A few inches of fresh powder and a starting line at 10,000' welcomed competitors to the final snowshoe race of the season, the Jeremy Wright North American Snowshoe Championship (also the third race of the Beaver Creek series). Prize money was on the line for series participants, with the spoils going to the those with the fastest combined time for three races in the 5k series and separate 10k series.
Josiah Middaugh had won the two previous 10k's, Lindsay Krause had won both of the women's 5k's, and I had won both of the men's 5k's. If we maintained consistency, we were all in good shape going into the final race. The women's 10k was more open, with a few competitors holding a shot at overall victory.
Opting for a whole evening at home with Wyatt (who now has control--limited, of course--of his arms and loves to smile!), I decided to make the drive in the morning. At 5:15 a.m., I met up with Brandy Erholtz (a fellow Evergreen HS XC coach and world-class mountain runner), and Bryn and Sam, two outstanding young runners on the EHS track and XC teams. Hats of two these high school students for getting up so early on a Sunday morning for a high dose of suffering!
The race went well for the whole crew. Josiah, Lindsay, and I got the race and series wins! Brandy did not feel great but hung on for third in the race and first in the series! Sam and Bryn both finished in the top ten in the women's 10k, finishing ahead of a number of very competitive female and male runners.
After the race, the Evergreen crew was please to head back with smiles on our faces and two poster-sized checks crammed into my tiny car.
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