Canadian Birkebeiner  The Canadian Birkebeiner is the largest classic style cross-country ski event in Western Canada. Founded in 1985, it is one of three Birkebeiner Loppets held worldwide, the others being the Norwegian Birkebeinerrennet and the American Birkebeiner. The event is organised annually on the second Saturday of February by the Canadian Birkebeiner Society, with the help of about 500 volunteers. About 1000 skiers take part in the one-day event, which includes races from 2 km to 55 km. The three main races are the 55 km with 5.5 kg backpack, the 55 km light and the 31 km from Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, via Elk Island National Park and finishing at Washkahegan Staging Area in Cooking Lake-Blackfoot Provincial Recreation Area, Alberta. The Canadian Birkebeiner is named after the Norwegian Birkebeinerrennet, which commemorates an important historical event. In 1206 a group of Birkebeiner loyalists, who fought for Sverre Sigurdsson and his descendants in the Norwegian civil war, smuggled Haakon IV, the widely regarded illegitimate son of Norway's King Håkon Sverresson, from Lillehammer to safety in Trondheim. As in the Norwegian Birkebeinerrennet, the skiers in the Canadian Birkebeiner carry a pack symbolising the weight of an 18-month-old child. On February 9th, 1985 the first Birkebeiner race was organised by the Canadian Birkebeiner Society. In total 127 skiers participated in the cross-country marathon starting in Devon, Alberta and finishing at Fort Edmonton Park. The Canadian Birkebeiner continued to be held in this area until 1990, when, because of recurring issues with the level of snow on the Devon - Fort Edmonton Park trail, the event moved permanently to Cooking Lake-Blackfoot Provincial Recreation Area. In 1996 a study of heart rates of cross-country skiers was conducted during the race, and the results reported in the Journal of Human Movement Studies. In 1999 about 2500 people took part in the race; more recently the event has attracted about 1000 skiers. While the race is organized every year, it has occasionally been cancelled because of inappropriate conditions; in 2016 there wasn't enough snow, and in 2019 the temperature was below -25C. Since 1990 skiers that have completed all three international Birkebeiner long distance cross-country ski races - Birkebeinerrennet in Norway, the American Birkebeiner and the Canadian Birkebeiner - receive the Haakon Haakonson Award.