called Givebutter. Anyone (you, family, friends) can bid on the nearly 50 items if they sign up for a Givebutter auction account. We highly recommend that you register for your personal auction account and have it bookmarked on your phone well before you arrive at the golf course on Thursday. You can browse the auction items and bid early and often! If you still need to register for an auction account, the instructions are repeated for you in the last section of this message: How to Register for a Givebutter Auction Account. Have you already registered for the auction? Here are Some tips to make signing in to your auction account easier. Once you are registered for the auction, and each time you login to bid, the auction site sends you a code in your email that you must use to verify that the login is you. This is called Two-Factor Authentication (2FA). It is a good way to keep your account safe. Although it is more secure, some folks find it a bother to have to go to their email, get the code, and enter it on their phone every time. Here is the way to disable the extra step of requiring the 2FA code if you so desire. How to disable the need for 2FA. Note: This disabling process may work better if you use your computer or a tablet. Some folks told us they had difficulty doing it on their phone.       1)    Complete your registration for a Givebutter auction account. Instructions were in our previous email that was sent on Thursday morning, 7/10/25. They are also reprinted for you in the last section of this message. Sign in to your Givebutter personal profile page using this link/button: https://givebutter.com/profile       2)    Enter your email address and Givebutter password.       3)    Go to your email and find the six-digit 2FA code.       4)    Go back to the Givebutter website and enter the six-digit code.       5)    Click on the green 2FA Enabled button.        6)    Get another six-digit code from your email. Again?? Yup. It is required whenever you make changes to your profile.       7)    Enter the code.       8)    When you are given a choice of using your phone or email address, check the phone number. You can then choose to receive six-digit codes via text message, which is often easier than going into your email to retrieve the code.       9)     Click on the green 2FA Enabled button.       10)    Get another six-digit code from your email (or phone if you checked above).      11)  Enter the code.      12)  Select the red Disable 2FA button. Note: If you login from a new location or device or across multiple locations/IP addresses, 2FA will still be required.      13)  Log out of your profile page by clicking on the round profile button containing your initials in the upper right of the screen and select Sign out.   How to login for bidding.       1)    Go to the Birchleggings Club Givebutter auction page by any of these three methods: a.    Scan the QR Code in the instructions at the end of this message. Or... b.    Enter this link into your web browser:    https://givebutter.com/c/5plUAY   Or... c.    Use the Auction Registration Link below. Birchleggings Club Auction Link       2)    Select Auction (It is to the right of the small Birchleggings Club Logo at the top of page).       3)    Select Register to Bid.       4)    Select Sign In.       5)    Enter your email and Givebutter account password.       6)    If you have not disabled 2FA, retrieve the six-digit code and enter the code.       7)    Happy bidding!

How to Register for a Givebutter Auction Account 1)    Scan the QR Code below (use the camera function on your phone/tablet) or use the Auction Registration Linkbelow the QR Code. Auction Registration Link 2)    Select Auction – (It is to the right of the small Birchleggings Club Logo at the top of page). 3)    Select Register to Bid (blue button). 4)    Select Sign up (if you are new to Givebutter) and follow the prompts: a.    First Name & Last Name b.    Email & Phone Number c.     Create a Password for your Givebutter account d.    Select Sign up 5)    Verify your email address by entering the verification code that was sent to your email address. 6)    Set Up Bidder Profile:  7)    Select Credit/Debit Card or Pay Pal. 8)    Enter your payment information. 9)    Select Cover processing fee. 10)     May Select – Appear Anonymous. 11)     Select Allow Birchleggings Club to contact me. 12)     Select Complete Registration. Check your email for the link to use the bidding site. You can preview the auction items now and begin bidding on Sunday, July 13, 2025. Bookmark the link in your browser for quick access when the bidding opens. Golf Team Captains – Email this information to your team members and have them register as bidding starts on Sunday, July 13, 2025. See you on Thursday, July 17, 2025 – Good luck on your auction bids!

Birchleggings Club Golf Classic