Snowshoe Double (Not the one I planned on)

If you live in the Northeast, you don't need me to tell you the snow conditions have been less than ideal over the past month. A couple of the Granite State Snowshoe Series races have been shuffled around in hopes of hitting a date with actual snow on the ground. What a concept: a snowshoe race with snow....It really should not this difficult in the dead of winter in New Hampshire.

So, this weekend was supposed to be a day/night doubleheader. The Horse Hill 7k would take place in Merrimack NH at 11:30am and 6 1/2 hours later we'd have the infamous Kingman Farm Moonlight 5k in Madbury NH. Well three straight days of 40+ degree weather plus 50 degrees on race day ended that possibility. In the end, the Kingman Farm course could not maintain enough snow for a quality snowshoe event and was removed from the GSSS schedule, effectively becoming an 'snowshoe optional' race. I opted not to participate. It was a tough pill to swallow, as this race had become my favorite event over the last couple of years. I still attended, volunteering instead...guiding mostly runners (and some diehard snowshoers) across the snowless fields of Kingman Farms. Nobody complained.. It was a beautiful, star-filled moonlight night and I made sure to point it out to more than a few participants. Heck, Danny Ferreira even ran without his headlamp on, just to enjoy the awesome night.

Is there a point to this blog post? Well I didn't do the Horse Hill/Kingman double but thankfully we still have some options. I ran the Horse Hill 7k on Saturday and then headed out west for the WMAC Hallockville Orchard 3.7m race on Sunday. Stay tuned. Incredibly boring race reports to follow soon.

Hawley Kiln Snowshoe Race

My snowshoe racing season is officially over. Dungeon Rockers Bill Morse, Jay Curry and I (I'm not a Rocker, just an acidotic groupie) made the trek to the Mohawk Trail State Forest in Hawley, Ma for the 4.6 mile Hawley Kiln Snowshoe Race.

Hawley is a very rural mountainous town somewhere out in western Mass and seemed to be within spitting distance of a number of WMAC snowshoe races (Savoy, Moody Springs, Hallocville to name a few). A little factoid about Hawley is it's one of the most wintery towns in Massachussetts, averaging nearly 110" of snow each year.

Although the course had its share of hills (500ft of climbing), most of the climbing today was done in the car getting to the start (thankfully). If you looked up 'low frills race' in the dictionary, you'd find Hawley Kiln listed first. Registration looked like some sort of drug deal was going down, with people lining up at the drivers window of a small white van, handing the driver cash. Turns out this same white van doubled as the official timer as well.

Onto the race. The start climbed steadily for just under a mile on nicely groomed (and frozen) snowmobile trail before turning sharply into the woods on a trail that was just barely a single track. About 2/3 of the race would be on single track and it was not easy going. First, it was impossible to pass, stepping off the trail would put you in knee deep snow. Second, although the single track was frozen and seemed firm, it was an illusion. Almost immediately we were post holing, breaking through the thin frozen surface and sinking into a foot of snow. I followed a runner the entire time on the first 2 mile section of rolling single track, never looking up from his shoes, trying to avoid his post holes and not end up on my face. Somewhere around 3 miles we joined back up for a brief run on snowmobile trails before heading back onto the final mile of single track. I managed to pass the runner in front of me during this section and made up a little time. Turns out it was a little easier in front since I was a bit lighter and didn't break through as much. I knew I should have asked to pass.....oh well. At about 4 miles we jumped back onto the snowmobile trail for the last .6 miles to the finish.

Overall I was happy with my race, felt pretty good and finished strong. The top 20 are listed below and full results are located at WMAC. Turns out fellow acidotic RACING team mate Matt Cartier was there but I had no idea. With a no-frills race and no shelter, nobody really sticks around and chats much. Beth Herder has some great photos of the race here.

