4 minute read
Gilman has influenced countless skiers
2 February 2022
By Sue Bruns Bemidji Pioneer
Cross-country skiing in the Bemidji area is almost synonymous with Muriel Gilman.
Her titles range from women’s athletic trainer and professor of physical education, health and sport at Bemidji State, to cross country ski coach. From Peltonen ski team racer, 1981 American Birkebeiner winner, Minnesota Finlandia board member and planner (plus skier and winner), to longtime Sunday Ski School organizer and instructor.
Mur’s passion for physical fitness and athletic performance and her love of the sport has influenced countless skiers and greatly contributed to the growth and popularity of Nordic skiing in the Bemidji area.
Muriel grew up in Glenwood, Minn., on the east shore of Lake Minnewaska, about 120 miles northwest of Minneapolis. From a young age, she loved to glide in the snow. Her earliest experience: donning her mother’s smooth-bottomed snow boots and running and sliding on snow-coated sidewalks.
By age 5 she was strapping on simple skis and enjoying a nearby ski hill (complete with a tow rope and a jump). When her mother started cross country skiing, Mur tried her skis and was introduced to a new winter sport.
After graduating from Macalester in 1972 and taking some time to ski in the Alps, she taught while pursuing a master’s degree with an emphasis in athletic training. In 1975, when Mur moved to Bemidji and started teaching at Bemidji State, downhill skiing was among her class offerings.
“One Sunday, I was on a lift at Buena Vista,” she said, “and looked down and saw skiers with bibs.” And her interest in cross country skiing grew from there.
Mur started tracking her own trails, skiing with her dog, Giguere, near the leaf dump that later became part of the Montebello Trail. At that time (before Middle School Drive and before the Highway 2 and 71 bypasses), Mur explained, “You could ski (almost) all the way over to Adams Avenue. It was a great way to exercise in the winter and not have to run. It wasn’t groomed. It was just breaking trail, and I thought, this is really fun!”
Skiing can be an individual, quiet sport or a social event, “You can ski on your own terms or join up with people,” she said.
She met fellow skiers John Tibstra, Roger Jarvi and others who were students at BSC at the time.
“They invited me to a potluck and ski race out by Solway called the Clearwater Ski Race. I was a runner — I didn’t ski very well — but I think I beat all of them,” Mur said.
She tried out other places to ski and started competing in races, saying “I would go out where the MnDOT building is now and (ski along) a road to Grass Lake.”
Then she learned about the trails at Lake Bemidji State Park, Hobson and Buena Vista.
“I’d zip out to the park and go skiing. I just had to go skiing, you know?” Mur describes winter mornings, skiing before dawn, headlamp guiding her way, with her dog running along beside her, and she loved to ski fast. “Not dangerously fast, but I love to kick and glide.”
From left: Jon Shorter, Lee Scotland, Brent Matzke and Mur Gilman are pictured out for a skiing adventure with friends.
CONTRIBUTED
Getting people moving
One of Mur’s primary goals has always been to get more people to be active. She got involved with the Bemidji Area Cross Country Ski Club when it started in the early 1990s, serving on its board of directors over two decades and as vice-president or president for several years, and was instrumental in organizing the Sunday Ski School and teaching young skiers the basics.
The ski club has promoted the development, maintenance and grooming of almost 100 kilometers of wellgroomed trails within 11 miles of Bemidji. She attributes much of the club’s success to trail builders and groomers and Sunday Ski School volunteers.
Mur’s days were busy with teaching, coaching, racing and working on her doctoral degree through the University of Minnesota in Physical Education, Exercise Physiology/Nutrition. She coached both the Bemidji State men’s and women’s cross country ski teams from 19861992, their only head coach through the program’s duration.
Kris VanWilgen-Hammit, a member of the women’s team describes her coach’s use of heart rate monitors during training as innovative and “cutting edge.” Under Mur’s direction, the men’s team went to Nationals four times, placing third in 1991. The women’s team advanced three times and took second at the U.S. Collegiate Ski Association National Championships in 1992.
Mur also coached male and female skiers who succeeded as individual competitors, including Phil Rogers, Margaret Borchers, John Schricker, Jon Halvorson and Kris VanWilgen. She was selected as the U.S. Ski Association’s (USSA) Central Division coach for the Junior National Ski Championships in 1990. While coaching, she was also rising to top rankings herself as a first-class athlete and prominent cross country ski racer.
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