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Warm weather, rain threaten Saturday’s Snowshoe Championships

‘We’re going to have a lot of fun no matter what,’ mayor says

Paul Smith’s College snowshoe racers Joseph St. Cyr and Chloe Matillio test out the trails at Dewey Mountain Recreation Center in Saranac Lake Feb. 16 in preparation for Saturday's World Snowshoe Championships. (Enterprise photo — Chris Knight)

SARANAC LAKE — Organizers of the World Snowshoe Championships have moved the race course entirely to Dewey Mountain Recreation Center.

Temperatures are expected to approach 60 degrees and rain is in the forecast on Saturday. The base of snow for course has also taken a hit from this week’s warm weather.

“In light of continued warm weather and the weekend forecast, we decided to proactively adjust the competitions now instead of waiting,” village Mayor Clyde Rabideau said in a press release issued Thursday morning. “Dewey Mountain is in excellent shape. They’ve built up a good snow base this winter, and have the benefit of a heavily wooded environment to protect their snow.”

New plan

Organizers originally planned to start the 5-kilometer and 10-kilometer championship races in front of the Harrietstown Town Hall. From there competitors would have raced down Main Street — on snow that village crews have been stockpiling — over the Lake Flower dam to Lake Street hill, then entered the woods. The course then would have gone to Dewey Mountain Recreation Center and back to a finish line in Riverside Park.

On Wednesday, Rabideau said the start line had been moved up Main Street to in front of Little Italy restaurant in an effort to conserve the amount of snow and matting that would need to be placed in the street for the races.

Now the event will be held entirely at Dewey Mountain, the local cross-country ski and snowshoe center.

With limited parking in and around the town of Harrietstown-run facility, the organizing committee will provide complimentary park-and-ride locations at Petrova Elementary School and Saranac Lake High School. Athletes, officials, media and spectators are encouraged to use this service. All non-race activities in the downtown area, Friday and Saturday, will go on as scheduled, according to the press release.

Forecast watching

Before the change was made, volunteers were being sought to shovel snow from the woods onto the race course. They were also keeping a close eye on the weather forecast for Saturday.

“A heavy rain would affect things negatively,” Rabideau said Wednesday, “but the way we’re looking at it right now is the rain comes in the afternoon, and we’ll deal with it. All the racing happens mostly in the morning and through lunchtime. In the afternoon, let it rain. We’ll go to the banquet. We’ll go to the free salsa concert. We’re going to have a lot of fun no matter what.”

For weeks, village crews have been stockpiling snow in several spots: behind the village police station at 3 Main St., at the Lake Colby beach parking lot and in the village sand pit off of Will Rogers Drive. Now it appears it won’t be needed.

Fast conditions?

As of Wednesday, 364 people had registered: 255 for the 10-kilometer championship race, 28 for the 5-kilometer junior championships and 81 for the “Shoe-Be-Doo” Walking Party.

Among the competitors is a big contingent from the Paul Smith’s College Striders Snowshoe Racing Team. They’re coached by Jim Tucker, who’s directing Saturday’s races.

“It’s pretty awesome that we have the first world championships in the U.S. right here in our backyard,” said Striders team member Matt Williams. “We’re going to be racing top quality athletes from around the world. These guys have been training all year. They do ultra-marathons during the summers and pick up snowshoeing during the winter. It should be awesome to compete against them.”

If it’s warm and rainy, what impact could that have on the racers? Strider Joe St. Cyr expects a fast course.

“This hard pack right now, it will be like running on concrete,” he said. “The only difference is, you’re going to have a little bit of kick up because it’s melting right now. You might have some stuff stick to your cleats. Other than that, it should be really fast conditions. I’m looking forward to it.”

Excitement builds

Rabideau said excitement for the event is also growing in the community. He hopes that translates into a big turnout of spectators on Saturday.

“I get Facebook messages. I get emails. I get people on the street stopping and asking about it,” he said. “The local community is really into this, so they’ll be out cheering on the athletes from 12 countries and the Americans from 21 states. Four provinces in Canada are represented. It’s going to be very exciting no matter what the weather is.”

To bring more competitors and spectators here, organizers contracted with AdWorkshop in Lake Placid to coordinate an advertising campaign. They’ve also gotten publicity from television, print and radio news media here in the North Country and in other parts of the state.

The event will get some national attention on Saturday morning when it’s featured on the Weather Channel. Rabideau and Tucker will be interviewed live via Skype.

Indian racers arrive

One of the biggest story lines of the event surrounds a pair of snowshoers from India who were initially denied visas to travel here. After a push by New York Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, Abid Khan and Tanveer Hussain of India’s mountainous northern state of Jammu and Kashmir reapplied and were issued visas.

They’re flying into the Burlington, Vermont, airport this morning, Rabideau said.

“They’ll be picked up there,” he said. “They’ll be brought into town. The Porcupine Inn has donated rooms. Local restaurants have donated meals. We’ve raised over $1,800 for these individuals through crowd sourcing. They’ll be well taken care of.”

This afternoon, Khan and Hussain are scheduled to meet with a group of Saranac Lake Middle School students who wrote letters on their behalf.

“It will be a great cultural experience for all parties,” the mayor said.

Schedule

The festivities get underway Friday with an athletes parade at 4 p.m., an opening ceremony at 5 p.m. in the town hall auditorium and a “Ski and Snowshoe Jam” at Dewey Mountain at 6:30 p.m.

On Saturday, the 10k race begins at 11 a.m., followed by the 5k at 12:30 p.m. The Shoe-Be-Doo starts at 1:15 p.m. There’s a Winter Heat Salsa Dance Party from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the town hall auditorium, an awards banquet at 5 p.m. at the North Country Community College gym, and fireworks over Lake Flower starting at 9 p.m.

For a full schedule, visit http://www.saranaclake.com/world-snowshoe-championships.

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