It’s not every parent who can claim their child rose to royalty, but this year we became part of that elite group! In this case our son Erik, his wife Katie and one-year old daughter Saige along with friend Peter Enz assumed the roles of the Birkie Warriors for the American Birkebeiner long-distance cross-country ski race!

It all started in 1206 when Norway was in the midst of a Civil War. The Birkebeiner Warriors were a rebel faction who protected Prince Haakon, heir to throne. Two of them, Torstein Skevla and Skjervald Skrukka, skied with the prince over treacherous and mountainous terrain from Lillehammer to Trondheim to bring him to safety. He ultimately became King Haakon IV.

This story is commemorated annually by long-distance cross-country ski races, Birkebeiner Rennet in Norway and the American Birkebeiner in Wisconsin.

The American Birkebeiner selects three skiers each year to recreate the Warriors’ journey. They are the mascots of the 5-day Birkie event schedule, culminating with skiing the 53k Classic Race in costume and on wooden skis with either a real baby or a doll.

A year ago, having completed 12 Classic Birkie races (mostly in the elite wave), my son Erik decided he, Katie, Peter and Saige were going to be the next Warriors – Skjervald, Inga and Torstein along with Prince Haakon. It requires submitting an application which highly encourages a video to win the coveted spots. After collecting childhood, high school and adult photos of their skiing lives, Erik complied their video which was convincing enough to win them the honor! You can see the announcement and video here – it’s worth watching!

As the Warriors, they were required to appear at various events from Wednesday through Saturday. Katie’s mom, Betsy, and I were thrilled to be able to stay for the duration at the “ski cabin” where Erik and fellow skiers have gathered for years of Birkie races. We tagged along at the events, and formed a double-grandma team to watch Saige. For our efforts, we were gifted Birkie Volunteer hats – we earned them gladly!

The first task was assembling costumes. They were required to furnish their own wooden skis for the race, which they borrowed from ski collector friends or old family skis. A party ensued to coat the bottoms with pine tar, using a blow torch to melt it in. The Birkie has an assortment of clothing pieces in three big tubs, and after sifting through the jumbled contents they put together convincing Warrior garb.

Their first appearance was at the Barnebirkie race for young children. The little skiers loved having their picture taken with the warriors – it was their first taste of fame. Peter’s Dad, Dick, Betsy and I couldn’t resist doing the same!

The media was also very interested in these celebrities!

On Thursday night we entered team “Haakon’s Entourage” in the Giant Ski race, along with Rich and Dick, all in warrior costumes. With Katie back at the cabin attending to Saige, I was drafted to be Inga for the night. Half the fun was seeing the silly costumes on other teams.

The race involved all six team members strapped onto two giant skis, competing against one other team skiing down Hayward’s Main Street. We happened to be in the last heat, and watching highly proficient teams along with those who stumbled along gave us some perspective on the difficulty and hilarity involved. When our turn came, we started out all right. But as the team unwittingly picked up the pace and lengthened the strides, my short legs could not keep up! It was a strange feeling to have the skis move under my feet, totally out of my control! I felt myself wobble out of control and finally crumbled to the ground about half-way down the course. With help from a friendly volunteer who helped me back up, we managed to make it to the finish line without further incident. We were far from being in contention for the four finalist spots (out of 30 starting teams), but we fully accomplished our goal of having fun!

The big event was on Saturday, skiing the full Birkie course along with thousands of racers. In the early morning hours, I delivered the Warriors to the race course where they lined up at the start line in front of all the other skiers and headed off down the trail! It was far too early for baby Saige to be up, so they skied with a baby doll as a stand-in for Prince Hakkon.

My next stop was at highway OO, midpoint of the race. Meeting up with Betsy and Saige, and our husbands, we eagerly awaited the arrival of the Warriors. They were faring well and found that all the competitive skiers cheered them on throughout the race. It was a touching reunion with Saige at that stop!

Betsy handed Saige off to Rich and me and from there it was a dash to the finish line. We knew that parking in crowded downtown Hayward would be a challenge, but we made our way to the fence lining Main Street in plenty of time. Our other kids, Karen and Carl, were also there with nearly all of their family members to cheer on the Warriors as well! Surrounded by excited fans we peered down the course, and finally after six hours of skiing they reached the top of the bridge at the start of Main Street. There they were announced and cheered for their final stretch of the race!

My job was to hand over Saige at the bottom of the hill, in exchange for the baby doll. The trio triumphantly skied with their own baby to the finish line!

It was Katie and Saige’s first Birkie, so they both received medals! Erik and Peter racked up another Birkie pin in their long string of races.

The grand finale – gathering our family in honor of our Warriors. Such a great honor for all of us!

And the final bonus for me – having extended special time with “princess Haakon,” our royal granddaughter.