BESH CUP
RACE DETAILS
FAIRBANKS
Saturday, January 31 and Sunday, February 1, 2026
Races will be held on the Jim Whisenhant Ski Trails at Birch Hill Recreation Area in Fairbanks.
Saturday: Sprint Start/ Classic Technique at Birch Hill – Sunday: Mass/ Classic Technique at Birch Hill
SCHEDULE
Course maps, stadium diagrams, etc., for both Saturday’s and Sunday’s races, are available from the links below. Scroll down the page to see the race-specific info.
BESH CUP Race #5 Saturday, Jan 31st, 2026
RACE 1 MAPS
U18 and Older 1350m
U14 and U16 1050m
U12 750m
U08 and U10 300m
BESH CUP Race #6 Sunday, Feb 1st, 2026
RACE 2 MAPS
U18 and OLDER Women’s and Men’s 15K
U16 Boys and Girls 7.5K
U12 and U14 Boys and Girls 3.75K
U08 and U10 Boys and Girls 1KM
Besh Cup
Cross Country Alaska’s ConocoPhillips Besh Cup is a six-race series held on one weekend each in December, January, and February and used annually to select the Alaska Team to the US Junior National Championships, and biennially, in even-numbered years, to select the Alaska Team to the Arctic Winter Games. The Besh Cup races are organized and conducted at the highest level of race production.
The first weekend of races is traditionally held the weekend before Christmas in at Kincaid Park in Anchorage and includes one sprint and one mass-start event.
The second weekend of races is held in mid-January either on the Kenai Peninsula on the Tsalteshi Trails in Soldotna or at the Lookout Mountain Trails in Homer, or at Government Peak Recreation Area in the MatSu Valley.
The final race weekend is traditionally held at Birch Hill in Fairbanks in late January or early February. Formats vary from year to year, depending upon the CCAK/Besh Cup calendar. Following the Sunday race, the Alaska Teams to Junior Nationals and Arctic Winter Games are announced in a ceremony in the Birch Hill Cross Country Ski Center.
For more information about the series, and to ENTER Besh Cup races, see the Cross Country Alaska web site.
You can find course maps, etc., for the Fairbanks races on the page below.
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