Vermont Sports August, 2018

DISC GOLF WORLD CHAMPS | SPEED-RUNNING THE LONG TRAIL | PRO TENNIS RETURNS

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A LITTLE HAWAII BOOMS ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN

WORLD-CLASS TRI LOCAL ATHLETES JUST SHOWED THE WORLD A THING OR TWO

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AUGUST 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 3

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VERMONT

5 The Start

SPORTS

Bring on the Pros

The best in the world hit up Vermont this month.

NEW ENGLAND’S OUTDOOR MAGAZINE

6 Great Outdoors

Disc Golf Flies High

ON THE COVER:

Smuggler's Notch hosts top players.

Zeke Neubauer sends it at Dorset Quarry Photo by Ali Kaukas

12 News Briefs 15 Feature

Pushing the Limits

PUBLISHER

Karen Newman's last triathlon was so much more than a race.

Angelo Lynn - publisher@vtsports.com

EDITOR/CO-PUBLISHER

Lisa Lynn - lisa.lynn@vtsports.com

18

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Chair(wo)men of the Boards

Abagael Giles abagael@vtsports.com

Want to learn to foil, windsurf, kite or downwind SUP? Burlington's new Surf Club, Community Sailing Center and SUP rentals have you covered.

EDITORIAL INTERN

Rylee Ewald editor@vtsports.com

DESIGN & PRODUCTION Shawn Braley

MEDICAL ADVISORY BOARD

20

Dr. Nathan Endres, Dr. David Lisle, Dr. James Slauterbeck —University of Vermont Robert Larner College of Medicine; Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation; Jamie Sheahan, M.S., R.D.

Feature

Leaps of Faith

Why so many extreme cliff divers love Vermont.

CONTRIBUTORS

Brian Mohr, Phyl Newbeck, Leath Tonino

27 Health

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31

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The Bearded Trail Runner

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Why a Bolton auto mechanic

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42 Endgame

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Feature

Riding the Watershed

There are 363 miles of mapped bikeways to ride around Lake Champlain.

Look who's diving into the deep cool waters of the Ottauquechee. For more, see p 20. Photo by Zeke Neubauer

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AUGUST 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 5

THE START

BRING ON THE PROS THIS MONTH, SOME OF THE WORLD’S TOP ATHLETES DESCEND ON OUR STATE. HERE’S WHERE TO SEE THEM.

IT’S TIME FOR TAKE US WITHADVENTURES! YOU ON ALL YOUR SUMMER SUMMER ADVENTURES! Stop by for hooch before you go.

Brewery opens every day at 11:30AM for LUNCH + SUPPER

On Aug. 18-22, get a courtside seat to watch some of the world's top tennis players compete in Stowe.

V

ermont is not the first place you’d

won his first ATP Tour title, and Yoshihito

expect to see some of the world’s

Nishioka, who upset #13 seed Tomas

top pros in action this summer.

Berdych last year, are two of the eight who

That’s changing. In fact, there’s so much

will vie for the $35,000 in prize money. The

spectating to be done in the next few weeks

event,benefits the Chill Foundation.

it may be hard to find time to bike, run or

swim.

for the tournament last year, both from the

From August 1-5, the top mountain

sponsors and the fans,” said tournament

bikers

on

director Kyle Ross. “Our goal last year was

Killington’s 35 miles of trails for the Fox US

to lift this event off the ground. This year

Open. Pros such as last year’s champion

we’re looking to grow it into a sustainable

Niko Mulally, Dakota Norton, Bruce Klein

part of summer here in Vermont.”

and Connor Fearon may not be household

names but they’ll be racing for a $40,000

best disc golfers on the planet converge

purse on trails that weave down the same

on Smugglers' Notch’s two courses to

mountain Mikaela Shiffrin raced down at

play for, get this, more than $100,000

the FIS Alpine World Cup last November.

in the Professional Disc Golf World

Better yet, the pro-am format means

Championships. That event, tied in with

anyone can sign up to race the downhill,

FallFest, is also promising to be a crowd

enduro or best whip contests and kids

pleaser.

have their own events. Killington expects

close to 5,000 people to watch the race and

top athletes in the world come to Vermont,

attend the clinics, vendor tents and post-

we can’t forget our top amateurs. Last month

race parties and concerts.

Vermont sent three age-group champions

That same weekend, Chuck Patterson

to the Fyn ITU World Championships in

(see "Chair(wo)men of the Boards") and a

Denmark. Two came back with medals (as

host of top paddlers will come to Burlington

described on p. 12). And the third, Karen

for the 10th annual Stand Up for the

Newman, raced with a courage that is

Lake paddleboard race, vying for a $3,500

almost hard to fathom. Her moving story,

purse. The event, started by the same folks

as told by Abagael Giles, is on p. 15.

who brought you WND&WVS and the new

Burlington Surf Club, is a fundraiser for

that even the most innocent of summer

Burlington’s Community Sailing Center.

sports, diving into a swimming hole, is also

moving into the pro arena as Red Bull and

in

the

country

descend

Two weeks later, on August 18-22, tennis

Then, the first week in September, the

While it’s great to get a chance to see the

Perhaps there’s some irony to the fact

fans have the opportunity to sit courtside at

Volcom get involved.

Spruce Peak as Grand Slam Tennis Tours

On p. 20, our summer intern Rylee

brings professional tennis back to the area

Ewald tells the story of her neighbor and

for a second year. In last year’s inaugural

friend Derek McNamara’s rise from local

Stowe Tennis Classic, Albert Ramos,

swimming hole stud to nationally-known

ranked 22nd in the world, won the event,

cliff diver.

beating out five others. This year, ATP

Next Gen star Frances Tiafoe, who recently

6 VTSPORTS.COM | AUGUST 2018

“We were overwhelmed by the support

Dare we say it? He’s making a splash.

—Lisa Lynn, Editor

2018 T—P

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GREAT OUTDOORS

DISC GOLF WORLDS COME TO VERMONT THE BEST DISC GOLF PLAYERS IN THE WORLD WILL DUKE IT OUT AT SMUGGLERS’

NOTCH THIS SEPTEMBER FOR MORE PRIZE MONEY THAN YOU MIGHT EVER IMAGINE.

BY LISA LYNN

I

f you know how to toss a disc (don’t

director Jeff Spring, who has been

Without knowing it, Braithwaite had

Fox Meadows. There’s the challenge

call it a Frisbee), there’s more than

leading the development of Smugglers'

shot it straight into a basket he couldn’t

of zinging a disc under branches,

$100,000 in prize money up for

Notch Resort’s two courses since 2012.

even see, rattling the chains in what has

around trees or, sometimes, trying to

grabs in Jeffersonville on Sept. 2-9.

The courses are now rated among the top

become known as a legendary albatross

intentionally ricochet the disc off a trunk.

10 in the U.S. by DiscGolfScene.com.

(coming in three under par).

Smaller than a regular Frisbee, the discs

come in as many variations as golf clubs.

For the first time, the Pro Disc

Golf Association World Championship

Among the pros signed up is Philo

comes to the Green Mountains. “We’re

Braithwaite. In 2016 he threw a disc that

disc golf is played in more natural

expecting 288 pros, and watching these

went 850 yards, soared high and then

environments, like Smuggs' wooded

taken off. “There are now more than

players is pretty cool,” says tournament

cut left and out of site behind some trees.

Brewster Run course or the more open

8,000 courses in the United States,”

8 VTSPORTS.COM | JULY 2018

Unlike golf’s manicured fairways,

In the last few years, the sport has

Valarie Jenkins, of Bend, Ore., currently ranked number two in the pro standings, put her energy into a throw at a past Green Mountain Championship.

