Winnikenni Snowshoe race

Winnekenni Snowshoe race - I decided that since we got a couple of substantial snow storms (over 18” total) that the timing was right for a return to Winnekenni for a snowshoe race.  The last time I tried that was five years ago (on Christmas day).  I checked out the course on Saturday and it was a bit sloppy and wet, but the ground was covered.  Unfortunately it rained Saturday night and was above freezing from Friday on, so a lot of the snow was gone by Sunday morn.

 

I headed out at 7am with Greg Putnam in tow and we put out about 300 flags to mark the 4 mile loop.  The conditions were wetter and slower than Saturday and there were a couple of bare spots.  I had to run back out and add a few flags so we started at 8:15 instead of 8:00 am, it was very slow going out there!

 

Five hard-core snowshoe racers showed up along with Greg Carson who volunteered to do the timing.  We took off in fog and drizzle with the temperature at 36 degrees.  I shot out to the lead with Greg and Jim Pawlicki close behind.  Around ½ mile (after stopping to adjust a shoe) Greg moved into the lead and just after the mile (9:41) Jim went by me and started closing the gap on Greg.  They had 40 seconds on me by two miles (10:12 – 19:53) and about 1 minute at 3 miles (11:01 – 30:54).  The deep snow and tough climb to Winnekenni Castle made mile three especially difficult.  I couldn’t see the guys for most of the last mile, but Jim and Greg ran together until nearly the finish when Jim put on a sprint and won by 5 seconds.  I rolled in 1:35 later.

 

Jim and Brett Rickenbach joined me for another loop of picking up the flagging.  I was pretty beat after we finished about 2.5 hours of snowshoe running.  Let the season begin!

 

Place	Time	Name		Gend	Age	City	State	Team
1	38:29	James	Pawlicki	M	39	Lynn	MA	CMS
2	38:34	Gregory	Putnam	M	44	Stoneham	MA	CMS
3	40:04	Dave	Dunham	M	49	Bradford	MA	CMS
4	44:13	Brett	Rickenbach	M	38	Danvers	MA	WCRC
5	46:53	Melissa	Donais	F	29	N Andover	MA	CMS