There’s still cross-country skiing; but what will be different about Ski to Sea in 2017?

As much as Ski to Sea has remained the same over the years, the race is traditionally known for its adaptability.

Each year, it seems there’s a new discipline, a new rule, even a new wrinkle – something to keep returning competitors on their toes and make each year stand out as being different.

Perhaps the thing that will make the 2017 Ski to Sea Race – Whatcom County’s traditional seven-leg adventure relay race from Mt. Baker Ski Area to Bellingham Bay on Memorial Day weekend – different from the 44 that have preceded it is that there won’t be any changes – no new legs, no new race director, no timing company changes ... nothing. Sure, there may be a small course modification to the cyclocross leg and a change in the river should eliminate the need to portage this year, but no major changes of note.

“It’s business as usual,” Whatcom Events executive director Mike Trowbridge said in late April. “There are no major obstacles, no major issues. We’ve got snow. We’ve got access to everything. We’re not changing anything.”

Well ... Trowbridge says that now.

But the truth is a few days before Christmas, the Whatcom Events Board of Directors announced a major change that would have been the biggest shake up the race has had since there was no snow on the mountain two years earlier. The race planned to eliminate the leadoff cross-country skiing leg of the race.

“That was a decision that the board members voted on in an attempt to respect the balance of getting more participants,” said Trowbridge, who’s entering his second season leading Whatcom Events. “The reality is we needed more participants to pay our overhead cost of the race. The board did the math and said, ‘If we drop cross-country skiing, maybe we can pick up a number of teams. Hopefully we won’t lose as many as we gain.’ Depending on how many more did sign up, it added up to more dollars.”

Judging by the response, you would think that the board was the “Grinch Who Stole Christmas.”

No sooner had the news reached social media than Whatcom Events was flooded with response from racers dismayed by the loss of one of the disciplines that make Ski to Sea Ski to Sea.

The response was so great, the board reversed course about 24 hours after the initial announcement, proclaiming there indeed would be a cross-country skiing leg in 2017 – weather permitting, which is certainly did this winter.

So once again, there will be seven legs: cross-country skiing, downhill skiing/snowboarding, running, road biking, canoeing, cyclocross and kayaking.

“Although the number we heard from against the plan to drop cross-country was way higher, we did get a lot of people supporting the idea,” Ski to Sea Race director Anna Rankin said. “It came down to there are always two camps, and you’re never going to make everyone happy.

“When the board sat down, they had hard numbers in front of them. We looked at teams that weren’t completing registration, and there were about 20 of them that didn’t have a cross-country skier, and that was the reason they weren’t completing registration. They figured if they took that problem away, more teams could register.”

But the race quickly found out how attached the Ski to Sea Race community is to the race in its current format.

Though it may be difficult to find a cross-country skier or someone willing to endure the eight-mile downhill torture test kindly referred to as the running leg, if you try to take one of those legs away it’s like taking away a member of the family.

“We heard from a number of teams that have been competing for years, and they said we couldn’t drop a leg, because it would break up their teams,” Rankin said. “What were they going to do with the eighth member of their team?”

Don’t worry, they’ll get to race in 2017.

But the fact of the matter is the reason the board even looked at dropping the leg – finances – still is a concern for the race.

The race now finds itself a far cry from its hey day less than a decade earlier when it was forced to turn away a handful of teams because it had reached its 500-team limit. Only about 40 percent of race registration is made up by returning racers, Trowbridge said. The other 60 percent are new to the race.

While the race doesn’t need 500 paid teams to break even for Whatcom Events – a non-profit – it does need about 350 to 400 teams to cover all the expenses of staging a 93-mile relay race, Trowbridge said.

Last year drew only 325 teams, Rankin said, and the race ended up losing about $20,000.

“We’re always operating on a razor-thin edge between breaking even and losing money,” Trowbridge said.

As of late April, the race had 305 teams that had completed registration, and Trowbridge said he was anticipating the final number to be between 325 and 350 teams.

Fortunately, Trowbridge said the race was able to secure all its race sponsors from 2016 for another year and even brought on a new one worth about $15,000 in backcountry.com.

Though Ski to Sea is keeping its cross-country leg in 2017, another tradition definitely will come to an end – for the first time since 1999, somebody other than the Boundary Bay Women will win the Women’s Competitive division title.

Boundary Bay Brewery announced earlier this spring that it won’t be entering a team this year because of a personal scheduling conflict.

“They’ve certainly been dominate,” Trowbridge said. “It’s impressive what they’ve been able to do – bringing in the hired guns and doing all that and being so successful. I think (2015) was pretty special, when we had some amazing local ladies actually beat the hired guns (for the fastest time by a women’s only team, though Boundary Bay still won its division title). I think we might see a trend back to that – more local and less national. I don’t think it’s a bad thing. But what Boundary Bay has accomplished and the way they’ve done it, it’s simply been amazing.”

As for Trowbridge, he says he’ll also see a small change, as he attempts to step back and allow Rankin to handle more of the race operations this year. He says he even hopes to possibly return to the race as a competitor in 2018.

“I’m acting this year as a guy who has a lot of knowledge in leading an event and who has an idea of the ins and outs of different sports,” Trowbridge said. “This whole thing is a group effort. Overall, we all want to put on a quality event with no major issues. I think that all the participants had a good run last year, and we hope they’ll all be back and have another great time this year.”

This story was originally published May 26, 2017 at 6:00 AM with the headline "There’s still cross-country skiing; but what will be different about Ski to Sea in 2017?."