G
G
Guest
Just announced there will be no I 500 again this year. No snow.
sweeperguy
Active member
You mean the Winnipeg to St Paul 500
bearrassler
Well-known member
To bad, I can only imagine how much work goes into this
Not true. Not canceled. Im going. I go every year and take my wife its her birthday present from me every year to sit out in the cold for 14 hours
sweeperguy
Active member
Not true. Not canceled. Im going. I go every year and take my wife its her birthday present from me every year to sit out in the cold for 14 hours
It is the Winnipeg to St. Paul I-500. That has been cancelled due to no snow again. They hsve tried to revive this race the last couple years but keeps getting cancelled. It had not been an event for a number of years.
Confusing to me also being a Sault Ste. Marie native. I wish it had a different name. But peeps over this way know it as the I -500 also. I go to the REAL I-500 myself most every year. Although this cancelled race actually spans two countries sometimes. It's a true cross country race runs to and from different locations when it is run. There have been different routes over the years. I understand it used to be a part of and like the kick off for the St. Paul winter carnival
G
G
Guest
The race banners say I 500. It was supposed to run from Winnipeg to Willmar this year. It was set to run 4 days just like it used to. Back in the seventies we would take the day off from school and go and watch. Back then there were no groomed trails and most of the sleds sported about 3 inches of travel. Arctic or Pol usually won. This was back when there were about 100 brands so as it turned out the best ones survived. There were no hot grips and usually by the time they got 90 miles south of Winnipeg they had rolled a few times so the windshields were also gone. The guys that ran this race back then were true iron men. Just to finish was quite a feat. The guy trying to get it going again is Brian Nelson. He is a former racer who won the I 500 once in 1976 on a John Deere Liquidator and again in 1978 on an Arctic. It is a lot more complicated to put together nowadays with the border and the DNR and landowners. Members of our club were lined up to flag dangerous crossings and other potential hazards on the route where it was supposed to use our trail system.
sweeperguy
Active member
I thought they had a good chance of pulling it off this year. You guys had a good start to the season right? Was hoping that the snow cover would have made a swath down into Willmar Too bad was hoping it would go was going to try to get up to watch some. Was about to start trying to find the right spots to spectator. For a long distance race like that probably better to watch live feed or TV coverage if available
G
G
Guest
We had snow here until last week. It got in the high 30s and burned much of it up. South of Bemidji there was never much to begin with from what I heard. We had a chat about it last weekend and the general opinion was that it would be way too dangerous to try it. All the field crossings are launching pads and landings would be rock hard. Somebody would have gotten killed if they had gone ahead with it so I am glad they cancelled it. It would be great to have it but not under these circumstances. I don't think it was going to be on TV. Not the whole race anyway. That is one of the problems with a cross country race like this. It is just logistically impossible to sell to a paying audience. The field gets so spread out that it gets boring really quick. You have maybe two or three sleds running together and then you have maybe one every 4 minutes. Not exactly made for prime time. Lots easier to cover an event like the Soo 500 where all the action is contained on a neat little track. Not to say that the Soo isn't a big event but it is just a different program.