Tour of Meissner Race Report

Nils Eddy photo

 The Tour of Meissner, at the Virginia Meissner snow-park near Bend, has been on my wanna-do list for several years. Classic technique only; 30k and 17k (and the same options for wooden skis); each course is one big loop, with no laps or repeats; big uphills and zoomy downhills; and the stated aim of Race Director Ben Husaby (two-time Olympian, 11-time national team champion, six-time Pole Pedal Paddle winner) is to create a race where skiers of every skill level will feel welcome. What's not to love? I haven't made it down there yet, but Suzanne did the race last weekend and sends us this report. Next year? I'm in!

Tour of Meissner

Race Report by Suzanne Corkran

My coach and wax tech, husband Rob Corkran, thought that a nice classic race at 5,000-6,000 ft of elevation is just what my lungs, recovering from open heart surgery last summer, needed. So, I signed up for the Tour of Meissner at the Virginia Meissner Sno-Park out of Bend, Oregon. *See the note below for a little more about the Virginia Meissner Sno-Park.

 

The Tour of Meissner offers two distance options, 17km and 30 km. I did the shorter race and our grandniece Sophie Corkran, a former PNW Junior Nationals athlete who lives in Bend, skied the full thing. 

The start, with Sophie lined up fourth from the left. Mia Corkran photo

Rob and I skied most of the course the day before the race, and despite it making me a bit more fatigued in my race the next day, I am so glad we did. There are two mammoth hills on the course that you really have to know about before you race it. Neither is terribly steep but they go on and on and on. The first one is a mile long and it comes into play about 2/3 of the way through the 17km course. For whatever reason it is called ‘Wednesdays,’ and our nephew and niece, Sophie’s parents, had warned us about it. After that there is another one-and one-half miles of climb before the finish, most of it on one long, sloggy incline. The rest of the course is more fun, the section called Wild Strawberry having wonderful little ups and downs where you are up on the top of a hill before you get too terribly winded and then get to swoop down; and the section called Pine Drops leading you gently down through the pines and then gently up for easy striding and double-poling. 

 

The groomer did a fantastic job on the icy old snow. The tracks were solid and deep, and out of the tracks he had reduced the ice to a nice maneuverable layer of corn snow. This was particularly important because there are several kilometers of descent where despite the gentle incline you could end up going screechingly fast if you couldn’t brake. The race director, Ben Husaby (for years an outstanding PNW junior coach), posted ‘GO SLOW’ signs on all these seemingly benign sections. In my race, I heeded Ben’s advice maybe too obediently but my excuse is I didn’t know the course that well and I want my old body to last all season. Our grandniece Sophie didn’t pay attention to the signs at all. I loved imagining her daredevil approach as I snowplowed down most of the hills. 

 

Other than not injuring myself, my race plan included pacing myself such that I would not need to stop. If I go too hard for too long my still-recovering lungs sort of shut down. I let people I normally would have wanted to challenge go by. I kept an easy pace on the interminable uphill, actually overtaking a few racers who had started it too aggressively (credit goes to my wax tech for giving me the perfect wax for the day!). I got tired but never needed to slow down or stop. I even had enough wind left to speed up towards the finish and end with decent flair. I was the oldest female racer of the day and won my class of one! 

Sophie, Suzanne, and Doug. Mia Corkran photo

Sophie didn’t share her race plan with anyone but I knew she meant to go all out, taking all the downhills in a straight tuck and double-poling most of the uphills. She had a fantastic race, finishing first among women and third overall in the 30 km. 

Our family had quite the race day—at home in Seattle, our dog Louis Cat-Ears, with our daughter Liz as handler, scored his first qualifying run in his very first agility trial. 

 *Virginia Meissner Sno Park is located on the road to Mt Bachelor somewhat east of its intersection with Sun River Road.  Virginia Meissner was a prominent figure in instruction and in the development of Nordic skiing in Central Oregon.  The site was initiated in the early 1970’s as the Tangent Area and later renamed.  For some years now it has been groomed by Meissner Nordic.  Grooming is supported by trailhead donations.  Meissner Nordic has a racing weekend in January which includes on Saturday a race for high school skiers from Ashland, Oregon to Liberty Bell in the Methow.  On Sunday they run the Tour of Meissner at 17km and 30km.

The first 10 kilometers features rolling terrain somewhat like the hilly sections of the Berg. Followed by an almost continuous  600 foot climb of over four kilometers!  The 30k covers the same terrain followed by more ups and downs.  https://meissnernordic.org/TourOfMeissnerMap2025.html