Race Report Contributor: Judy, Yvonne, Mike, Wendy (Edited by H.Piel)
Event Name: Summertown Forest Snowshoe Race
Date / Location: Feb-11, 2023 ; Cornwall Region
Synopsis: Part of the Dion Snowshoe Race Series, a great venue with a short road-trip with a bunch of friends to head out and run through a relatively open forest in nice winter snow conditions. Wendy, Mike, Yvonne and Judy completed the 7.5K course, and Claire did the 4.5K circuit. Well done to all!
My Race Experience (Judy): Starting off the morning, Harold dropped me off at Wendy’s place, where everyone collected to car pool out to the race. Collecting everyone’s snowshoes and gear: off we went for a small road trip!
Getting to the Summertown Forest, we quickly got ourselvces organized for the run. Grabbing our bibs, adjusting snowshoes, and having the pre-race briefing. It was a beautiful sunny day and the snow on the trees looked like something from a postcard. The groomers were also out, preparing the first 500m to be wide and somewhat packed, but that quickly changed to single-track once we got into the woods.
As soon as we started to run I felt one of my feet sliding around in my snowshoe. I stopped to tighten it but it did not really make a difference. I did not have any other ideas so I kept running. The recent snowfall made for soft and uneven footing. Folks were pretty good about letting people pass but it required a bit of a slog through heavy snow to make the pass.
When I removed my snowshoes at the finish I discovered the source of my “slip sliding away” feeling. The binding had broken off the base of the snowshoe!
Hey, was also great to get some of the official photos from the race crew, and these nice running shots are complements of the race photographer: Photo Credit: Greg Leskiem.
Wrapping things up, we all had a blast and enjoyed the day. Lise from Natural Fitness Labs took the overall women’s win for the 7.5K. I was able to take the 1st place Masters women’s win.
Final Note: gameplan was to drop Judy off at Bushtukah (Richmond Road), as Harold needed to do some minor shopping. Well, nothing is that simple. As everyone rolled in to take a look, and before we knew it, many of us walked out with purchases of some form or other as the winter gear is being sold off. May have also picked up a birthday gift for an upcoming Birthday! And as an added bonus they fixed my broken snowshoe while we were shopping!
Run K2J 