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Right now that looks like a decent possibility!

First up is the long-running Camp Saratoga 8k at the Wilton Wildlife Preserve in Wilton, NY on Saturday. Today’s storm dropped about a foot of fresh snow, so conditions should be great! Race time is 10:30 AM; if the main parking fills up, you may have a park in one of the alternate lots a bit further away, so be sure to leave enough time to walk to registration/check-in. Online registration remains open and there will be day-of as well (print and fill out a registration form to save time Saturday morning.) This year is the debut of a brand-new course which features trails we’ve used in previous iterations and a few that we haven’t – for those of you that remember running past the finish line only to endure another km or two of climbs and descents will be happy to know that we will now be heading straight to the finish after coming around the shore of the pond. All the info you could want and then some can be found on our race page.

If conditions hold, Sunday will see the debut of the Capital Hills 5k at the CRNA‘s new Nordic Center at Albany’s Capital Hills Golf Course. Albany got 6-8″ of snow today, which should be just enough to hold the race if conditions hold over the next few days. Race time is 10 AM, with day of registration – print out a waiver and fill it out to save time on Sunday morning. As always, all the important info is on our race page. Probably best to keep an eye out here and on Facebook for this one; while the RD’s are very optimistic about the prospects for Sunday, a small change in the weather (warming or rain) could result in too little snow for it to happen. We’ll keep our fingers crossed that conditions remain favorable!

On Saturday 1/27, 34 runners braved the icy, rocky, hilly trails at Mt Tom State Reservation in Holyoke MA for the 2nd annual Western MA (No)Snowshoe Scramble. The course was a 5k loop which 10k runners got to enjoy twice. 15 runners showed excellent judgment and completed the 5k, with Eric Nazer & Kristin Tetrault taking first place. 19 hardy souls braved a second loop and completed the 10k, which was won by Apryl Sabadosa & Jason Kudron. Thanks go out to RD Carolyn Stocker and her crew of volunteers for making the race possible – everyone keep your fingers crossed that next year we can actually have snow for this one!

Results for both races can be found here.

There are many methods of traction assistance commercially available – Yaktrax, microspikes, nanospikes, studded shoes, you name it. But one of the easiest and cheapest methods to give better traction on icy surfaces is to install sheet metal screws in the soles of your running shoes. Here’s an excellent guide to doing so:

skyrunner.com screw shoe instructions

I’ve been doing this for around a decade now. Originally I used an old pair of trail shoes, but now I have a dedicated pair that I’ve used for several winters in a row (and all I’ve needed to do is occasionally replace a screw that has come out.)

Lowes carries the screws and opens at 8 AM Sunday morning if you’d like to make your own. I will also bring my cordless drill and several packages of screws to race check-in tomorrow and will be glad to add screws to anyone’s shoes, first-come first-served, wrapping up in time for the mandatory pre-race meeting at 10:40. Best of all,if you want to you can take the screws out later on with virtually no damage to the soles of your shoes.

 

Given the lack of snow on the ground and in the forecast, the Saratoga Winterfest 5k on Sunday will be held as a trail race. There is enough ice on the trails, however, that traction aids (studded shoes, microspikes, Yaktrax, etc) are MANDATORY for safety.

Online registration is still open. Day of registration will be in the Admin Building from 9:30-10:30, with a mandatory pre-race meeting indoors at 10:40 and the race starting in the quad at 11 AM. For more info please check our Winterfest race page.