Both Valarie and her brother Avery are former World Champions and on the roster for the Worlds.

says Spring, who first learned to play in

learned to play as a kid on a public course.

In 2013 Spring invited a number

first year was Nate Voss (then the World

Waterbury, Vt. Meanwhile, the number

Now a full-time pro, Wysocki plays more

of pros to play the course. “I told all my

Champ). Voss set the Brewster course

of regulation golf courses has dropped

than 20 tournaments a year around the

friends how amazing it is and since then,

record, coming in 12 under par. Later,

to about 15,000, according to Golf

globe. He has 101 PDGA event wins and

we all look forward to coming back to

Voss and Michael Johansen both broke

Magazine. “Disc golf is so much easier

career earnings of $334,957.

do the Green Mountain Championship

that to tie a new record of 13 under par.

and cheaper to get into. It’s more laid

For many of the pros, it’s not the first

each year,” said Wysocki, on a phone call

back and it’s inclusive, not exclusive,”

time they’ll play the Smuggs courses,

from Sweden where he was playing in a

holes on each course that just opened in

says current top-ranked player Ricky

which, says Wysocki “get better and

tournament in late July.

mid-July,” says Spring, who says that as

Wysocki of South Carolina. Wysocki

better each year.”

Among the pros who played that

“This year, we’ve created two new

the pros get better and the discs more

AUGUST 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 9

GREAT OUTDOORS

in the event, which is limited to ranked

high-tech, the courses are getting harder.

Vermonter with Burlington’s Chris Young,

“We’re now seeing more par 4 and 5 baskets.”

About 10 Vermonters will be playing

and invited pros. White River Junction’s Stephen Heaps is currently the top ranked

Richard Wysocki, one of the top two players in the World, will be returning to Smuggs.

a former chair of the Green Mountain Disc Golf Association, right behind him. Only 44 women have signed up to date, including Vermont pro Alex Benson of Williston, and they will all have formidable competition from top ranked Paige Pierce.

The

event,

which

happens

during

Smuggs' FallFest, will draw spectators.

Spring recommends watching at around 1 to 2 pm Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

That’s when Wysocki and Paul McBeth, who keep trading off the top two spots, are likely to go head to head.

The basket to watch in the pro rounds on

Sunday, says Spring, is #7. “It’s a 1,200-foot Paige Pierce, the woman currently leading the circuit, has plenty to smile about.

par 5 with a stream crossing.”

NEWS BRIEFS

14-YEAR-OLD SWIMS TO CANADA On July 18th, seven swimmers plunged into the waters of Lake Memphremagog for the start of a grueling 25-mile swim to Canada. Hosted by Kingdom Games, In Search for Memphre started at the EastSide Restaurant in Newport, Vt. and ended in Magog, Quebec.

Only two finished all 25 miles: Sharessa Guiterrez, 37, of Omaha, Nebraska and Vera Rivard, 14, of Derby, Vt. and Springfield, N.H. At 14, Vera is the youngest person to ever complete the race across Lake Memphremagog, with a time of 16 hours and 24 minutes.

Vera tastes her win.

Vera’s open water swim career began when she was 10 years old. The same year, she won the Northeast Kingdom Open Water Swimming Association Swimmer of the Year Award. Vera has completed 31 total swimming events in her career.

Vera’s mom, Darcie Rivard, says she is very proud of Vera and especially of her ability to concentrate for so long. Darcie kayaked alongside her daughter for all 25 miles of the race.

“I’m happy I did it and to have finished that goal,” Vera says. “I have been training for over a year,” she added. Reflecting back on how she felt after finishing the race. “I knew I could finish when I could see the beach, which meant there were seven miles

10 VTSPORTS.COM | AUGUST 2018

With her mom in a kayak, Vera Rivard sets out from Newport, Vt. for Magog, QC.

to go.” Before this 25-mile push, Vera’s longest swim had been 15 miles, which she finished in seven hours and 15 minutes.

The weather only added to the difficulty of this year’s In Search of Memphre. For the first 15 miles, swimmers faced strong headwinds at 20 mph. In Vera’s case, this seemed to be a good thing. “I think that was the key to her success… the challenge of the waves is what she enjoys…” says Darcie. Vera said she was ready for the rough conditions after training in choppy waters at her family’s lakeside cottage in Derby, Vermont.

Vera’s excited to compete in a new upcoming challenge, Northeast Kingdom Swim Week, which runs from Aug. 11 through Aug. 19. In that event, competitors swim 8 lakes in 9 days for a total of 46 miles. —Rylee Ewald

VERMONTERS WIN WORLD MULTISPORT CHAMPS “What I wasn’t prepared for was jellyfish,” Richmond’s Courtney Kaup said after winning her age group in the cross triathlon in the Fyn ITU Multisport World Championships in Denmark in July. Kaup, 40, along with Karen Newman, 57, of South Burlington, and Stowe’s Keith Woodward, 67, was part of Team USA, racing against the globe's best triathletes—both pros and amateur age groupers—from around the world. Woodward, a perennial contender in the Worlds, also took gold, once again, in the 65-69 age group in the sprint duathlon (run, bike, run) and Newman finished sixth in the aquathalon (swim, bike).

Kaup, a physical therapist with DeePT, not only won her age group by a whopping four minutes, she finished ninth of all women (pros included). Kaup and others

HIKELITE

W e k n o w w h a t y o u ’r e i n t o . Yo u l i k e your trails unmanicured, uneven a n d d e f i n i t e l y u n p a v e d . Yo u p r e f e r hot springs over hot tubs, rope b r i d g e s o v e r s t e e l . Yo u p r e f e r p a t h s w h e r e t h e o n l y t h i n g y o u ’r e c e r t a i n of is that you aren’t really cer tain o f a n y t h i n g , b u t y o u k n o w i t ’s g o i n g t o b e f u n . T h a t ’s h o w t h e g o o d d a y s a r e m a d e . L e t ’s g o .

NEWS BRIEFS had to swim through a veritable morass of jellyfish, both stinging and non-stinging, before making her way to a largely off-road bike and then a trail run that actually went through a circus. The distances were a 1K swim, 27K mountain bike and a 10K run.

“I’ve been training for this and making this my A race,” said Kaup who doesn’t use a coach and just recently started training with a hear rate monitor. “I’ve been really old school and just decided I should try it,” she says. It helped.

Kaup has raced both off- and on-road triathlons but has focused on off-road the last three years. “It’s safer, you don’t have to worry about cars,” she says. Three years ago, a friend of hers, Richard Tom, was killed by a speeding teenager in Hinesburg.

She’s since excelled at off-road, finishing first in the 35-39 age group last October in the XTerra World Championships in Maui in 2017, 12th overall and second of all amateurs. What’s next? Back to the XTerra and after that? “Who knows,” she says.

“Women in their 40s are really, really fast.”

As for Woodward, in 2012 he was inducted into the Mt. Washington Road Race Hall of Fame for having run the race 37 times, winning it in 1983 and setting a men’s age group record for ages 60-64. A groomer at Crafstbury Outdoor Center, Woodward also won his age group in the Duathlon World Championship in 2013 and 2017.—L.G.

Courtney Kaup, (third from right) on the top of the podium for her age group.

Photo by Karin P. Ward

BOLTON VALLEY BRINGS BIKING BACK About 15 years ago, Bolton Valley was known for rugged downhill trails with steep, tight sections, technical bridges and big air. After a decade of dormancy, the DesLauriers family plans to bring that reputation back. In May, Bolton Valley announced plans to host alternating bi-weekly singletrack mountain bike group rides and volunteer trail days to “kick off Bolton’s re-entry into the mountain bike scene.”

