Snowshoe #7 - Horse Hill - 2.20.10

I got lost. I missed a left turn on the power line road and continued on ahead. One of the racers in the pack with me finally said "hey, i don't see any tracks ahead of us." An extremely disappointing moment, eclipsed only by turning around to see a dozen other racers bang the left and take the lead we had built on them. More on this later. Michael and the crew from 3c Race Productions put together another great event by shoveling snow onto the thin parts of the trail and supplying plenty of cornbread and kale soup after the fact. This was a GSSS event and the leader thus far held his own. Jim Johnson (1st/27:07) was in attendance so the outcome was somewhat predictable as it became a battle for second place among the high seeds. Acidotic teammates Ann Rasmussen (women's winner/33:59),Steve Wolfe, Richie Blake and Michael Amarello rounded out our contingent amongst the 46 that showed for the event. I was able to recover some ground after my mishap in the woods and finished a dismal 32nd in 40:40. After the race it was back to the house to shower, stretch and grab a quick nap before the nightcap. Next up the Kingman Farm 5K in Madbury.

Timmy & Team Cameron

S(no)wshoe #6 - Frosty's Dash - 2.14.10

No snow. No good. After other postponements I was happy just to be racing again. Frosty's Dash for a Cure to benefit Cystic Fibrosis turned out to be a road race in the end. The course which would have normally taken us up and down and around the fairways of the Atkinson Country Club gave way to a traditional asphalt surface of cart paths and roadways. Set to be a 5K or 3.1 miles it reportedly came a little short 2.9 miles I am told by those who ran with gps watches. Jim Johnson was among the few snowshoers who still came out for the race as this was part of the GSSS. He took the tape at 15:29 and was followed by my Acidotic Racing teammates Ann Rasmussen placing 8th at 19:29, Richie Blake 11th at 20:16 and Gary Rueter 43rd at 25:18. I pulled in at 21:59 for 17th place out of the 120 racers that showed for the converted snowshoe event. As always Michael from 3C Race Productions directed a nice event and Deb Fudge and her crew put together a nice pre and post party for all those that attended. Next up is a double on Saturday. If the projected snow holds up we should be shoeing at both Horse Hill 7k in Merrimack on Saturday morning and then Kingman Farm 5K in Madbury on Saturday night. It will be a long hard day. We'll see how it goes. Wish us all luck and remember we are always thankful for your $upport of JDRF during this entire snowshoe series.

Timmy & Team Cameron

Snowshoe #5 - Sidehiller - 1.30.10

This was slated to be a 4 mile race. That has been the distance in the past. Due to the rain we experienced last week race director Paul Kirsch was forced to change the route and the length. Rather than leaving the fairgrounds and crossing the street for some bushwhacking, we stayed on campus and did 3 delightful loops around the grounds in Center Sandwich, NH. Thank God - it was a dry cold. The temperature at the start of the race was set to be right around zero degrees and factoring in the bit of wind we had i am betting it might have been a tad below that mark. The Sidehiller was race #4 in the GSSS and also a part of the WMAC series. In addition to that it was the only qualifier for the US Snowshoe Championship to be run in NH. So all the stars came out to play. The front row of the starting line had the likes of Jim Johnson, Kevin Tilton, Ben Nephew, Dave Dunham, Josh Ferenc, Jim Pawlicki, Charlie Therriault and Chris Dunn. The nice thing about a loop course is after the first lap you know what you're in for on the second lap. Although when you are making the second loop and you realize you still have another one to go...well, at least we were warm at that point. Congratulations to Kevin Tilton from Team CMS/Inov8 he took the tape with a speedy finish of 31:08. Josh Ferenc grabbed 2nd and Jim Johnson "took the day off" and grabbed third snapping his undefeated streak this winter which had grown to 7 races until Saturday. Mind you he was running hurt. Still the man to beat at any race in any weather and a great competitor. My team Acidotic Racing was unfortunately without our best bet Geoff Cunningham sidelined with tendonitis. Here is hoping we get him back for the upcoming Exeter Snowshoe Hullabaloo at Fort Rock. It is a gnarly course and extremely technical, so I have been told. Acidotic was well represented in the top twenty by teammates Charlie Therriault, Tim Cox, Danny Ferriera, Steve Wolfe, Ri Fahnestock and Chris Dunn. I pulled in at 46:55 to grab 52nd place out of 91 ice cold racers. Still thawing out and getting ready to hit a training run right now. Fort Rock is going to be a test and I need to get ready. Thanks for checking out the blog and for helping my snowshoe races $upport the good work at JDRF all in the names of my son Cameron. See you in the powder.

Timmy & Team Cameron