Feel Good Farm Snowshoe Race

Usually when we go to a snowshoe race, there are 2 or 3 Turtles competing, but Feel Good Farm was a major breakthrough for the club. We went up to New Hampshire with 6 runners, should have been 7 except for my gimpy knee. Regular shoers Bob Jackman and Ben Keefe were joined on the line with Dave Principe and son, DJ as well as John Peabody and Jenny Saunders. The latter 4 runners have never run a snowshoe race before and ended up choosing a race that might not be the best initiation to the sport. The course is between 4 and 5 miles, exact milage really doesn't matter as you can't compare race to race because the courses vary so much. Jim Pawlicki noted in his blog that his Garmin measured at 4.03 miles. Total climbing elevation was 2200 feet. I ran this race last year when the snow was much deeper, this year you had to deal with some icy, almost bare ground with a lot of rocks in a few spots. As i hiked up to the top of Moose Mountain with Jackie Jackman to find a spot to capture some good photos, i noted to her that there were some real treacherous downhill running and it made me happy that i decided not to run here.

It turned out to be quite the day for a snowshoe race. Temperatures were approaching 45 and the sun was shining brightly. There was some wind at the top of Moose Mt, but nothing to affect the run. The big question for the day was how to dress for the race. A few brave souls went with shorts, but many opted for tank tops and short sleeves with their tights.

I parked myself at the top of the second climb and waited. First up and over was Kevin Tilton with a sizable lead, first Turtle up was Bob Jackman in 5th place with newby Dave Principe running in the top 20. Next Turtles up were Ben, then DJ, John P and Jenny. By then i was shooting from the downhill where everyone looked great. I even got a few smiles as runners ran by the camera. As we moved back down the hill shooting as i went, Kevin came by for a second time looking somewhat out of control, but that is how you run downhill in snowshoes and you really are in control of your running. This section of trail had little snow, lots of ice and rock. This must have been the reason for a number of broken cleats on snowshoes, hopefully they were wearing Dions where replacing a cleat is a cinch. Once past here, there was plenty of snow for the rest of the downhill into the finish.

Bob finished up in 5th, Dave P was 19th, Ben came in 28th. John Peaboby was 49th followed by DJ Principe(11years old) in 64th and Jenny at 73rd place. There were 100 finishers, a bit of an improvement from the 12 finishers last year. I am not sure how the team awards go, but it looks like the Turtles did ok as we had 3 in the top 28. CMS Polarbears put 3 in the top 6 and Acidotic Racing put lots of runners in the top 30. Post race was a good time. There are no indoor facilities here at Feel Good  Farm, so the warm weather made it quite enjoyable. There was a big pot of portuguese kale soup, thanks to race director Mike Amorello. I heard Mike comment that the RI'ers should have brought up some quahogs. We will Mike, one of these races.

Next up is the Pooh Hill Snowshoe Race on the 23rd. I plan on running this one. It is really pissing me off that the knee isn't healing as fast as i want or like.

As is tradition after a snowshoe race, we hit a brewpub on the way home. This time it was Martha's Exchange in Nashua. We were joined by Dan Scotina, Chris Smith and Emily Trespas. The beer was good, i had a Belgian called Barrel of Apathy, very tasty. There was a lack of a real IPA which really bugs me since i am a hop head when it comes to beers. The chicken mozzarella panini was very good but i would not recommend the sweet potato fries, they were over cooked with no meat on them. I heard no complaints about other beers, so i assume that everyone liked what they had. I think Emily had the appropriately named "Blond Bombshell" A fun time was had by all. After next weeks race we get to hit Portsmouth Brewing, i can't wait, it is one of my favourites.

On a side note to Steve Wolfe, sorry to hear about your dog. It really hurts to lose a pet.

Want to see a bunch of photos from the race, see my site: ScottMasonPhoto

More photos to see here at Krissy Koslosky's site.

Race Blog Roll Call:  Dare Mighty Things - Chis Dunn
                                Breakheart Trail Running - Dan Scotina
                                   Good Clean Run - Jim Pawlicki
                                

Race Results here at Coolrunning

SeeYa Next Week

Scott