Bolton plans to establish a solid uphill trail on the Wilderness section of the mountain and to refurbish and re-open six of the original downhill trails. The jump trail under the lower Wilderness lift line will also be rehabilitated. An eight-trail expansion is slated for the future.

As of press time, improvements to the existing uphill trail were close to completion. All trails are open to human-powered bike traffic. Access is free for summer 2018, and Bolton is hosting weekly group rides on Thursday nights. —Abagael Giles

VERMONT SKIERS UP FOR SPORTSWOMEN OF THE YEAR Every year the Women’s Sports Foundation recognizes one individual sport athlete and team sport athletes whose performances over the last twelve months have been exceptional.

For 2018, several Vermont athletes made the cut.

In the individual sport category, Burke Mountain Academy graduate Mikaela Schiffrin was nominated for

12 VTSPORTS.COM | AUGUST 2018

Bolton Valley resurrected its mountain bike trails this summer with trail work days, and some trail riding days too.

Sportswoman of the Year. Schiffrin is currently ranked number one in alpine skiing World Cup standings by the International Skiing Federation.

She had a big year, winning gold in the giant slalom and silver in the alpine combined at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PeyongChang.

Nordic skiers Jessie Diggins and Kikkan Randall were nominated in the team sports category for their gold medal in the team sprint at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. They were the first American team to win a gold in that event. Diggins is a graduate of Stratton Mountain School and has a home near there. Cast your vote at sportswomanoftheyear.com by Aug. 3.—A.G.

signing of a purchase agreement with

acre property, and to allocate $600,000 from the town’s environmental reserve funds toward the purchase. On July 25, Project Manager Kate Wanner reported that the agency has raised all but $138,000 of the $1.9 million needed for the Town to purchase the property.

Once the purchase is complete, the property will be renamed the Catamount Community Forest and managed under a conservation easement. Catamount Outdoor Center will continue its current operations at the site, but will no longer charge fees for pedestrian traffic on its trails.

Since the project's initiation, a neighbor has offered to donate 18 acres of land adjacent to the Catamount

the Trust for Public Land for the 393-

property to the town. —A.G.

SOLD: CATAMOUNT OUTDOOR CENTER If all goes as planned, the Town of Williston could assume ownership of the Catamount Outdoor Family Center property by October. The property has been owned by the McCullough family since 1978. They have since retired from operating the nonprofit outdoor center, which draws more than 20,000 mountain bikers, runners and skiers to use its 20-plus mile trail network each year. The Trust for Public Land is brokering the sale.

On July 10, Williston’s selectboard

voted unanimously to authorize the

TRAIL TALES

AUGUST 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 13

survey were Fort Collins and Boulder, Co. and Wausau, Wisc. – all of which earned overall scores of 3.5 out of 5.

PlacesForBikes rated 484 towns and cities. The overall scores awarded were based on ridership, safety, connectivity, the reach of biking infrastructure within a community and how fast biking infrastructure is growing. —A.G.

NEWS BRIEFS

THE WRECKTANGLE'S READY

RAILBIKE THE ADK.

Want a different way to explore a beautiful section of the Adirondack Park? Try a railbike.

Revolution Rail Co. is offering 2-hour, 6-mile excursions out of North Creek Railroad Station on self-pedaling contraptions that attach directly to the historic railroad tracks. Participants pedal their way uphill one way, along the banks of the

Hudson River and up off the ground into the Adirondack forest canopy. The tour even crosses the Hudson via a historic

trestle bridge before descending back to the station. Rental prices are set per bike, at $140 for a quad and $80 for a trip on a tandem bike. Tours run daily every two hours from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. —A.G. Photo by Madeline Chapin

HAPPY CAMPERS This summer, Vermont State Parks collaborated with Burlington’s Outdoor Gear Exchange to offer first-time campers free rental camping equipment and instruction in how to use it through the First Time Happy Camper Program.

A free campsite was also part of the deal, with campers selecting a weekend away at Bomoseen, Button Bay, Grand Isle, Stillwater or Woodford State Parks.

According to Marc Sherman, owner and founder of Outdoor Gear Exchange, the goal of the program was to break down economic barriers that keep some Vermonters from enjoying public lands and resources through outdoor recreation.

The program is the brainchild of Sherman, who serves on the Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative, a group of outdoor recreation leaders tasked by Governor Phil Scott with boosting Vermont’s outdoor recreation economy and creating new recreation opportunities.

Sherman worked with Kelty,

14 VTSPORTS.COM | AUGUST 2018

Mountainsmith, Black Diamond and Primus to secure gear donations for the program and offered heavily discounted $35 summer weight sleeping bags through OGE. Sherman said the pilot program saw 70 applications on the first day it was launched in late June 2018. Though the program is a pilot, Sherman said he hopes it will someday be funded by the State. According to Rochelle Skinner, Parks Sales and Service Manager for Vermont State Parks, 600 people signed up for the program this summer, and 14 families had participated as of press time. To apply, visit www.vtstateparks. com/happy-camper. —A.G.

a 2.1 out of a possible 5, Middlebury earned a 1.4, Rutland earned a 1.5 and Brattleboro took home a 0.9. In contrast, Las Vegas, NV earned a 2.6.

The highest-scoring cities on the

In June, Killington Resort opened the Woodward WreckTangle, an outdoor Ninja obstacle course equipped with cargo nets, balance beams, rope swings and more. It is one of five Wrecktangle courses in the world, which means you can compete virtually with competitors at other sites. Killington’s course serves up 10 unique variations. The course offers great fun for kids (seven and older) and adults alike.

A day pass to the Adventure Center earns you access, at $70 for participants seven and older, and $42 for kids six and under. The Adventure Center includes the Beast Mountain Coaster, Zip Line, a bunjee Jump Tower, the Skye Ropes Course, Trampoline Jump, Alpine Tubing and a massive maze. —A.G.

SHALE HILL SAYS GOODBYE On July 4, Shale Hill Adventure Farm announced that it will no longer offer day-to-day obstacle course training, effective after the 24 Hours of Shale Hell race on July 7. The Polar Bear 8, scheduled for February 2, 2019, will be the obstacle racing center’s last event.

According to owner Jill Bogert, the business and 141-acre property are for sale. —A.G.

HOW BIKE-FRIENDLY IS VERMONT? According to biking advocacy group PeopleForBikes, not-so-friendly. In the organization’s PlacesForBikes City Rankings survey, a two-year datadriven project that awards cities and towns a score based on the quality of cycling life they offer, Burlington earned

Test your mettle on the new Woodward Wrecktangle at Killington Mountain Resort.

Pushing the Limits

DEFYING THE ODDS, KAREN NEWMAN IS SHOWING THE WORLD WHAT'S POSSIBLE BY ABAGAEL GILES

A

t the start line on June 23 everything was still. Then the gun fired, and Karen Newman plunged into the

waters of Lake Dunmore for the swim leg of the Vermont Sun Triathlon. For 600 yards, her world was consumed by churning water and the kicking feet of other swimmers. She was one of the pack, wearing the number one bib she’d earned as a past Vermont Sun Triathlon Series Champion.

Karen reached the shore and jumped

on her bike, feeling her slim but strong fivefoot-three-inch frame relax as she eased her pelvis onto the saddle. She felt none of the pain that had debilitated her just a few days before, a pain that made her wonder how long she could bear to sit. In that instant, she knew this race would be about winning, not just finishing.

As she ran the last mile, Karen was

flying, dark hair streaming behind her.

