Northeast snowshoe championships

Northeast Snowshoe championships – I drove out to Prospect Mountain for my third (and final) snowshoe race of the season.  Teammate Tim Van Orden was putting on the NE champs which were part of the Western Mass AC snowshoe series and included in the All-Terrain Runner Series.  I’m hoping to do most of the ATR (can’t do the trail race as it conflicts with the Bay of Fundy Ultra).  I was a bit nervous as my rib is still pretty sore and I knew conditions would be icy.  Another fall would not be good for the rib which is manageable while running but still difficult to deal with when trying to sleep.

It was sunny and breezy at Prospect and the temperature was exactly ZERO when I headed inside to pick up my number and warm-up by the woodstove.  Teammate Paul Bazanchuk and I went out to preview the 10k course since it was a double loop 5k.  We used kahtoola’s which gave great footing on the solid packed snow and icy.  It was pretty icy in spots but really not that bad.  It took a good mile to get all the “parts” warmed up and about that time CMS top 50+ runner Ed Sheldon caught up with us and finished out the loop.  The course was going to be fast with it being so solid and there was only a little less than 200’ of climb/descent per loop.  I don’t like fast snowshoe and my ankles especially don’t like it but you’ve gotta race whatever the conditions give you.

 

Fifty or so brave souls lined up as temperatures soared to 9 degrees!  I got out to a sluggish start but didn’t worry as the course would be wide open the entire way.  After 200 meters we were on the loop and I was in 15^th place.  I kind of chuckled as both “Leslie’s” were in front of me…Scott Leslie and Leslie O’Dell.  Scott took off as we started climbing and I slowly reeled in O’Dell.  By the first beep on my watch (every ½ mile it beeps) I was in 11^th place and could not hear footsteps behind me.  That is good but I also couldn’t see much ahead of me either.  I was pretty much on my own.  By the mile I could only see Sara Dunham (no relation) and Kasie Enman who were a good 30 seconds up on me and fighting for the women’s title.  I beat Kasie by about 30 seconds at the Amherst 10 mile but she is a better snowshoe racer than I am, I had hoped to run with her but settled for trying to keep her in sight.

 

I slowly reeled Sara in as Kasie gapped her.  At the end of the first loop I was 45 seconds behind Kasie but only 10 behind Sara.  By 4 miles I’d moved on by and got myself into 10^th place.  I kept the tempo up and got as close as 15 seconds behind Kasie at 5 miles.  She stretched it out a bit on the last downhill to finish 20 seconds up on me.  I was pretty happy with how I raced, my second lap was 6 seconds faster than the first.  I took 3^rd in the 50+ with Ed leading the charge and Bob Bolton (who was “World Champion” in the 50+ a couple of weeks ago) 2^nd in the 50+.  CMS had a fine day with Scott Leslie taking the overall win, Tim Van Orden taking the 40+, Ed taking the 50+, and Paul Bazanchuk winning in the 60+.

 

Pl         Name                SxAge   City, St             Team    Time

1          Scott Leslie        M35      Rutland, MA        CMS      39:39

2          Peter Gurney      M28      S Burlington, VT  GMAA    40:01

3          Tim Van Orden   M48      Bennington, VT   CMS      40:35

4          Jeremy Drowne   M39      West Chazy, NY              41:47

5          Tj Unger              M38      Westwood, MA    HFC       42:01

6          Matt Medeiros     M31      Saranac, NY                   42:31

7          Ed Sheldon        M52      Hooksett  NH      CMS      43:50

8          Robert Bolton     M56      Vermontville, NY             44:41

9          Kasie Enman      F37       Huntington, VT   GMAA    45:51

10         Dave Dunham    M52      Bradford, MA      CMS      46:11

11         Sara Dunham     F40       Plattsburgh, NY               47:07

12         Brian Northan     M42      Guilderland, NY               48:57

13         Leslie O'Dell       F40       Albany, NH         CMS      49:33

14         Erik Wight          M57      Amherst, MA       aR         50:13

15         Jamie Woolsey   F33       Oneida, NY        aR         50:33

16         Carson Thurber   M33      Bennington, VT               51:50

17         Paul Bazanchuk  M62      CTR Conway, NH CMS      52:10

18         Sarah Canney     F34       Farmington, NH  Six03     53:11

19         Doug Hazelden   M57      Bloomingdale, NY             54:20

20         Peter Keeney      M51      Bar Harbor, ME   aR         55:24

 

50+

                                                                                               

1          Ed Sheldon        M          52         Hooksett, NH                  CMS      43:50

2          Robert Bolton     M          56         Vermontville, NY                         44:41

3          Dave Dunham    M          52         Bradford, MA                  CMS      46:11

4          Erik Wight          M          57         Amherst, MA                   aR         50:13

5          Doug Hazelden   M          57         Bloomingdale, NY                       54:20

6          Peter Keeney      M          51         Bar Harbor, ME               aR         55:24

7          Eric Kimmelman M          52         Amsterdam, NY                          58:30

8          Lennie Schmidt   M          50         Norwood MA                              1:00:09

9          Ted Cowles        M          58         West Granby, CT             HTC       1:01:16

10         Jan Rancatti       M          56         Readsboro, VT                            1:04:23

11         Jeff Clark           M          59         Glenmont, NY                             1:06:35

12         Lynne Matte       M          52         Queensburg, NY                         1:19:11

13         Jamie Howard    M          51         Albany, NY                                 1:52:21