The highlight of the snowshoeing season brought us to the mountains around Syracuse, NY. Going out with 10 people from Wisconsin and some friends from Minnesota, as we drove up and saw a hill that led up to a chalet, I made a joke to others saying that that huge hill was the last stretch up to the finish. I figured I would fool everyone and just kid around. As we arrive at the race site, we found out that the hill actually was the finishing stretch to the finish line and was appropriately named "Suicide Hill." I guess the joke was on me. Starting the race, the pace was faster than any other snowshoe race I had done before. I actually found that snow was flying so fast and people were jockeying for position elbowing each other so much that it was tough to stay on your feet the first minute of the race. I took the opening stretch faster than I should have and very quickly brought myself into the red zone. I think I got caught up in much of the racing excitement. I spent the next few kilometers recovering and getting back into the groove of the race. Perhaps a slow and easy start would have been better, but a lack of experience with a national snowshoe race made for a surprise as to what the start would be like. The course was also extremely difficult. In the midwest, we have such little snow that what snow we do have has been thoroughly packed down very well before a race. Trails are usually very flat (or with minor hills) and trails are usually fairly wide open with little technical difficulty. This course started out with the first couple of kilometers with a gradual uphill. The snow conditions were sugary, making for very difficult footing. Heavier racers had a definite disadvantage as a result. I sunk in 6-8 inches in many spots along the course which sucks the energy right out of you. In addition, the singletrack was not quite wide enough for a wide-stanced runner like myself. I found that some spots were so narrow (barely over 14-16" wide) that I had trouble maintaining footing and actually fell in a few spots. I am used to wide open trails. I also also was not used to the hills. Holy cow were the hills huge. I had not seen hills like these in my life. I can verify, however, that it was a course definitely worthy of being the site to host a nationals race. My finishing time of 1:02.58.87 was good for 49th out of 133. I was hoping to finish in the top half, not knowing what to expect. I think it sets a good standard for next year. Another friend of mine from Rice Lake, John Kann, finished in 1:03.44.36. This year's Championship race was the first time this Chrono Timing has been used to track a snowshoe race on the globe. Ken Auyer of Auyer Race Timing stated that this timing system had already been used on a small race known as "The New York Marathon." Race results are posted virtually as soon as the last racer crosses the finish line. This race goes down as one of the top 3 hardest races I have done. Next year Nationals will be in the midwest. It's very likely they will be in Wisconsin or Minnesota so it will be nice to be close to home. Pictures were taken by Ryan Kann.
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