Fort McMurray couple fork out $1,300 at Birke dinner for sentimental chair lost during wildfire

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A young couple who fled the Fort McMurray wildfire last year were prepared to pay “any price” Saturday night for an Adirondack chair similar to the one they left behind when their home was destroyed.

“The chair was a Valentine’s Day gift I bought for my wife two years ago and it was left behind May 3 when we were given 30 minutes to leave our Beacon Hill home,” said Cecil Sutherland, a gravel-crushing plant foreman.

His wife, Chandra Christianson, who drives a gigantic Caterpillar 797 truck whose wheels dwarf her, said: “We came to the Birkebeiner Ski Festival’s annual awards dinner determined to buy at any price the chair made from used skis.

“The chair is very important to us and it was simply overlooked when we became part of the mass evacuation. It was a frightening situation that day and I had to call my mother and get her to calm me enough so I could drive.”

The couple, living in a temporary home while planning to build again, paid $1,300 for the chair at the annual Birke dinner held in the Sherwood Park Community Centre.

“It was a great day for us,” said Christianson. “I skied a personal best time in the 31-kilometre event and the chair will make this year’s Valentine’s Day even more special.”

There were concerns the Birkebeiner would be cancelled for the second straight year because of poor snow conditions.

But numbers jumped from 500 in five days to more than 1,000 skiers when Birke president Cam McGregor announced the festival was a go.

“An army of volunteers must be thanked for making the trails the best ever,” said Frank Haley, a 92-year-old participant who skied the 13-km course.

“They harvested snow and improved patches that were marginal. We had a magnificent, sunny day and I was glad to be here. Actually, I’m glad to be anywhere these days.”

Haley was among the 25 skiers who took part in the first Birke in 1985 and went on to ski 23 full distance 55-km events, including events in Norway and the U.S.

The unofficial “Chattiest Person of the Day Award” went to McGregor.

“He must have stopped and thanked every one of the 400 volunteers who made the event possible,” said his 32-year-old daughter Glenna, who skied the 55-km lite event (without pack) with him.

McGregor was delighted with the turnout. “Goodness knows what would have happened to our event if we’d had to cancel for the second straight year,” he said.

“We modified the course to take advantage of good snow on some trails and covered a few bad patches elsewhere.

“The kids’ 2-1/2-km and four-km events tripled in number this last week. It was such a great day, I’m sure the kids will be with us for 20 years or more.”

Basil Delaney, who was celebrating his 62nd birthday Saturday, was using the 55-km event as a warm-up for a similar long-distance event in Estonia in two weeks’ time.

“But snow conditions in Estonia may even have been worse than they are here and they are thinking of cancelling,” he said. “I am not too worried. I may have to ski a loppet in Poland or the Czech Republic.”

Maija Raudsepp, who had been studying for a doctorate at the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, returned to ski the Birke because of heat in Australia.

“It was unbearably hot, 39 degrees, and I came home to cool off,” she said. “I just had two weeks to train. I’ve enjoyed the cooler temperatures here.”

Praised by organizing committee members for her dedication and efficiency was Julianne Peters, 27, whose great-grandfather, Norwegian-born Ole Hovind, pioneered skiing in Alberta from the 1920s to the 1980s and launched the Edmonton Journal’s Learn to Ski program.

Peters, whose dad, Brian Peters, sought Norway’s permission to bring the Birke to Edmonton, serves as Chief of Short Starts and organizes the 2-5-km, four-km and 13-km events.

“There is something satisfying in seeing people enjoy a sport that is so good for their health,” she says. “I love to see kids happily set off and know cross-country skiing will become a lifetime sport for many.”

Many skiers bought tuques and shirts to support the Erika Legacy Foundation, created last year in the memory of Erika Elkington, 29, a keen cross-country skier whose death in August 2015 was by suicide.

“The foundation was created to fund and motivate breakthroughs in the way we think and talk about mental health and suicide,” said Chris Maksylewicz, Elkington’s former husband who heads the non-profit foundation.

Whatever distance skiers chose to do Saturday, they were encouraged to better Elkington’s average pace of about 7-1/2 km/h over her favourite distance, 31-km. The foundation sponsored that distance this year.