21st Annual 2024 Great Nordeen – Presented by Latitude 44 Sports
January 28, 2024
XC Ski and Fat Bike Race
30K and 18K Freestyle Race
NEW FOR 2024: 18 K Nordic Team Race
15K Fat Bike Race
COURSE UPDATE: Due to the soft snow conditions down below, we will not be able to offer the traditional point-to-point course. However, racers will enjoy a large and rarely groomed loop out on Dutchman Flat before entering the trail network to loop around Rich’s Range and back to the Oval. The race will be a lap event with 3 laps for the 30K , 1.5 laps for the 18K, and 2 laps for the Fat bike 15K.
The start/ finish will be located on the Oval in the upper section of the Mt Bachelor trail network. The start time for all skiers will be 7:30 am. The Fat Bike race will start at 8:00am.
Prizes for the following Categories
Individual Nordic Race:
- 0-14 (M/F and Non-Binary)
- 15-18 (M/F and Non-Binary)
- 19-39 (M/F and Non-Binary)
- 40-59 (M/F and Non-Binary)
- 60+ (M/F and Non-Binary)
Team Race: All Teams of 4 must have at least one female member. Results will be the combined time of all team members. It is not necessary for all team members to finish together. There is no 30K Team Event. In order to receive a Team Event entry, all team members must register at the same time with a team name.
- Junior Mixed Category: Age sum 72 or under
- Senior Mixed Category: Age sum 73 and over
- High School Mixed Team
- Family Mixed Team
Fat Bike Race
- Juniors 17 and Under M/F and Non-Binary
- Ages 18-39 M/F and Non-Binary
- Ages 40+ M/F and Non-Binary
Registration Deadline: Friday, January 26, 2024, 11:59 pm
Online Registration Race Fee:
$60 Adults | $40 Juniors 17 & Under
Teams $120 Total
$20 Late Registration Fee after Online Registration closes. Limited In-Person Registration will be available, by cash or check only, from 11am-3pm on Saturday, January 27th at Latitude 44 Sports during Packet Pick-up.
No day of race registration.
Grooming provided by Mt. Bachelor.
Need Accommodations?
If you are joining us from out of town, we hope you will consider staying at MBSEF’s event sponsor, Riverhouse on the Deshutes. They have wonderful accommodations and are eager to meet the unique needs of our ski racers.
Please use this link to register:
stay at the riverhousePacket Pickup
Saturday, January 27th, 11-5 pm at:
Latitude 44 Sports
1375 SW Commerce Avenue
Wax Techs will be available to help you
Awards
Join us at 4 pm for hors d’oeuvres and drinks at MBSEF.
All racers will receive an event buff or other swag, TBD.
History
The Great Nordeen is held annually in honor of Central Oregon Ski Pioneer Emil Nordeen. Known in Bend in the 1930s as the ‘Iron Man,’ or the ‘Old War Horse,’ Nordeen fashioned weight training systems out of concrete-filled coffee cans, carved his own 8-foot long skis from scrap lumber and developed his own brand of pine-tar ski wax. A well-known adventurer and mountaineer in the Cascades, Nordeen helped found the first search and rescue organization in Bend. He played the violin, pipe organ, piano, guitar, and loved to gamble. Nordeen won the Crater Lake Wilderness Race twice- once at age 43 and again at age 45. The race was a grueling 42-mile course from Fort Klamath to Crater Lake Lodge gaining 2,800 feet in elevation.
Cross-country skiing was a way of life for Nordeen, who had grown up in Sweden. He moved to Bend in 1920, racking up a list of impressive skiing adventures and achievements throughout the years. In the 1920s and 1930s, skiing was enjoying a surge in popularity in the U.S. Those who could ski well were widely admired. In fact, about 3,500 spectators gathered to watch the 1931 Fort Klamath-Crater Lake race. Along with other Central Oregon ski pioneers such as Nels (N.J.) Wulfsberg, Nels Skjersaa and Chris Kostol, Nordeen was a founder of the Skyliners Ski Club, later becoming MBSEF.
These days, the Great Nordeen is significantly less grueling than the races Nordeen won in 1930s. The courses are groomed specifically for the event and give skiers and fat bikers a once-a-year opportunity to cruise through hemlock forests, over lava flows and around the buttes of the Deschutes National Forest on their journey to the finish at Wanoga Sno-Park. This is a unique opportunity to enjoy skiing or fat biking on a special course as part of a Central-Oregon tradition.
Thank you to our Event Sponsors