Her husband Peter Newman filmed her as she closed in on the finish line. “It was like watching a 16-year-old run. I choke up just thinking about the joy in her smile,” said Peter. “I sent the video to our three boys, who couldn’t be there that day, with the headline ‘Screw Cancer.’”

Karen raced the sprint triathlon just one

week after finishing radiation treatment for stage IV metastatic breast cancer. It was the third time in 10 years that she had faced a stage III or IV cancer diagnosis. On June 22, she wrote in her blog, “Tomorrow I will race in my last triathlon… It’s been nearly 30 years, more than half my life.”

At 57, she finished the race 6th overall

among women, beating competitors half her age, with a time of 1:20.48. At 23:16.9, she had the fourth fastest run for women for the 5K. She finished the 600-yard swim in 10:18.2 and the 14.25-mile bike leg in 45:14.7 and she won her age group.

On Mother’s Day, 2018, nearly two years

to the day since she had received her second diagnosis, Karen Newman learned she had another new tumor, this one at the bottom of her spine in her sacrum. She was also told that several tumors in her pelvis were growing. The doctor who read her PET scan told her that one should have cracked her pubic bone, though it has not. For weeks, she Karen Newman in her element, after winning the silver medal for her age group at the 2015 Huntsman Senior Games.

Photo courtesy Karen Newman

couldn’t sit down for pain in her pelvis and back. In June, she underwent another round of radiation, which was especially tough on her body because other delicate organs and tissue near the tumors were affected.

AUGUST 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 15

“I was worried the bike ride would break my pubic bone,” said Karen when I met her at

When she's not racing, Karen leads regular Wednesday night Wellness Walks at Tomgirl Juice Co.'s Burlington location.

Here, she races in the 2018 Aquathlon World Championships.

her family’s lakefront cottage in Charlotte in early July. “But I jumped right back into

Photo courtesy Karen Newman

racing mode, and I guess the warrior in me came out.” Fourteen days later, she would be flying to Denmark for the Aquathlon World Championships on July 12. She said it would be her last.

THE WARRIOR Karen has been a warrior of sorts on and off the triathlon circuit for more than 30 years. She was diagnosed with dyslexia as a child and is now the published author of a memoir, Just Three Words. She struggled with an eating disorder for half her life (and beat it) and currently serves as the President of the Vermont Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She didn’t start racing triathlons seriously until she was in her late 30s and has competed in nine International Triathlon Union World Championships in aquathlon and sprint triathlon since 2001.

Karen started out as a cross-country

runner at the University of Vermont. It was there that she met Peter Newman. He was a freshman tennis player and she was a

overall. "What really makes her stand out is

sophomore. At a fraternity party, she asked

her speed on the running legs—though she’s

him if he wanted to go for a run with her

no slouch in the other two events either."

early the following morning. She picked him up and they ran the streets of Burlington in

RACING CANCER

a blizzard. They dated for seven years, until

When Karen Newman was first diagnosed

parting ways in New York City in 1988.

with breast cancer in 2008, she was a

One year later, Karen was engaged to

successful dietitian and nutritionist and a

another man and on her way to finishing

working mom with three young children.

what would have been a sub-three-hour

She was 46 years old, a triathlete and

marathon. When she got to

harboring a secret.

the 24-mile

mark of the 1989 New York Marathon, there

was Peter, with a sign. He’d chased her

cancer diagnosis: Newman had struggled

for seven miles. The sign said, “Go Karen

with disordered eating since she was a

Stetson” on one side and “Will you marry

teenager. A near-deadly bout with anorexia

me?” on the other.

at age 14 led to a 20-plus-year battle with

“She stopped running to stare at me.

All she said was, ‘Are you serious?’” said Peter. Karen said yes right then and there

Karen's teammates nominated her to carry the flag during the Parade of Nations at the 2008 World Triathlon Championships and at the 2016 World Championships in Cozumel, Mexico. Photo courtesy Karen Newman

That secret came to a head with her

bulimia. By day she counseled others about their nutritional habits, provided relief to people suffering from their own eating

and finished with a time of 3:33:00. She

past me on the running leg this last race,”

Championships in Vancouver, B.C. in 2008.

disorders and was a dedicated mother and

maintains that Peter was worth slowing

he added. Hare is a former all-American

The difference? That was just days after

accomplished athlete. By night, she was

down for.

triathlete.

she completed her fourth chemotherapy

making herself sick.

Karen started winning her age group

treatment for advanced, aggressive stage-

didn’t start competing seriously in triathlons

in regional triathlons in her late 30s. In

three breast cancer. She recovered and

before

until 2000, after her sons Stetson, now 26,

1999, her times in regional sprint triathlons

went on to win silver at the 2012 Age Group

would tell me, ‘oh, you look great!” said

Chase, 24, and Trent, 19, were born.

qualified her to compete in the Triathlon

World Championships in triathlon as the top

Newman, a strikingly beautiful woman. “I

Steve Hare, owner of Vermont Sun

National Championships in Oceanside, Ca.

American participant in the women age 50-

thought my husband would divorce me and

Fitness Centers and founder and organizer

She didn’t qualify for Worlds in that race,

54 category with a time of 1:20:59.

that I’d lose my job if anyone knew.”

of the Vermont Sun Triathlon Series, said

but she did qualify for a second series of time

Karen has competed in his races for more

trials in Lake Placid, N.Y. later that year. At

Senior Games World Triathlon record with

that when she was first diagnosed with

than 15 years. “She started winning in her

that event, she passed a competitor just feet

a time of 1:11.00 for a 450m swim, 20K bike

cancer, her first thought was that she’d

‘40s, and everybody was like, ‘whoa,’ this

from the finish to earn the fourth spot on

and 5K run. In 2015, the USA Triathlon

probably lose weight while undergoing

woman is really fast.” And she kept getting

Team USA. That meant she would compete

Federation presented Karen with the Most

chemotherapy. She felt relieved. But she

faster.

for the women’s 40-44 age group at the

Inspirational Comeback award. She has

stopped making herself sick that day, after

Karen will be the first to tell you that she

In 2013, Karen broke the Huntsman

“I was a triathlete making myself sick national

championships.

People

The addiction was so engrained in her

“Except for a few really exceptional

2001 World Championships in Edmonton,

been named an All-American triathlete

it became clear that if she continued, she

runners out there… once people turn 50,

Canada. Seven years later, she was still

eight times.

would not survive for her three boys. “For

their running goes downhill,” said Hare.

at the top of her game and she competed

anybody who is a parent, your child always

“Not so for Karen. I saw her blow right

in her age division in the World Triathlon

was and is an exceptional competitor

16 VTSPORTS.COM | AUGUST 2018

Hare says that even with cancer Newman

comes first.”

When Karen signed up for chemotherapy,

during exercise. Karen said she can feel the

it was on the condition that her doctor allow

weakness in her pelvis. “Sometimes it feels

her to keep training for the 2008 Triathlon

like there’s not enough bone there to support

World Championships, which she qualified

my back,” she said. Dr. Wallace said it can

for by placing fourth at Nationals in 2007. It

take patients years to recover their former

took her three separate meetings to find an

athletic capacity after undergoing such

oncologist who would let her compete.

invasive radiation therapy.

Newman swam daily throughout her

first round of chemotherapy. She learned to

world class athlete.

run and bike during the eight hours between

her treatments and when the nausea would

to race now, Karen said, “I want to push the

sink in. Competing became a metaphor for

limits of what people think is possible, so

life: She’d promised her sons she would

that other stage IV metastatic breast cancer

compete at Worlds, and if she could finish

patients know they can do amazing things.”

the race, she could beat cancer too.

