Tug Hill Tourathon

Well another Tourathon is now history and the war stories from this
one must be endless.

First there was the ungroomed trail we didn't turn onto a few km from
the start, which led to the take-skis-off-and-run-down-the plowed-road
adventure when we had to then get back onto the course.

Then was the missing-in-action turn marshall at the intersection of
Winona Way and Hawley Rd, which led to a number of folks failing to
turn right here on lap 1 and eventually meeting up with the race
leaders head-on on the southern-most stretch of Winona Way.

Later on lap 2 there was the directional sign at the T-junction of
Frank's Fancy and Winona Way that flipped upside down when the upper
fastener failed to hold and ended up with the arrows telling which
race should turn which way pointing in the wrong directions.

And of course there were the two folks who reportedly got hurt, one
with a broken leg and one with an injured ankle, both presumably at
least partially as a result of the failure of the trail grooming team
to either get the job done before the race began, or else to advise
the race crew that the start needed to be postponed until they could.

End result, a lot of people got off-course and skied either farther or
shorter than they had planned. And that's just the short summary of
the few stories I actually experienced or heard about. No doubt there
are many more to be shared. If you were there, how did your day go?

-Mitch

On Feb 4, 8:18*pm, Mitch wrote:
Well another Tourathon is now history and the war stories from this
one must be endless.

First there was the ungroomed trail we didn't turn onto a few km from
the start, which led to the take-skis-off-and-run-down-the plowed-road
adventure when we had to then get back onto the course.

Then was the missing-in-action turn marshall at the intersection of
Winona Way and Hawley Rd, which led to a number of folks failing to
turn right here on lap 1 and eventually meeting up with the race
leaders head-on on the southern-most stretch of Winona Way.

Later on lap 2 there was the directional sign at the T-junction of
Frank's Fancy and Winona Way that flipped upside down when the upper
fastener failed to hold and ended up with the arrows telling which
race should turn which way pointing in the wrong directions.

And of course there were the two folks who reportedly got hurt, one
with a broken leg and one with an injured ankle, both presumably at
least partially as a result of the failure of the trail grooming team
to either get the job done before the race began, or else to advise
the race crew that the start needed to be postponed until they could.

End result, a lot of people got off-course and skied either farther or
shorter than they had planned. *And that's just the short summary of
the few stories I actually experienced or heard about. *No doubt there
are many more to be shared. *If you were there, how did your day go?

-Mitch

Mitch,
I ran into someone at Garnet Hill and they began to tell me their Tug
Hill Tourathon story from last weekend. I told him it's another "Tug
Hill Tourathon Moment" . He looked at me puzzled and than I proceeded
to tell him all the tales I experienced in the past. The best one is
when I slept at the start in my tent the night before. That night
there were no tracks and not one snowmobile ruining them. The next
morning the race director proclaimed how snowmobiliers destroyed the
tracks the night before. I promptly straightened him out with 300
angry skiers listening. There are countless of other stories like when
it was part of the Great American Ski Chase and the Factory Team ski
leaders went down a ungroomed dead end road. They actually had a
dicussion on what the hell to do. By the time they made it back to the
trail the slower skiers had all caught them. Actually it's a shame
because the organizers have such good intentions and want to make it
an enjoyable event. I know Bob W. made a real effort to get involved
years ago amd make them guarantee track set and grooming for people
paying entry fees equal to other proffessionally run ski marathons.
Perhaps if they had serious racers living in the community and were
willing to get involved things could change.

Do you remember the year it was snowing and with everyone liked up at
the start they cancelled the race! Said they couldn't get volunteers
to the stations.

It seems incredulous that they couldn't have done something about the
grooming; they have the grooming equipment, and groom the trails on a
regular basis. I know the Craftsbury marathon was delayed two hours
for that reason.

I know they are all good people with the best intentions, but with
these many years of running this event that shouldn't happen

Frank

On Feb 5, 7:37 am, ADK Skier wrote:

Perhaps if they had serious racers living in the community and were
willing to get involved things could change.

I think Doug is right. But it's not just racers that are lacking--
there just aren't many skiers in Oswego or Jefferson County. So the
local people who are involved are the same handful who've been doing
it for almost 30 years.

I skied the Tourathon trails the Sun. before the race and was amazed
at the number of people there. It was the most skiers I'd seen there
on a non-race day in more than 10 years. But according to the trail
register, almost none were local residents.

Eddie Luban