Per Johnsen Memorial Ozbaldy Race Report
KSC's traditional Ozbaldy 50k and 10k race has been renamed the Per Johnsen Memorial Ozbaldy 50k and 10k to honor KSC legend Per Johnsen, who founded the race some 20 years ago and passed away last year at the age of 80. Per started the race because he thought there might be interest in a local 50k, and he was right. In the early days, he and Sandy stood at the finish line with paper notepads and pencils and stopwatches at the ready, writing down racers' lap times and finish times. The race has been held every year since then, except during Covid, with increasingly sophisticated timing technology, and continues to grow as a bucket-list event. Per was born in Norway and came to America with his family as a young teenager. The family landed in Ballard, and Per went to Ballard High School, where he met his future wife Sandy. From there he headed to the University of Washington, then to Green Bay, Wisconsin, for graduate school. There he fell in with a group of like-minded skiers...