When the time came to race, her doctors

at other treatment options for this fall. She

advised against it. Peter and her closest

is optimistic, and when you meet her, she

friends supported her.

exudes a health and warmth that makes you

forget the cancer.

In the end, she competed in the World

In Karen’s case, she’s competing as a When asked why she endures so much

With a smile, Karen says she is looking

Championships just five days after her fourth round of chemotherapy. She finished

THE LAST RACE?

hypothermic and in second to last place.

On July 12, 2018 at the start line for the 2018

When her hair fell out, just days

World Aquathlon Championships in Fyn,

after she returned home, she was all the more determined to keep competing in triathlons–even through a mastectomy

Peter proposed to Karen at the 24-mile mark of the 1989 New York City Marathon. Even in 2008 (below), when she first endured chemotherapy, he never questioned her drive to compete. Photos courtesy Karen Newman

Denmark, Karen Newman bobbed between two buoys along with twenty other women from around the world. As hordes of jellyfish

that resulted in lymphedema. “That was the

stung her exposed feet, she marveled that

first time I had really cried about cancer,

she could be there just three weeks after a

my family and what I was going through—

shot of chemotherapy.

everything. I sobbed that my children had

to worry about their mother dying,” Karen

face into the water and was immediately

wrote in her book, Just Three Words. She

stung on the mouth. After the 1K swim

was determined to show them otherwise.

through myriad tentacles, she struggled

to get her ear and nose plugs out. “That

Peter said he never once questioned

When the gun went off, she plunged her

whether Karen could race. “My role was to

transition cost me the podium,” she said.

support and encourage her. Failure wasn’t

an option. She always brushes herself off

competitor in the women, age 55-59, division.

and gets up and keeps swinging.”

Her overall time was 43:10. She finished in

In 2012 she returned to the World

sixth place overall and was the first American,

Championships to finish second in her age

proudly representing Team USA.

group with a time of 1:13:44. “That was the

most impressive thing I’ve ever seen,” Peter

Karen said, “I just might be back. If I can get

said. “She is fearless. She comes off as sweet,

the fastest run time in the world after only

but she is tough, and she is the strongest

two weeks of training, who knows what’s

person I know.”

next?” She said that when she runs, she feels

At 22:37, she ran the fastest 5K of any

When asked if she still plans to retire,

that she would qualify for one more World

last spot on Team USA for the 2018 World

healed.

Championship.

Triathlon Championships. It was something

In 2009, Karen thought she had beaten

For months, there were days when she

she was looking forward to. Then, on

said Peter. “Sometimes situations like hers

cancer. And for seven years she was cancer

could hardly get out of bed. She spent nights

Mother’s Day 2018, Karen was told that she

remind you of how precious life is. She has

free. “Cancer was not a death sentence, it

throwing up from chemotherapy and days

has stage IV cancer. Doctors also told her

always been someone who laughs. She’s

was an opportunity for life,” says Karen.

training. “It’s important in treatment to

that after the radiation therapy required to

the most unique person I’ve ever met,

It ended her battle with bulimia. She also

have a goal. For me that was to get up and

treat the tumors in her pelvis, she’d likely

and despite what she’s been through, she

started going to church again. “Your trial

get myself outside. Every day I would say a

never walk again.

maintains a childlike wonder at the world,”

allows other people to be the eyes and hands

grateful prayer before my feet ever touched

Since completing that radiation therapy,

said Peter, who has watched other cancer

of Jesus and it changes you to know you are

the ground. Then I’d push through the pain,”

she has been swimming almost daily. She

patients and athletes react to Karen over the

loved. It is powerful to know that the way

said Karen.

spends time with her family and she works.

years.

you walk through your trial can bring others

She rides her bike and she runs two to three

hope,” she says.

in her age group, women 55-59, at the

days a week.

person in the world when you’re in front of

Then, at the Pump-it-Up 5-miler in

2016

World

According to Dr. H. James Wallace,

her. Despite the fact that we’ve aged, she

Jericho on Mother’s Day in 2016, she

Championships, with a time of 45:32. A few

medical director of Radiation Oncology at

still makes my heart jump when she walks

suffered a stress fracture in her spine. She

days later on September 15, she placed 31 at

the University of Vermont Medical Center,

around the corner.”

walked the rest of the race and collapsed

the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final with a

radiation therapy to the pelvic region

at the finish line. The cancer was back and

time of 1:37:59. Afraid of a catastrophic fall,

causes fatigue in most patients, and can

“And my mission is to leave a legacy of love.

it was in her bones. A doctor told her she

she raced on a mountain bike.

cause anemia, nausea, and reduce the

Nobody is going to remember what you did,

would never walk again. She told her kids

Those performances earned her the

body’s ability to oxygenate local muscles

but they will remember how you lived.”

A NEW LIFE

That September, Karen placed fourth Cozumel

ITU

Aquathlon

“There is a pre and post cancer Karen,”

“She makes you feel like you’re the only

“This life is about love,” said Karen.

AUGUST 17 JULY 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 17

The foil on his sailboard lets Russ Scully catch air, even in lighter Lake Champlain breezes.

CHAIR(WO)MEN OF

THE BOARDS WITH A NEW SURF CLUB OPENING, BURLINGTON IS BECOMING AN UNLIKELY BOARD SPORTS CAPITAL. BY LISA LYNN

O

“M2O is the toughest SUP race in the

n a windy day this spring, Burlington’s and

Russ

Stowe’s

Dr.

world,” says Patterson.

Scully

Bob

Arnot

found themselves in the middle of Lake

MAKING WAVES

Champlain,

building

On a hot, windless day in early July Chuck

waves. Snow clung to the peaks of the

Patterson lounges in an Adirondack chair

Adirondacks. A swell, pushed by the strong

bearing the insignia “Burlington Surf

southerly, funneled them past Charlotte’s

Club.” The chair is one of many that’s

Thompson’s Point. By the time the two

casually arranged to look out over the lake

were off Shelburne, the water was heaving

at the new Burlington Surf Club, located

itself into what might be considered a lake

just off the bike path in the South End.

version of breakers.

The pair, dressed in wetsuits and

was part of 16-acre lot with three vacant,

carrying

industrial

positioned

surfing

paddles

down

and

themselves

life as

the

jackets, waves

miles, balancing the standup paddleboards

buildings—the

headquarters

of 72 years for Blodgett Oven. Now, there are people swimming and paddling off the

crested. They stroked hard and glided down the glassy faces. They surfed for 15

Last summer, this stretch of waterfront

Roxanne Scully (third woman from right) and the WND&WVS crew that won the 2017 Dragonboat Festival. The team included Ali Marchildon (second from left) who moved to Burlington from Hawaii and California's Chuck Patterson (second male from left). Photo by Lee Krohn

beach. Kids practice on windsurfers. A few Hobie Cats are pulled up on shore.

Patterson has his foil boards (paddle or

with their feet, bending forward Gumbylike, sinking a paddle, stroking back, legs

Scully. “We now have a trailer, so we can

stretches of ocean in the Hawaiian islands.

kiteboards that rise up on an underwater

moving like springs with the up-down-

take a whole bunch of boards anywhere

Currents, rogue swells and sharks are part

foil) ready to go. The first week in July, he

up-down of the swells. After hours of

and do a downwinder back. Sometimes

of the fun. Scully, 49, has done the race

was giving foiling clinics.

this, they came into the lee of Burlington

we take the ferry over to Plattsburgh and

as part of a two-person team with big-

Harbor, where they pulled ashore just off

paddle back.”

wave surfer and paddleboard pro Chuck

Patterson sports the perpetual tan and

the Blodgett building.

