Jan. 13th South Pond Shuffle 2 ¼ hours drive to Florida! Robert (Molnar) thought it quite funny when he sent email to Hungary saying that he was “snowshoe racing in Florida”.  I forgot that you really need a place to sit down when putting on snowshoes. Saw a lot of people who had set up camp chairs, next time! Conditions were very good, Sunny 20’s. Much more snow than last year so much so that the start had to be pushed back. Not that tough a course (compared to the others), rolling hills and one long up at 3m. Warmed up on the road 3 miles then ½ mile in snowshoes, felt weird to be in snowshoes again after almost a year.  Out in third, 2nd in first 1/2m took lead @ 2m. Nowhere to pass on the trail, and deep snow on the sides. When Leigh went over the tree that was down, I went under. He almost came down on my head! Pushed hard on the hill. Leigh kept close right to the end. Warmed down 3 miles on the road. Quads very sore after, I think from not doing the “snowshoe shuffle” in a long time. Had about 50 of the most excellent cookies and a couple of cokes. Rich (Bolt) had a bowl of very spicy chili, he spilled some in the car and it ate a hole right through! A most excellent breakfast/lunch! We stopped on the way home to take some pictures on the Whitcomb summit. Great views of Monadnock and Greylock. 108 mile week for me. 

Jan. 20th Greylock Glenn 2:50 drive. Thought it would be worse with weather concerns had time to stop in North Adams for a coffee. 20’s and cloudy, quite a bit nicer than last year. Went out with Robert for 3 mile warm up on the roads, another mile in shoes. I Went out in third, Robert was very fast the first ½ mile. Took the lead and pushed on the hill and ran hard from 1 to 2. Tried to relax last mile, worried about racing the Derry 16m the next day. Ken 2nd looked solid coming in , Robert held on for 3rd , Bob Dion and Dave Hannon did some frantic kicking for last 100m after going slightly wrong at the final turn. Leigh cut his head a couple of days before and couldn’t compete. That is why I try to avoid manual labor at all costs! Nice fire going after the race, and a heck of a lot more comfortable than last year. 115 mile week for me.

Jan. 20th Up North Orienteering,  Night Orienteering (snowshoe) Very cold night! Big party at Windblown ski area for the Up North Orienteering club. 1st in snowshoe division 36:50 for 5k. Robert ran faster but one control was missing, he put his time as one second slower than mine. Robert was National champion in Hungary (for Orienteering) and can kick my butt any time he wants! Pretty cool running with the headlight off in the woods. Only 3 finishers in snowshoe division, most people skied. Beautiful groomed trails, very fast for running (or skiing). 

Jan. 27th, Saratoga Battlefield. More than four hours drive part through a wicked squall on the high point of the turnpike. Snow showers most of the way. Robert and I were the first ones in the parking lot! Weren’t sure if anyone was coming. Did a 3 mile warm up on the road with Robert, saw a LOT of deer tracks on the side of the road. I was very tired and sore, been having trouble with my ankle and hamstring all season. The race was on a loop course of 4.2m on very fast groomed trail. I went out in a dead sprint with Leigh. Really liked the wide trail, we could run side by side. Pulled away just after the mile. Saw a deer run across the path at just after 2 miles, that was cool. I had to stop in the last ½ mile due to somewhat confusing signage (none said “finish” with an arrow) all of the trails seemed to go in the wrong direction. It was kind of funny, I could see the finish up on the hill but didn’t know how to get there. Only lost a few seconds before a passerby yelled “this way”. I said “you sure?” as I went by and got no response! The up at the end was kind of tough but not too bad. Someone had told me before the start that the “huge” downhill at the start would kill everyone at the finish. Obviously he has not raced any of the tougher courses in the circuit. . Robert broke both shoes (my wife’s Tubbs!!) and tried to fix them. No luck as the rivets had broken. Fastest race in the circuit (per mile). 116 mile week for me. 

Feb. 3-4 Raced Lynn 15k (48;09-2nd )and Cape Elizabeth 10m (53:50-1st ), missed the Saratoga Winterfest race. 101 mile week and very sick stomach after the CE 10m. At Winterfest Leigh ran 20:00, Ken 20:32. First Female Tracey VanDyke 26:33. 82 finishers. Holy cow! Talk about fast times! Are you sure you guys ran the same course as last year? 

