North American Vasa Festival Of Races
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50th Annual North American Vasa Festival of Races
The North American Vasa is a two day festival of cross country ski and fat tire bike races held at Timber Ridge Resort in Traverse City, Michigan. The 2026 edition marks the event's 50th anniversary and spans a weekend in mid February, continuing the event's history as an annual tradition since 1977.
Races use the scenic Vasa Pathway and the winter singletrack trails of the Pere Marquette State Forest in Grand Traverse County. Organizers report high quality grooming across the course network. The weekend program includes classic and freestyle ski formats, fat tire bike competition, youth races, adaptive skiing opportunities, and a community relay.
Key event features include the return of the 50k marathon for the 50th anniversary and a range of race distances and formats to accommodate different participation choices.
- 50k Classic/Freestyle
- 12k Okerstrom Kortelopet Freestyle
- 27k George Kuhn Half Marathon Freestyle
- Jr Vasa youth events
- Adaptive Skiers categories
- Mark Esper 6k Classic High School
- 6k Citizen Classic race
- 15k Lombard Loppet Classic
- Vasa Tour 6k Classic/Freestyle
- Fatbike 25k
- Bigfoot Community Relay
The festival also publishes a race bulletin with practical details such as parking, packet pickup, course maps, bag drop, and awards. Visit the organization's website for the most recent information.
