I love the Craftsbury Outdoor Center in Vermont. After racing there at the Nensa Cup race in December, I saw another opportunity to return and stay at the facility, eat the terrific food, and ski on their great trails – the Craftsbury Marathon at the end of January. The enthusiasm was high and they had room, so I reserved for my husband and son as well, and my XC Ottawa teammate Megan decided to come back “en famille” too, with husband Karl, her 2-year old daughter, and Karl’s parents.
With little snow in December we were racing on a 1 km loop, and even that was enjoyable because the tracks were expertly groomed and the event was so well planned. I raced here in December 2013, but only on the sprint course because of an ice storm that cancelled the distance event.
If I liked this venue with 1 km to ski on, just imagine the possibilities of a marathon!
For the marathon, we were also skiing loops, but a nice 12.5 -km loop that offered a lot of variety in terrain. I chose to ski the 25 km event, while Megan and Karl skied the 50 km. Snow hasn’t been plentiful in Vermont this year, but snowmaking at Craftsbury once again helped organizers to produce a track with good coverage.
A Women’s Only Start! A big plus at this event is that the women racers had a dedicated start – which often isn’t the case at ski marathons, which typically have women starting with the men. One disadvantage of starting with the men is that you can quickly lose sight and contact of your competition in the mass start melee.
We started 10 minutes after the men, and after about 4 km we were down to a pack of 3 that included my XC Ottawa teammate Megan and Isabel Caldwell (younger sister of U.S. Ski Team member Sophie Caldwell, and a former Dartmouth and Stratton Mountain School athlete). A funny thing was that there was no way to distinguish 25 km and 50 km competitors. While I knew Megan was skiing 50 km, I didn’t know what Isabel was doing. It was quite enjoyable skiing with them, and every turn was a new adventure because I didn’t know this 12.5 km loop at all. Into lap 2 I decided to pick up the pace – when Isabel stayed back with Megan I gathered she was doing the 50 km as well.
All in all it was a great weekend of relaxing and fun racing. Megan raced really well and pulled away from Isabel on her final lap to win the 50 km, and Karl was second in the 50 km (Karl has a nice write-up of the weekend here). You’ll find a link to the results here.
Sunday was an opportunity explore more of the Craftsbury trails, and we were lucky enough to be led by Keith Woodward, part of their great grooming team.
You can read more about Sheila’s racing here.
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