The Molokai to Oahu (a.k.a M2O) sends

Patterson, also 49. Arnot, 70, has done the

zinc-oxide nose that are hallmarks of a pro

“We did a lot of those downwinders to

stand-up paddleboarders on a one-way,

race five times solo. On July 29, he planned

surfer. “I have huge respect for anyone who

train for M20, but also just for fun” says

32-mile crossing of some of the gnarliest

to race his sixth M2O.

can do that race,” he says, talking about

18 VTSPORTS.COM | AUGUST 2018

At 6’2”, all chest and big guns,

massive wave. “The helicopter wash was so strong it kept blowing me back and I barely got over the lip—I was scared to death,” he says of his now-famous 2009 first descent of the wave on skis. He stuck it and streaked down the face making GS turns as the monster roared and crashed behind him.

STANDING UP FOR THE LAKE Looking out at the flat, glassy waters of Lake Champlain, you might think that Burlington would be the last place you’d find a waterman like Patterson. Yet, he spent two weeks here in July and is coming back for a week in August for the 10th running of Stand-Up for the Lake.

The SUP fest has grown to attract more

The Scully' new Burlington Surf Club where anyone can rent a board or get a day pass to hang and enjoy beach chairs, a yoga pavilion and the surf retail shack. Photo by Lisa Lynn

than 80 competitors from both sides of the

we were foiling, there were kiteboards out,

in Maine eventually built into the skis

border. It now has a cash purse of $3,500

a few windsurfers and then when it died

Patterson used to surf Jaws.

and is one of 24 Paddle-League affiliated

down some we took the Hobie Cat out — all

Starr went on to found Paddlesurf

races held around the globe. It also has

in one day,” says Patterson. “It amazes me

Champlain in 2009, and still occasionally

helped raise more than $60,000 for the

that this lake is so undiscovered. Look at

does lessons on the paddle skis out of his

Community Sailing Center, where Scully

it! I think I’ve seen the best sunsets here of

Oakledge Park base. “I don’t get a lot of

served on the board for many years.

anywhere.”

demand for that, but it’s fun to get them out

While Patterson will be there for his

For

Patterson,

there’s

another

every once in a while," he says.

sponsors (WND&WVS is one, along with

connection to Burlington. In 2007, two of

GoPro, Naish, DaKine and a host of others),

Patterson’s friends, Cody Townsend and

for

Starr is one of the people responsible

the California transplant has started

Mike Douglas, were looking for a way to

Champlain

making more and more visits to Burlington

ski on waves. Meanwhile, Jason Starr, a

lessons and guide service at Oakledge.

just for fun. “This place is awesome! I’ve

former freestyle skier from Essex, Vt., had

Steve Brownlee is another. Brownlee’s

become really good friends with Russ

been experimenting with making skis for

Umiak Outfitters sets up SUP and kayak

and his wife Roxanne, so why not hang

waves—though he’s the first to say, “I’m not

rentals at Burlington’s North Beach (and

out here?” he says, looking out over the

really a surfer at all.” An avid river paddler,

on the Waterbury Reservoir). And the

water. “Last Friday it was as windy here as

he started with paddle skis, then designed

new Community Sailing Center, right on

anywhere, blowing 25 to 30 knots. Man,

the skis that the McDermott brothers

the city’s waterfront, is another popular

bringing

paddlesports

with

his

on-lake

to

Lake rentals,

M2O, “and Dr. Bob, well he’s a legend,” Patterson says. (The legend was stoked when The Wall Street Journal wrote a July 21 story on Arnot, entitled “No Ocean Is No Problem For This Vermont Stand-Up Paddleboarder.”)

Patterson continues to talk about M2O

and what it's like to paddle in to Oahu’s China Wall, where hefty Pacific swells heave into a backwash. “It’s like paddling through a mogul field,” he says.

Patterson should know. Along with surf icons Laird Hamilton and Dave Kalama, he’s one of the foremost “watermen” in the world–someone adept at using any type of board for any type of watersport.

His bio reads like a series of coverlines

for Outside Magazine: set record for skiing off 142-foot cliff; paddled with Great White sharks circling under him (and caught underwater footage with his Go-Pro); fourtime winner of the U.S. Extreme Combined Ski & Snowboard Champion; and skied (yes, skied) the giant 40-foot-plus wave that stacks up off Maui that locals call Peahi or, more commonly, Jaws.

With Red Bull filming from a helicopter,

Russ Scully kiteboarding off WND&WVS winter retreat in Rincon, Puerto Rico.

Photo by Amy Rodriguez

Patterson was towed in by jetski to the

AUGUST 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 19

"It's pretty cool that we can get guys like Ben and Chuck to come to Vermont."

Big wave surfer Chuck Patterson used skis designed by Essex, Vt.'s Jason Starr, to surf-ski Jaws, a massive wave off Maui. For a video of his ride, see vtsports.com. Photo courtesy Jason Starr launch and rental spot.

“Just like the Community Sailing

North of Burlington, in a shallow bay

Center, our goal here is to show that

off St. Albans, Curt and Jerri Benjamin

anyone can get out on the lake,” Russ says

and their son Jordan and his wife Erin have

as he nods toward the water. While the CSC

also made board sports a way of life. The

focuses more on sailboats and dinghies,

elder Benjamins, now in their 60s, started

the Burlington Surf Club is about the

off windsurfing more than 30 years ago

beachier side of water sports. Once a week,

and have since moved into kiteboarding,

Canadian Olympic canoeist and paddler

becoming the only Professional Air Sports

Tommy Buday comes down to host SUP

Association (PASA)-certified instructors

paddle clinics. On Tuesday nights, there’s

in Vermont. "We teach at St. Albans but

SUP water polo. Wednesday nights are

also out of the Burlington Surf Club," says

races and time trials.

Jerri, 65, who just finished teaching a

All summer, there are kids' windsurfing

women's clinic there. From their St. Albans

camps. “Windsurfing camp! I can’t think of

spot, the Benjamins' KiteNPaddle also

anywhere in the continental U.S. you could

offers kiting and paddleboard trips out to

find a windsurfing camp going as strong as

the Champlain Islands. In the fall, they head to Cape Hatteras, N.C.

For a state that’s hasn’t seen a salt water

wave in a millennium, Vermont’s surf/

it is here,” Patterson exclaims. “It’s like a Patterson celebrated Fourth of July, 2018, in Burlington, giving lessons on how to foil.

Photo courtesy Chuck Patterson

little Hawaii here.”

Quietly presiding over “little Hawaii,”

the Scullys look like they just stepped

paddle/boardsports scene has grown at a

Santa Barbara, Ca. in 1997. “We wanted a

shoreline where Blodgett Oven was based.

surprising rate. And now, the Burlington

out of the ocean. Tanned and fit, with

breakfast place like Mesa Café, where we

“At first, I just wanted the land beside it,”

Surf Club is taking that scene up a notch.

sun-streaked

used to go in Santa Barbara,” Roxanne

says Russ who lost out on the original bid.

flip flops, they both look a lot more like

recalls. So in 2009 they

created the

Then, the place came up for sale again. He

surf instructors than investors who just

surf-themed restaurant, The Spot, in an

put together $14.3 million and closed on

bought a 14 million-dollar property. They

Not long after Russ Scully finished his

architecturally historic former Phillips 66

the property in June, 2017. The idea: first

are both. Russ is the current chair of the

downwinder last May, he and Roxanne

batwing gas station on Route 7. Then they

build a surf club, then see what else would

Burlington Business Association. Roxanne,

started work on the surf club, a dream they

started selling boards out of The Spot.

come.

