White River Canyon 8K Snowshoe Race

My friend John and I had done a couple of hikes at Mirror Lake and Trillium Lake on Mt. Hood in Snow Shoes.  I asked him if he thought we could run in these snowshoes, which we both thought was kind of crazy.  I researched and found out there is an actual United States Snowshoe Association that puts races on all over the country. I looked up snowshoes races, Mt. Hood and discovered there was one the following weekend.   It was an actual qualifier for Nationals, which ironically was being hosted in Oregon this year near Mt. Bachelor.   X-dog events put on the race, a group that puts on a number of adventure runs throughout the year.

Start of race with view of Mt. Hood and White River Canyon

I had never even attempted to run in snowshoes, but we both agreed it would be a fun adventure. And, heck afterwords we would have a beer at the Ice Axe Grill in Government Camp.   How bad could it be?   We arrived early and fortunately the weather that day was clear and sunny!   The course was to be two loops going out fairly flat for 1 mile but then a big climb starting at mile 1. From there meandering through the woods on single track back towards the parking lot and then repeating the course to complete the 8k.

view from crest of hill at mile 1

Normally, in an 8k road race I would run somewhere around 8 min/mile.   Running in the snow, is a pace killer.  I was averaging 12/min mile through 4k.  The second loop was a little faster and finishing I had brought my overall pace to a blistering 11:15/mile.

The crest of the hill Mile 1

 I had to finish in the top 5 for 40-44 age group to qualify for Nationals in Bend.  I finished 6th in my age group, but due to the fact that 3 people were not members of the United States Snowshoe Association, I qualified! I left out the details on  how I made it to nationals when telling friends I qualified.  The race was to be held near bend and would be a challenging, 10 k course which I will post about later.

Through the woods. Oh the pain!

If you love running and especially trail running, I would encourage you to look into some of these snowshoe races.  As far as I know the 8k put on by X-dog events, is the only one on Mt. Hood.  You can also visit www.snowshoemag.com that has events by month listed.

John and I at finish.   

Hope you enjoyed reading about my snow adventure and see you on the trails!