Feb. 10th US National Championships Plattsburgh NY. 2.5 hours drive to Montpelier the night before. 2.5 hours drive to Plattsburgh. Winds 50+mph, wicked ferry ride! Very windy and snow squalls at the race sight (no electricity). I was checking out my shoes prior to the race and saw that one of the rivets was gone on both shoes. I complained out loud (to no one in particular) that I couldn’t believe that the Tubb’s were broken. A rep. From Tubb’s came over and fixed them with screws! 2 loops of 5k with a couple of good climbs. I took the lead at 3/4m and ended up winning by 5 minutes. Cool views of Camels hump (couching lion) and Mt Kearsarge (Warner NH) during my drive home. 50 finishers (plus another 25 in the citizens race). 104 mile week for me. 

Feb. 11th Windblown New Ipswich NH. Up at 5am, tired from yesterday. Set flagging on the course (5 degrees at sunrise) with Robert. Windy but sunny and man was it cold. Lots of folks hanging out inside before the race. It was great to have indoor facilities! Caught some great views from the top of Barrett mountain. 40 minutes to set the course with 100 flags and a roll of surveyor tape. I went out with Robert for 1 mile more warm up. The 5k course had each K marked. My K splits were 348 632 407 347 330. The hill (2nd K) was a little over 500’ in just 1K. My fastest race of the year, but the course was groomed and very, very fast. Took a big group out for a warm down, picking up flagging. We stopped at the top to take in the incredible scenery. Susannah Landreth ran a heck of a race in 27:52 to finish 6th overall. 21 finishers with most of them being first time racers!

 Feb. 17th 2 ¼ drive to Hawley Kiln. Slick roads especially last 5 miles, my stomach was in knots watching Robert drive. It was very cold and windy. I did a warm up on road with Robert, we had to turn at 8 minutes out due to a big (huge) dog in the road. Went out pretty hard with Leigh, had to ask the skier to let us by! Forgot how tough this course was, I think I told Robert that it wasn’t that bad just one major hill. The distance and the snow conditions combined for one long day. Cathy (my Mrs.) didn’t even get out of the car, she figured it was much more comfortable inside (she was right). I ran pretty quick for the first 2m (14:57), very slow for the middle 3m (30:51), then last 2m in 15:32. Did a warm down in shoes 1m and on the road for 3m. Big bonk during the last 2 miles and right through the warmdown. Leigh fell back after 2 miles and finished solid in 65:30, Ken closed on Leigh in the last 2 to take third. Robert ran the middle three only one minute slower than me (despite my inaccurate course description). The damn “stair climb” on the 3m loop was brutal! I fell three or four times on that hill! 120 mile week for me, pretty tired. 

March 3rd, 2 ¼ drive to Hawley again for Moody Springs. A lot of snow squalls on the way, but roads weren’t too bad. Nice 2 miles easy on the road with Robert, very slow, a bit slick. Just before the start, got cornered by a snowmobiler. He started jawing with Ken, that we should “watch out”, that the snowmobilers “weren’t happy” about us using “private” trails. Ken was very diplomatic. The same guy was doing about 40 mph and blew by me on the downhill. They don’t seem to understand “multi-use”. I went out with Leigh, hoping it wouldn’t be too fast. I was sick all week. Leigh and Robert also had been sick all week, so I guess all things were even! Running behind Leigh in the first couple of miles was kind of dangerous. He would brush a tree and I’d get blinded with fresh powder! Great running on the roads, and very tough running off the roads. I took a spill just after Moody Spring and got a good slice on my hand. I don’t think there was a tougher stretch this year than the last mile before getting back onto the road. I fell about 10 times! The funny part was that I had just passed a few of the people on the 6 mile course and was moving well. They must’ve wondered how I could run the race, falling down so much! I thought the race would run about 15 minutes slower than last year. Turned out to be about seven minutes slow for me. Leigh looked smooth coming down the hill on his way to winning the WMAC series. 

All in all, a great season for snowshoe racing. I’ve started to ice my ankles (bruised from kicking myself) to help recover from the season! My plans for next year: Get at least two guys to come with me to a race. Once I get someone to run one race they are HOOKED!

Dave Dunham

Susannah Landredth 

Robert Molnar