Posted by bessie on Tuesday, February 26, 2008.

Back from Birkie

We’ve just returned from the 2008 American Birkebeiner—and what a great event it was. Over 7,000 racers descended on the tiny Wisconsin towns of Cable and Hayward, to compete in the 50km Birkie.

Last year, the event was cut short due to lack of snow. No problems this year, however, with a two-foot base and fast, cold snow over the whole course. The winning time, posted by Ivan Babikov of Canada, was 2 hours and seven minutes… that’s 24 km/hr over rolling hills and flat fields!

Kate Whitcomb, a Brighter Planet ambassador, battled a head cold to finish fifth in the women’s Birkie. Through our event offsetting program and direct offset sales, over 48 tons of carbon dioxide were offset— supporting farmer-owned distributed wind projects in Minnesota and South Dakota.

A small recycling program was started, diverting countless bags of cardboard from the landfill. These represent Brighter Planet’s first steps in our Keep Winter White campaign. We hope to return next year, to make the event even greener.

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Thanks to Ned Zuelsdorff, Executive Director of the American Birkebeiner and his entire team for pulling together such a fantastic event.

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