Anybody doing "Snowshoe the Bear" in Big Bear next

[zippetydude]

I've never done a snowshoe "race" before, but I imagine it'll be fun. I'll probably go up and try it out. I saw it in the paper this morning, then looked up the website.

http://www.teamsole.com/snowshoethebear.html

Anybody else thinking of trying it out?

z

[Perry]

The problem with snowshoe races is that all participants must wear snowshoes even though the terrain rarely requires it. On most courses a decent runner could throw on a pair of track shoes with 3/4" spikes and beat the first place snowshoer. They frown on this and have footwear requirements: http://www.teamsole.com/snowshoe/legalsizes.pdf

It's kind of like a 3-legged race or a crab-walking contest: fun to participate in, but you can't really take it too seriously as a formal competitive event.

[zippetydude]

I was expecting as much. Of course, like any other race, I'm looking forward to a fun time with a bunch of other people, so whatever they need to do to maintain a reasonable balance makes sense to me.

With snowshoeing, I can't really see how it could be done otherwise. Picture if someone held an event where the course was marked, but the trail was not compacted. People could take turns breaking trail, but anyone hoping to win would have to stay back a few places, sort of like drafting in bicycle races, then coming up from behind at the end after everyone else had done all the hard work. That wouldn't be good.

The weather is calling for snow on Friday and Saturday, so it may be a crazy, wild time anyway! Hope to see someone else up there!

z