48 is a strong slalom waterskier and Brown

have had for years, and the logical next

That spawned WND&WVs in 2012. Then,

By our interview in early July, there

Belt Nia dance teacher at the South End

step in what can best be described as their

in the summer of 2017 they opened Spot

was a surf shop, storage cabins for SUPs,

Studio. She supports local charities via her

efforts to surf-ify Burlington. “I just want

on The Dock, at the heart of Burlington's

windsurfers, kiteboards and more. In a

Onda Foundation and has helped lead the

to make Burlington a model so that people

waterfront.

shaded pavilion, a woman was leading a

WND&WVS team (made up of employees)

All the while, Russ had his eye on what

yoga class. Kids played on the sand bars

to victory the last two years in the annual

that can come out of it,” says Roxanne.

was perhaps the most prime piece of real

out front. Hammocks hung between trees,

Burlington

estate left in the city: the building and

clusters swung in the breeze.

which support cancer research.

SURF CITY

look at what’s being done here and the good The Scullys moved to Vermont from

20 VTSPORTS.COM | AUGUST 2018

hair,

board

Dragonboat

shorts

Festival

and

races

Ali Marchildon, who helps manage the

states. When he got to Vermont in 2017, the

Jason Starr on his prototype paddle skis Photo courtesy J. Starr

WND&WVS shop, embodies the beach/ business vibe the couple have established.

WND&WVS crew guided him to a standing wave on the Mad River. Gravy checked off

She moved to Burlington from Hawaii and

the “I surfed Vermont” box, sort of: “Who

worked for the Women’s Small Business

knew surfing was a thing in Vermont? Well,

Program before joining WND&WVS. “I’ve

now it is,” Gravy deadpanned in his V-blog.

seen days out on the lake when people were

“It’s pretty cool that we can get guys like

out surfing the waves off the point,” she says,

Ben and Chuck to Vermont. They become our

nodding to the north. “It’s not Hawaii, but it’s

ambassadors and we want them out there

still a pretty great place to live.”

talking about what’s going on here,” says

Scully.

Why would any surfer move to Vermont?

For Marchildon, it was for her former

husband’s career. For the Scullys, it was

when you pull back and look at Scully’s

something different. “We were both from the

bigger picture and the old brick Blodgett

East and liked to ski. We thought we’d just

building that lies just past "little Hawaii."

stay for a year or two, but we got married

here and then it stuck. This is such a good

mine,” says Russ as he sweeps an arm. “Just

place to raise a family,” says Russ. The couple

look at this: in what other inland city can

now have two sons, ages 15 and 17.

you ride your bike down to the beach and

go paddleboard or swim or sail or windsurf.

Russ grew up surfing in New Jersey

and went to St. Lawrence University, where

It’s a strategy that starts to make sense

“This land has always been a dream of

That’s got to attract a business.”

he started dating Roxanne, who grew up

The old Blodgett buildings sit waiting,

in the Adirondacks. After, graduating the

proprietary retail software e-beans (which

bought a place in Rincon, Puerto Rico where

as Russ, who, draws up plan after plan—

couple headed west. He began working in

he created originally for Vermont’s coffee

they now hold surf, SUP and kiteboard

some involving retail and business space,

graphic design for a newspaper in Santa

roasting industry) his shops use today.

camps with pros like Patterson. They also

some residential. “One of our goals is to

Barbara, Ca. “We both just fell in love with

Rachel

started

continue to host fundraisers for Miller’s

see Burlington grow—a place like this

the surf culture there,” Roxanne says. But

Stormboarding (teaching snow-kiting in

latest venture, the Rozalia Project, which

could attract another tech business like

with family in Dorset, Vt., and in New York,

the winter and summer kiteboarding in the

focuses on getting plastic out of the ocean.

Dealer.com,

the couple moved back. Russ worked on

Champlain Islands), first introduced the

The shop now has a “team” of sponsored

says. Considering the start-ups that have

software development for his own company,

Scullys to windsurfing in 2004.

pros. “Our 'sponsorship' isn't much. It’s

launched in some of the Scullys’ other

Scully Interactive, and eventually teamed up

“She was the one who really got me

really a way of just helping them out a little

properties:

with Dave Gibson to found Propeller Media

hooked,” Russ says, and credits Bob Arnot

bit so they can live the dream,” Russ says.

Lunaroma and Eco-Bean, it’s not unlikely.

Works. He later left to focus on real estate and

with getting him into SUPs. The Scullys were

The “team” includes Ben Gravy, a surfer

They just need to find more chairmen and

his own web design company and created the

so caught up in the surf scene they eventually

from New Jersey who set out to surf all 50

chairwomen of the boards.

WHERE TO GET ON BOARD(S)

Miller,

who

perhaps

Budnitz

a

Google,”

Bike

(and

Russ

Ello),

of the islands in the Inland Sea (Burton, KiteNPaddle shows new kiters the ropes.

Woods or Mosquito). They also put together fall kiting trips to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. A three-hour intro to kiting lesson

If you want to get into the Lake Champlain

costs $165 and the Benjamins are PASA

surf (or SUP) scene, Burlington is making

certified. Kitenpaddle.com

it easy. With rentals, lessons and events going on weekly, you can have your pick.

Paddlesurf Champlain

Grab a board and test yourself against

For nearly 10 years, Jason Starr has been

some of the best at Stand Up for the Lake

renting paddleboards and giving lessons out

on August 5, or just cruise the coast.

of Burlington’s Oakledge Park with Paddlesurf

Here’s where to SUP, kite, windsurf,

Champlain. You can take an hour lesson for

paddle or foil.

$30 or rent a board for $15 for a 1.5 hours.

Paddlesurf stocks boards by Evolve, Jimmy

Burlington Surf Club

Styx and Liquid Shredder. You can also ask

The Burlington Surf Club opened this

Starr to give you a lesson on the paddle-skis

spring with SUP, Starship and windsurfer

he designed. Paddlesurfchamplain.com.

rentals for anyone and a place where Umiak Outfitters

members (membership is $250 a year for an adult) can store their boards.

Waterfront, the Community Sailing Center

KiteNPaddle

Burlington’s biggest public beach, North

There’s also a pavilion that has weekly

rents everything from keelboats (Sonars

Set on a spit of land near St. Albans that

Beach, is where Umiak Outfitters rents SUPS

yoga and Nia classes, Tuesday night SUP

and Rhodes 19s) to sailing dinghies (420s

sticks well into Lake Champlain’s shallow

($25 for two hours), and kayaks—as well

polo, paddle clinics and kids' windurfing

and Lasers) to canoes, kayaks and SUPS.

waters, the Benjamin family home is

as at the Waterbury Reservoir. With shops

camps. An hour SUP rental is $15.

Sunday mornings there’s paddleboard

like a yacht club for board sports. Curt

in Richmond and Stowe, Umiak also sells

Burlingtonsurfclub.com

yoga. SUPs rent for $15 an hour. There are

and Jerri, who have been windsurfing

boards and boats, offers lessons (in SUP’s or

also a host of programs for kids and adults

and kiting for more than 30 years, and

kayaks) and organizes trips on the Winooski

Community Sailing Center

and the Center has the goal of creating

their son Jordan and his wife Erin teach

and the Lamoille Rivers. Umiak.com

Housed in an architecturally-stunning

access to the lake for all, no matter their

kiteboarding and windsurfing and offer

new

circumstance.Communitysailingcenter.org

SUP rentals and guided trips to some

building

on

the

Burlington

AUGUST 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 21

A I F T F H O S P LEA ONT E DGE S, V E R M L D N A S IE R R QUA OR T LESS RIVERS, G AC TION SP IN WITH ITS END W O R -G T S E FA A HUB TO TH HA S BECOME LD . BY RY LEE EWA G IN P M U J F OF CLIF

22 VTSPORTS.COM | AUGUST 2018

Derek McNamara launches a backflip off the 50-foot bridge into the Ottauquechee River in Quechee Gorge. Photo by Zeke Neubauer

Within view of Quechee's Simon Pearce showroom and restaurant, Derek McNamara does a flying front flip into the Ottauquechee.