PLACE	FIRST	LAST	AGE	TIME	POINTS
1	Dave	Dunham	44	0:38:32	100
2	Matt	Cartier	33	0:39:56	98.63
3	Tim	Van Orden	40	0:41:20	97.26
4	Tim	Mahoney	29	0:42:18	95.89
5	Peter	Lagoy	49	0:43:05	94.52
6	Steve	Wolfe	44	0:43:32	93.15
7	Brian	Northan	34	0:44:12	91.78
8	Larry	Dragon	48	0:44:56	90.41
9	Ken	Clark	46	0:45:40	89.04
10	Amy	Lane	29	0:46:48	87.67
11	Richard	Teal	31	0:47:09	86.3
12	Bob	Dion	53	0:47:48	84.93
13	Erik	Wight	49	0:47:58	83.56
14	Jay	Kolodzinski	29	0:49:42	82.19
15	Peter	Malinowski	54	0:50:14	80.82
16	Jay	Curry	37	0:50:28	79.45
17	Richard	Chipman	48	0:50:40	78.08
18	Chelynn	Tetreault	33	0:50:46	76.71
19	Glen	Tryson	55	0:50:50	75.34
20	Pat	McGrath	43	0:51:53	73.97

After the race a few of us did head over to the South Face Farm Sugar House for breakfast. Blueberry wheat pancakes with real maple syrup, bacon and coffee and good company. Not a bad way to end the season.






Now a little history of the kiln, the races namesake (courtesy of the 2002 WMAC newsletter).
The kiln was built in 1870 by a man named Albert Dyer. Mr. Dyer was building the kiln for a man named William O. Bassett, who in 1870 was Hawley’s most successful farmer. I don’t think at the time that Mr. Dyer thought he was building the most historical site in the Hawley State Forest. The kiln is also the oldest known flagstone charcoal kiln in New England.

The kiln is a beehive structure, 25ft high, 25ft in diameter and could hold 25 cord of wood during the charcoal process. Today, it is apparently a very popular hangout for connoisseurs of hops and barley based on the number of cans that litter its interior.

Woodford (VT) Snowshoe Race

I headed out to Woodford, VT with Bill Morse for the 1st snowshoe race of the season (or is it the last race of last season???), the I Love Woodford 3.5 mile race. I'm not sure what 'drives' us to travel over 2 1/2hrs to race for less than 30 minutes but oddly we are not alone.
Jim Johnson has a nice write up on the race on his blog ( with links to pictures) so I won't repeat too much, although I will steal one of his pics :-)

Like most people, I wasn't sure what to expect with the first race. The few times I've been out were punishing (humbling) to say the least. After a fairly conservative start I decided to pick it up on the very first hill in order to get decent position going into the single track section (the rest of the race essentially). I got behind Abby Woods (eventual women's winner) and stayed there for most of the race, only passing her after I took her out right before the gated trail. It wasn't on purpose (and she helped) but the result was the same. At least I was able to beat one CMS runner/snowshoer today...

I haven't seen any results posted yet but I believe I ended up in 10th with a time of 27:50. I think styling Dave Dunham (what's up with the orange hair?) was the only 40+ guy ahead of me though. Overall not a bad day.

UPDATE (12/31) - Results can be found here -->Woodford Results

Granite State Snowshoe Series

I know it's a little early to start thinking about snowshoeing in New Hampshire but I have to say I'm pretty excited about it already. I started snowshoe racing last year as a way to recover from nearly a year of injuries. My very first race was the Cobble Mountain Snowshoe Classic in Gilford, NH. It was directed by a relative 'new' face in race directing, Chris Dunn at Acidotic Racing. Chris and the folks at Acidotic Racing did such a great job putting on an outstanding event they got me hooked on snowshoe racing, and particularly on their races (I raced all three of their events this past season). I have to admit I'm not sad to see the Biddeford Race left off the schedule this year... that was probably the single hardest (effort-wise) race I've ever done (road, trail, snow, long or short). It was 100% max HR for the entire race due to the snow conditions. Yikes.

If you live in NH and you want to race snowshoes, you typically would have to travel to Western Mass and race in the WMAC Snowshoe Series. Not anymore!

Welcome to the Granite State Snowshoe Series !
Our own little snowshoe series right in our backyard. Various race directors got together and formed this awesome series. Right now they have 6 races in the series and it may expand to 8. The races are:

1. Pooh Hill Snowshoe Scramble (Jan 10, 2009)
2. Cobble Mountain Snowshoe Classic (Jan 31, 2009)
3. Sidehiller 4 Mile Snowshoe Race (Feb 7, 2009)
4. Frosty's Dash for a Cure (Feb 8, 2009)
5. Horse Hill 7k Snowshoe Race (Feb 15, 2009)
   
6. Kingman Farm Moonlight 5k Race (Feb 21, 2009)

Bring on the snow! (I can't believe I just said that??)