The children’s ski race, held each year during Winter Carnival weekend, is put on by the Keweenaw Nordic Ski Club and the Sons of Norway. Portage Health Auxiliary also sponsored this year’s event.

From the Sons of Norway’s perspective, holding a cross country pays homage to Norway’s skiing heritage. The name Barnelopet means “kids’ race” in Norwegian.

“We like to say it began in Norway,” said event organizer Wayne Stordahl. “There’s no way to prove it, but it has a long history in the Norwegian tradition.”

The race was inspired by the Barniebirkie, a children’s ski race held each year in conjunction with the Birkiebeiner ski race in Wisconsin.

Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Skiers take off at the start of their race during Sunday’s Barnelopet in Hancock.

Children from 3 through 17 can participate in the Barnelopet, which is split into four races: 1k, 2k, 4k and 6k. Some skiers have come back year after year, said John Diebel, treasurer of the Keweenaw Nordic Ski Club.

“I’m sure after 15 years, some of them have graduated or are regular members of the club by now,” he said.

All skiers who registered and finished got medals. Although the races are timed, the emphasis isn’t on winning, but on getting out and enjoying the outdoors, Diebel said.

The 70 racers is the second-highest number in Barnelopet history, Stordahl said. The sunny day may have played a factor, Stordahl said, as well as the increased attention on skiing thanks to the Winter Olympics.

Fresh off a state championship in cross country skiing, the Copper Country Ski Tigers helped out as volunteers.

First to cross the finish line was Jaedamae Gagne-Marzan, a fifth-grader at Barkell Elementary School in Hancock. She had come to the race after her best friend’s mother suggested it.

This is Gagne-Marzan’s first winter skiing. She’s already gone too many times to keep track.

“I like that it’s active,” she said.

The Keweenaw Nordic Ski Club is hoping to spark that enthusiasm in other children. The club has given Hancock first- through fifth-graders lessons on short skis on a field between the school and Elevation Street.

“Hunting is struggling because younger kids don’t have that family introduction to hunting and fishing like we had 40, 50 years ago, and we want to make sure that, particularly in the Copper Country, the kids have a good introduction to skiing,” Diebel said. “It’s a very healthy exercise. I’ve been doing it for 50 years, and I’m still out there and still in reasonably good shape. So we want to introduce it as a way physically and mentally for people to survive the winter.”

Results

1K

1. Mie Gagne-Maltan 12:47

2. James Eikenberry 13:02

3. Jolene Heinonen 15:19

2K

1. Jonathan Eikenberry 15:05

2. Ansel Lautala 15:45

3. Ruby Petersen 16:17

4K

1. Lorelei Fryer 20:04

2. Molly Kisiel 29:38

3. Tyler Nalhi 31:30