the Way of the Turtle

LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW...
The Wild & Wacky World of Snowshoe Racing in the Northeast, Part 2 -
Non-series Snowshoe Races & Winter Multisport
Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Yesterday I wrote about several snowshoe racing series in the northeast... there are some great individual races included in those series, but I'm going to resist the temptation to write about them here. (Though I may do a short description of the races I've done in the WMAC series at a later date...) Today I'll concentrate in individual races that aren't part of a series and also a bit of winter multisport (which thankfully does not include swimming!)

Roads Are Poison Snowshoe Races

The Roads Are Poison snowshoe races in western NY are organized by Mort Nace and Tim Ratowski, co-founders of two of the more extreme trail events in that area (the Muddy Sneaker 20k and Out of Bounds Half Marathon.) They currently offer four races - the Frozen Assets 5k and the Mendon Winterfest 10k in January, and the Cast a Shadow 6 hr and Mountaintop 6k in February. I've run the first two and had a lot of fun (in a sick torturous kind of way!) Lots of positive attitude and they try to make it fun for everyone. More info can be found at the Roads Are Poison site; links to info about the individual races can be found there as well.

Yellowjacket Racing Snowshoe Races

OK, it's only one race, but the folks at Yellowjacket are great so it's well worth mentioning - the Lake Effect Snowshoe Festival. This was a snowshoe duathlon for the first two years (snowshoe - mountain bike - snowshoe) but last year it turned into a snowshoe only event, I suspect because the logistics of doing a duathlon at that time of the year were simply too difficult. An incredible variety of distances are offered, both sprint (100, 200, 400, and 1500 m) and longer (2, 4, and 13 mile.) The distance course is a lot of fun, and really you can't go wrong with a Yellowjacket event. Last year I passed on this to run the Curly's Record Run race in Pittsfield, MA; I'll probably decide which one I'm doing this year based on where there's snow.

Peak Races Snowshoe Races

Peak Races offers a snowshoe marathon, half marathon, and 6.5 mile "fun run" in early March. The longer races are multiple loops of the 6.5 mile course, which can best be described as challenging. There are long steep climbs (1800' total per loop) and also some long steep descents. Great positive attitude and support from all the race staff. The race fee is hefty for a snowshoe event (where typical fees run between $5 and $20) but includes a unique finisher's award (last year it was a framing hammer with the race logo) and a post-race lobster dinner with a video of race highlights. More info about the races can be found here. I'm still undecided if I want to try this one again this season... on the one hand I'd like to actually complete the half marathon, but it's a lot of money (especially when you factor in needing to get a room for the night before the race.)

Miscellaneous Races

This will be the 4th year for the mid-January Hoffman's Notch Wilderness Challenge 10k at Schroon Lake... I've never run it but by all accounts it's a fun challenging course. The Empire State Snowshoe Racing Association lists numerous races around NYS during the winter, many of them set up as qualifying events for the Empire State Winter Games snowshoe events. The United States Snowshoe Association also has a calendar of races, including a regional calendar for the northeast, which are used as qualifiers for the US National Snowshoe Championships, held this year in March outside of Portland, OR.

Winter Multisport

Winter multisport seems to have been going for a while out west but was introduced to the Northeast in just the last couple of years, first via Yellowjacket Racing's Lake Effect Snowshoe Duathlon (now a purely snowshoe event.) More recently a group near Boston has organized the New England Winter Multisport series, three races which combine running (no snowshoes), mountain biking, and XC skiing. Given the ever-increasing popularity of multisport and winter racing, I would be surprised if the selection of winter multisport races doesn't grow over the coming years.

JMH