Catamount Sunset 2.75 Mile Snowshoe Race
Saturday, March 21, 2009
2009 Catamount Sunset results
Got to Catamount with about 25 minutes to spare and headed to where registration was supposed to be... except they were closed down. Okay... spent a few minutes trying to hunt down some info on what to do, then chatted with Farmer Ed who said not to worry, if all else failed I could pay afterwards. So I headed back to the car to gear up. Given the nice weather I decided to go light on the clothing - long-sleeved short and shorts. No tights, no jacket. Headed back inside and now we had word about where to register, so I took care of that and then stood around near the starting line chatting with folks, watching the Catamount crew move snow around near the finish, and waiting for things to begin.
A few minutes before the start we got a brief description of the course (up the Sidewinder Trail and then down along the Ridge Run and I think the Promenades, following the orange cones) and a chance to ask questions, then - off we went, for the final race of the 2009 season.
The first bit was deceptive - a short downhill stretch to the base of the Sidewinder trail. It also made me wonder of going without tights was a good idea, because the snow that flew up against my legs was cold and stung like the dickens. But then we hit Sidewinder and that was no longer a problem, because the next 29 minutes/1.2 miles consisted of a non-stop uphill plod. I guess I hadn't really thought that much about the implications of doing a race at a ski resort before then, but really - the trails there are designed to let people ski down them, good and fast. Walking up them - not the smartest idea in the book, unless you enjoy long slow slogs up seemingly never-ending steep hills.
The snow also made the going tricky - it was more ice crystals than anything else and pretty mushy, so at times it seemed like I was in danger of sliding back to the bottom unless I really dug my cleats in... additional strain on my legs, which spent much of the climb asking me "At what point did this even remotely seem like a good idea to you?"
Well, the top finally arrived, and where I was hoping for a bot of relatively level terrain before the descent - well, no such luck. The trail headed down and kept heading down all the rest of the way to the finish. Again, shouldn't have been a surprise - it's a ski area, people pay to ski downhill!
I hammered when I could (not a lot of fun after 29 minutes of climbing) and reined it in when things got too steep or too slippery, since I really didn't want to blow out a knee. In some ways this was less scary than Curly's - the trail was a lot wider and the switchbacks a lot gentler- and in other ways it was more - no deep snow at the sides to plow into to both drop speed and regain some traction. I figured someone would pass me on the downhill but nobody did. 13 minutes or so later the end was in sight, the ground leveled off (finally!) and I pushed as hard as I could to cross the finish in 43:49... not a bad time at all for me on this type of terrain.
After that it was time to hang out a bit chatting with my friends and talking about possible trail races and trail runs... the core group really seemed reluctant to call it a day and head off into the sunset. It's hard to believe another Season of the SnōShū is over... I've said it before, but it seems like just a couple of weeks ago we were sliding around the icy parking lot at Woodford. (Of course, in reality it was almost 3 months ago!) I'll write up some final thoughts about the season on another day... now it's time to really start looking forward to warmer weather and the running season!
JMH
2009 Event Totals
Run
Bike 6.2 mi, 39 min
Snowshoe 54.6 mi, 13 hr 05 min
XC Ski 3.3 mi, 1 hr 2 min
states visited: MA, ME, NY, VT
