UPDATE: Pooh Hill Snowshoe Scramble

Strafford, NEW HAMPSHIRE--Nearly a FOOT of fresh powder fell today at King Pine & Purity Spring Resort in East Madison, NH today! KP is the site of Saturday's Pooh Hill Snowshoe Scramble, the 3rd race in the Granite State Snowshoe Series. Those of you who've raced our events in the past can expect the same great hospitality, organization, and prizes. This year, however, will feature a number of exciting new changes and additions. For starters, we're expanding our awards categories to include the fastest growing segment of our sport...juniors (19 years and under). In addition, we've revised our categories (slightly) to assure we get as many folks up on our podium (yes, we have a real podium). Here are our new award categories;

OPEN

Men's & women's overall winners

JUNIORS (19 years old and under)

Boy's & girl's

MASTERS (45-59 years old)
Men's & women's

SUPER MASTERS (60+ years old)

Men's & women's

One Warm Coat

We're also excited to be holding our first One Warm Coat drive in conjunction with our snowshoe race. Please plan to bring any and all "gently used" warm coats you are no longer in need of so that we can get them on the backs of people in need. All donated coats will be given directly to the folks at New Horizons of New Hampshire.

Redhook Awards Ceremony

Giving away lots of great prizes isn't new for us, but a couple of sponsors will be. As always we'll be bringing prizes from Redhook, Kahtoola, All-Terrain, and Hammer Nutrition but this year we've added some great partners including White Mountain Granola, RedMaple Sportswear, Ambler Mountain Works, and Nathan Sports.

Active.com

This year we've made the business decision to absorb the processing fee from Active.com instead of passing it along to you. This means that if online pre-registration says "$20" it's really just $20. The hope is this will encourage more folks to pre-register which makes it easier to plan race day resources (like how many sandwiches I need to order for Saturday!).

And finally, a word about the course. 90% of what you raced last year will be the same. The only change, and likely a permanent one, is the elimination of the "Pooh Hill" climb. A couple of factors played into the decision to remove this section of the course.

1.) Recent logging has decimated the trailhead (see image).

2.) Creating a virgin bushwhack decent is extremely laborious considering my own racing schedule and the thick undergrowth of Toll Hill.

3.) The Granite State Snowshoe Series should offer competitors a variety of courses raced over a variety of terrains and distances. Perhaps some day we'll add a "mountain snowshoe racing series".

Pre-registration closes on Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 5:00 pm...don't wait!