A little bit of snow, a little bit of bare ground and pavement, and a whole lot of ice!
Results from today’s race can be found here.
Race results for the 1/26/2020 Gurney Lane snowshoe race can be found here.
Our thanks go out to RD Bob Underwood and his crew of volunteers for being willing to reschedule from their earlier snowless date and for pulling off a fun race under sloppy conditions!
Race results for the 1/25/2020 Mt Tom Scramble trail races can be found here. Note that trail races receive half series points.
A huge thank you to RD Amy Rusiecki and her crew of volunteers, who keep hanging in there despite years of poor conditions and somehow manage to make the course more interesting every year. This is currently our only race in MA and their hard work is very much appreciated!
Race results for the 1/19/2020 Cock-a-Doodle-Shoe Snowshoe races can be found here.
Our thanks to RD Jeremy Drowne and his crew of volunteers for a top-notch romp through miles of snow and a bewildering maze of trails (along with lots of swag!)
COCK-A-DOODLE-SHOE SNOWSHOE RACES, 2020 EDITION
by Laura Clark
While hens in semi-heated barns are going into hibernation mode and reluctant to lay, that isn’t stopping the Cockadoodle Shoe rooster from getting his exercise. At first it appeared as if the weather would be a repeat of last year, with heavy day-of snowfall making snowmobiles the vehicle of choice to negotiate over the access road to Saranac’s New Land Trust. Even still, with the snow focused mainly on Saturday, our Saratoga carpool of Jen Ferriss, Matt Miczek and myself barely made the cutoff, claiming one of the last few remaining parking spots.
I had just finished viewing Ben Stiller’s Escape at Dannemora after getting up close and personal with the prison building when driving through town before the North American Snowshoe Championships at New Land Trust in 2018. It is a given that all prisons are scary and forbidding, but Dannemora, abutting as it does flush against the town’s main drag, dominates not only the physical but also the mental atmosphere. From the street you can see the guard towers and count the guns, effectively squashing any window shopping impulses. Truly, I did not expect to like the movie, but was just curious to view the prison. But the acting is superb, highlighting the emotions of the prisoners and the workers, who might as well have been inmates. On the drive up, I noted many small, dated homes that most likely housed some of these workers and felt as if I were in a movie set.
One of the neatest things about Cockadoodle is that the Race Director Jeremy Drowne insists on a dedicated kids’ race, something you don’t often see in the snowshoeing circuit. Not only that, he insists that everyone abandon the warm Clubhouse and emerge to cheer the contestants as they make their circuit. And you’d better be there, as the race directions are given outside while we await the children’s return. Then, and only then, are you permitted the warmup ¼ mile hike to the start in the Meadow.
The New Land Trust is a gem, with carefully laid-out trails, providing many miles of intersecting loops. I kept myself amused during the race trying to spot all the unique trail signs: Darkside, Zen, Solstice. While Cockadoodle jettisoned its claim to one of the coldest venues on our circuit (-7 for the North American Championship), this year it is well on its way to the “most snow award,” with lots of heavy leg lifts required and noticeably slower finishing times. But results are never linear on non-groomed routes and can be viewed more in comparison to other entrants than to preceding years.
The most challenging section comes near the end, where pink ribbons direct you away from the way home and onto yet another single track loop. And while this woodsy trail was black-foresty and definitely fun, it was difficult to appreciate so close to the end. When I emerged, I thought I had perhaps a mile to the finish and was stunned to see the Clubhouse right in front of me. If I had known that I would have picked it up sooner rather than lapsing into a “miles to go” routine. Next year, then!
— Laura Clark is an avid snowshoer, trail runner, XC skier, race director, 2017 World Snowshoe Federation Championship 70-99 Female Age Group winner, and 2018 National Championship Half Marathon 70-99 Female Age Group winner.