Ski to Sea Race

[1] The early races ran from the city of Bellingham to the top of Mount Baker and back.

The race was first proposed in a letter written in 1966 from Bob Stephens, Fred Elsethagen, and Franz Gabl to Bill Herb, the president of the Bellingham Chamber of Commerce.

The first official Ski to Sea race premiered 1973 as a side event to "Blossom Time".

During the first four years, the legs of the race were run separately, and their times added up to produce a total team time; this left racers and spectators waiting several hours after the race concluded to find out who had won.

Since 1977 the race has been a continuous event, with the exception of 2008 when the canoe leg was cancelled because of unsafe river conditions.

Today, the Ski to Sea is considered an entire weekend-long event that is centered on the race.

Tens of thousands of spectators gather along the sidelines to watch and participate in events throughout Bellingham, Ferndale, and Fairhaven, near the finish line at Marine Park.

[4] Over the years all but four (mountaineering, horse back riding, fishing boat, waterskiing) of these events have been used, and only one not recommended (bicycling) has been added.

Over the next twenty years, the Ski to Sea would grow to seven legs covering 94 miles (151 km).

It has also become a continuous event, with a token (wrist-band or timing chip) passed from one teammate to the other at the end of each leg.

This leg consists of two figure-eight loops, beginning and ending at the upper Mount Baker Ski area.

Skiers hike uphill for approximately 1.5 miles, ascending nearly a thousand feet of elevation, and then ski back to near their starting point.

The fourth year, in 1979, the running leg was extended to 8 mi (13 km) and has remained unchanged since that time.

The road bicycle leg finishes on the banks of the Nooksack River in the town of Everson.

Since 2010, the distance has again been roughly 42 miles (68 km) as the bikes go north from Maple Falls on Silver Lake Road, though some small changes in the race course have occurred.

Added in 1990, the Cyclocross bike leg stretches from the banks of the Nooksack River in Hovander Park to Squalicum Harbor on Bellingham Bay.

The final leg of the event that stretched across Bellingham Bay was added to tie in the Ski to Sea name and to add a more exciting finish to the race.

Two years later, the leg was restricted to kayaks, because wind to move sailboats is unreliable on Bellingham Bay.