Snowshoe News

Snowshoe Shortage Alert!

BRING YOUR OWN SNOWSHOES TO THE FINGER LAKES SNOWSHOE!!!

As we are writing this newsletter (Dec. 13), we are having problems securing enough loaner snowshoes from Redfeather. It looks like we'll have a limited number (around 10 pair) to offer to participants without their own equipment. So, please try to rent or borrow a pair of snowshoes -- racers or hikers or clunkers -- any brand will do. We do not want to cancel the snowshoe race, and most races do not offer snowshoes anyway. Please check our FLRC website for updated details, or call Sherrer at 387-6281 as race day approaches. If there is no snow, the event becomes a trail run -- no cancellations.

Snow Stuff

*Jan. 6: How-to Snowshoe Clinic, Spencer Crest Nature Center, Corning Community College, 10 a.m. to noon. It's free! Presented by the Wineglass Running Club, with assists from Reynolds and Sherrer. Call 387-6281 for information.

*Jan. 27: The Finger Lakes Runners Club presents the fourth annual Finger Lakes Snowshoe, Finger Lakes National Forest, Hector, 11 a.m. Events: 1-mile "try-it" fun run and 7.6-mile race. If no snow, trail runs will be substituted. Red Feather Snowshoes will provide a limited number of shoes for use on race day. Contact Joe Reynolds, P.O. Box 21, Hector, N.Y. 14841, or Diane Sherrer at 387-6281. Entry enclosed.

Snowshoe Money, Honey!

The first annual Global Snowshoe Challenge, billed as the richest snowshoe race in America, is set for Feb. 10 at the Beartown Ski Center in Plattsburgh. It will include the inaugural 5K and 10K U.S. National Snowshoe Championships too! Prize money!

Events: men's 10K, women's 5K, a high school 5,000 meter (boys and girls) and a citizen's race (5K) for men and women.

For details, call Mark Elmore at (518) 643-8806; or visit their website at: http://www.geocities.com/globalsnowshoechallenge/index.htm.

Not Marshmallow Fluff!

(TENTATIVE) Feb. ??: The 2nd annual Marshmallow Man and Woman -- or Team -- Winter Big Buns Race: 5K cross country ski, 5K run and one-mile +/- snowshoe, Lisle/Binghamton area. Contact Ron Slocum, 192 McFadden Rd., Apalachin, N.Y. 13732. (Ed. note: Like FLRC, it seems once an event is published, it's cancelled. Big Buns is a goner -- I think?! And this Marshmallow triathlon might not go on either. Unfortunately, I'm not contacted in time to fix the publicity, and the website calendar has not been completely updated. Go ahead, and check the TCRC website for details.)

Empire State Winter Games

The Empire State Winter Games are set for Lake Placid, Feb. 23-25: call (518) 474-8889, or look at their web site at: www.empirestategames.org.

Running-related: Nordic Sprints (a.k.a. snowshoe:100-, 200-and 400-meter dashes, 1,500-meters, and 5,000-meter snowshoe races. Contact Chuck Perlmutter of Binghamton at 607/729-3297; or Jim Tucker at Paul Smith's College in the Adirondack region at 518/327-3363; or Mark Elmore at 518/643-8806. You must qualify for the Nordic sprints by attending two-day meets (or doubling up on one trial day and run two double heats).

Call Perlmutter for qualifying site, date and details in CNY -- ASAP, The Nordic sprint qualifiers in our locale are down on the calendar for Jan. 13-14, at Choconut Center Park, Union area (Binghamton), time ? Perlmutter is our region's snowshoe contact. You have to attend a qualifier to go to the ESG; snowshoe races now have more masters age-categories (by 10-year age groups).

2001 Snowshoe Race Schedule

From the Western Massachusetts Athletic Club (WMAC). Applications available at www.runwmac.com

*Jan. 13: South Pond Shuffle 4-Miler, Florida, Mass. Contact John Scalise at scargy@hotmail.com, or call (413) 789-1121.

*Jan. 20: Greylock Glen 5K, Adams, Mass. Contact Paul Hartwig at wmac@c-4.org., or call (413) 743-0722.

*Jan. 27: Saratoga Battlefield Frost Faire 4.2 miles, Saratoga Springs. Contact Tony Mangano at ammsm4@juno.com, or call (518) 584-3488.

*Feb. 4: Saratoga Winterfest 5K, Saratoga Springs. Contact Laura Clark at sar clark@sals.edu, or call (518) 581-1278.

*Feb. 11: Le Shoe de Blue 5 miles, Indian Lake, N.Y. Contact Tom Warrington, Box 167, Blue Mountain, N.Y. 12812.

*Feb. 17: Hawley Kiln Klassic 7 miles, Hawley, Mass. Contact Edward Alibozek at edtrnews@yahoo.com, or call (860) 668-7484.

*Feb. 18: Onteora 4.5 miles, Rhinebeck, N.Y. Contact Debbie Briggs at (845) 876-6214.

*Mar. 3: Moody Springs 8.6 miles, West Hawley, Mass. Contact Edward Alibozek at edtrnews@yahoo.com, or call (860) 668-7484.