Author: jediturtle

RD Eliza Hamm has let us know that the trails at Viking Nordic held up surprisingly well through this past week’s wet, warm weather and both the 10k & half marathon scheduled for tomorrow are a GO! Full info can be found here.

VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED TO HELP WITH TOMORROW’S RACES – if you’d like to assist, please contact Eliza either through the Nor’East Trail Runs site or their FB group. Vollies receive credit toward a future race registration, a hat, access to the Nordic center trails for the rest of the day, and great appreciation from the race organizers.

After a week of somewhat challenging weather, the 2019 Mt Tom Snowshoe Scramble was surprisingly run as a snowshoe race, thanks to a re-routing of the course that lengthened it slightly, introduced a few new hills, and moved the major climb to later in the loop. Runners had the option of one or two loops. The snow had held up surprisingly well, with decent coverage and a mixed of frozen hard-pack and icy powder.

Runners were given the option of using either snowshoes or trail shoes with traction assistance, so the race has been scored as two separate races based on choice of footwear. Stephen Kerr and Kathy Furlani were the 1st finishes of the 3.4mi snowshoe race, with only Jason Kudron & Tom Tifft completing the 2nd loop on snowshoes. Kelsey Allen finished first for both loops of the trail race, seconded by Joseph Bernstein on the 1st loop and Wayne Ball on the 2nd.

Thanks to Amy Rusiecki and her team of volunteers for continuing the Mt Tom tradition despite multiple challenges – currently this is our only series race that is actually held in MA! Full results can be found here, and photos of most of the runners on the 1st loop are here.

These aren’t part of our series but some of you may have been planning to check out one or both days – the Catskill Snowshoe Festival in Windham NY scheduled for this weekend has been postponed until Mar 2 & 3 due to lousy course conditions after this week’s warm, wet weather.

After near perfect conditions last Sunday the week brought us temperatures into the 50’s and rain, rain, and more rain. Despite that our hard-working RD’s are determined to bring us a weekend of the best snowshoeing we can get given the trail conditions.

Saturday 2/9 finds us just north of Saratoga Springs at the Camp Saratoga 8k in the Wilton Wildlife Preserve. Word from RD Laura Clark is that despite the weather this week conditions aren’t too bad – there are some icy patches and they’ve re-routed a section to avoid a treacherous downhill, but overall the snow cover has held up better than expected. The recommendation is to bring trail shoes and traction assistance just in case there needs to be a last minute switch to a trail race, and waterproof boots might be helpful for fording the moat around the cabin that houses registration and the post-race festivities. Registration and race info can be found here.

Sunday 2/10 brings a return to the Viking Nordic Center in Londonderry VT for another of the Nor’Easter Snowshoe Series races, this time a morning 10k or half marathon. The latest from RD Eliza Hamm is that while the singletrack may not be useable, the hope is that the rolled Nordic ski trails will continue to hold up through the upcoming rain – and in any case, Viking Nordic has plenty of trails to play with, so she’s confident they’ll be able to put together Sunday’s courses. Registration and race info can be found here – note that both WMAC series runners and current USSSA members can get registration discounts.

The season is flying by and will be over before we know it – here’s hoping you can all get outside and have fun in whatever snow we have this weekend!