Trail Race or Snowshoe, HILLS Were Climbed!

Series Race #4 took place on Sunday 1/22 at the Mt Tom Reservation in Holyoke, MA, with the 1st Annual Western MA Snowshoe Scramble – the only hitch being a complete lack of snow, resulting in two fairly challenging trail races. 13 runners ran a single 5k loop, and 27 tackled a 2nd time around for 10k. The course climbed steadily for about a mile and 500 ft of gain, then later dropped even more rapidly to finish where it started, on trails that sported an abundance of rocks, roots, and in some spots ice. Drew Best and Apryl Sabadosa were the first runners to complete the 10k; the 5k was won by Melissa Cooney and Brian Donoghue. Best of all, the rain held off until all the runners had finished!

Results are posted here and on Coolrunning.com. Photos courtesy of volunteer Sam Harding can be found here.

Many thanks to RD Carolyn Stocker and her crew of volunteers for all their hard work to make this race happen!

While not a series race, a number of our regulars opted for snowshoes on Sunday and headed to the Oak Mountain Ski Center in Speculator, NY for their annual Oak Runner 5k/10k races. Oak Mountain is primarily a downhill ski area, so runners here were also treated to some lengthy climbs and steep descents. Results of both races can be found here, with photos available as well: album 1 , album 2, album 3, & album 4.