O

Photo by Ali Kaukas

Derek

say to yourself ‘I got this’, if you aren’t 100

McNamara, a 19-year-old from

percent sure, even 99 percent confident,

Proctorsville, stood at the edge of

just don’t do it,” Derek says as he discusses

a 112-foot cliff, staring down at the glassy

the many times he’s walked away from a

water below. The cheers from friends

jump because he felt “off.”

ne

day

last

spring,

Most cliff jumpers spend numerous

behind him were drowned out by the sound of his own heartbeat thumping in his ears.

hours

perfecting

their

jumps

on

As he prepared to launch off the cliff,

trampolines and into foam pits before

the highest jump he had ever attempted,

they’re ever ready to follow through with

something didn’t feel right. Normally

the jump in real life. Confidence is key,

fearless, Derek felt his breath stick in his

Derek stresses when he talks about the

chest. His hands were numb. He shook his

quick few moments before he gets ready to

head and turned from the edge and walked

jump off an 80-plus-foot cliff.

back toward his friends, feeling the cold

stone beneath his feet.

this jump. I walked away many times… I

“It took me a long time to be ready for

wasn’t quite ready,” said Derek about the

Karen McNamara arrived just in time to see her son turn away from the cliff. As

112-foot cliff.

she’d approached the Barre quarry she’d

been held up by police, who wanted to know

the top of the cliff, 100 percent confident

why she was walking on private property.

McNamara, 19, has started to get invitations to cliff dive around the country.

in himself that he’d land the jump safely.

“There’s no stopping him. Even if I

“It makes me feel better that [Derek] stops

Which he did, completing a perfect flip

said he had already seen multiple people

didn’t like what he was doing, he’d go out

and thinks. He doesn’t go out there just to

into the water below where he was greeted

injure themselves that day. Someone had

and do it anyway,” says Karen, when asked

be crazy. If it’s not feeling right one day, he

by fellow jumpers waiting to high five and

passed out from the impact of hitting the

if fear ever gets in the way of supporting

won’t jump for whatever reason.”

fist bump him as he resurfaced.

water. Another friend injured his ankle.

Derek and his passion for cliff jumping.

She asked Derek why he didn’t jump. He

Photo by Zeke Neubauer

One day in June he would stand at

“When you look at a jump and you don’t

AUGUST 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 23

A favorite swimming hole for the UVM freeskiing team is Stowe's Bingham Falls.

Photo by Brooks Curran

Zeke describes the community as “talented kids and athletes who drive each other to do big, massive stuff.”

A SPORT ON THE RISE Derek grew up near me in Proctorsville, a town with a population of less than 500 people. He spends most of his winters skiing and training and all of his summers cliff jumping. As a kid, I remember him jumping off the top of the trestle bridge, a 38-foot jump which no other kid would ever dare to do.

A freestyle skier at Okemo, Derek’s

skiing career was starting to take off when an ACL tear and a bone fracture sidelined around his injury and continued to cliff

jumpers do. Volcom has also begun to dip a

dive. After many months at the Dorset

toe in the rising sport, by sponsoring young

Quarry, he started to become recognized

athletes such as Rob Wall and Jay Briggs.

for doing big jumps. He started to get

The company has even created swim shorts

invitations to travel around Vermont and

specially designed for cliff jumping.

beyond with a growing community of cliff

divers. Soon, he began meeting cliff divers

popularity online as well. Photographer

from across the country.

Brooks Curran’s 2015 montage “A VT

competition where elite divers compete from a height of 88 feet—three times the height of a standard Olympic diving platform. Divers are scored on the degree of difficulty, based on factors such as takeoff,

24 VTSPORTS.COM | AUGUST 2018

Videos of people cliff diving have gained

Day” showcased some of the state’s top

In the last decade, cliff jumping or In 2009, Red Bull introduced a cliff diving

his videography. His YouTube channels showcase some of Vermont’s top spots and divers. Berritta “discovered” Derek at the Dorset Quarry and introduced him to a network of jumpers from as far away as the West Coast.

Jumping into the aqua waters of "Little Bahamas," a quarry near Brandon. Photo by Robert Pond

freeskiers spending a day hucking four of Vermont’s popular dive spots in one day: Warren Falls, Bingham Falls, Winooski

number of somersaults, twists, and entry.

Quarry and Burlington’s Red Rocks. The

Even with the rigorous scoring system, the

video has earned 57,888 views since it was

traditional diving format still differs from

posted on YouTube two years ago. Mike

the array of freestyle tricks that modern

Berritta, creator of Cliff Life Media, has

This summer, the first ever full-length

cliff diving movie, “Flow State” was released. The film captured jumpers from all around the world, among them athletes in our own state.

him in 2017. That summer he found ways

diving has become a rising action sport.

also helped popularize the sport through

Zeke Neubauer, another Dorset Quarry

regular, grew up in California jumping cliffs at Lake Havasu, in Arizona. As a kid, Zeke was into BMX mountain biking and practicing tricks on trampolines. He describes the cliff jumping community as “talented kids and athletes who drive each other to do big massive stuff… it’s cool because everyone’s still progressing and has a different style. They work together to push each other. There are really no guidelines,” says Zeke.

“We’re all similarly minded people. We are just a group that likes to go out and have fun,” says Derek.

Every year, what Derek calls a “sendy

convention” of jumpers from the East Coast

and West Coast meet up in a new location

well as takeoff in both arenas. “If you are

for the event officially named East x West,

already off-balance or unaligned on your

which made its debut in 2012. Anyone who

take-off, this can make for a sloppy jump.”

is welcome. The 2017 East x West was held

He likes to think about jumping in three

in Barre.

parts, take off, airtime balance and your

As we talk, Derek pull up plane tickets

landing position. Jumpers should always

to a competition at the end of July called the

land feet first. Often, beginners forget to

Colorado Cliff Cruise. Billed as a gathering

untuck their knees and leave their arms

of “60 of the best cliff jumpers and divers,”

out to the side, a mistake that can lead to

the competition (held in California this

injury when jumping from high heights.

year) features a 40-foot jump and a 70-

A “pencil jump” can also lead to a loss

foot jump. Derek was thrilled to be invited.

of balance, resulting in landing on ones

“I’m very excited, but terrified at the same

back. Aerial awareness is an important

time,” he admitted.

component of a jump, since most jumpers

As he jumped more and more, Derek

spend airtime falling. “Practicing aerial

has become familiar with cliff jumpers

awareness is meant to help you in an

from Vermont. But as he watched videos

uncomfortable setting,” Labow says.

of the sport online, he was surprised to

discover how many people across the

cork 720, which is a move specific to the

country were as dedicated to jumping as

sport of cliff jumping. He said he had

he was. He began connecting with others

watched a video of the trick from another

on Instagram after watching their videos.

jumper and practiced it at a much smaller,

Soon his own Instagram feed became

safer height before he tried it for the first

dedicated to clips of him jumping.

time off the Quechee covered bridge as

“I wasn’t quite in the group yet. I knew

I watched. Flopping the jump the first

I wanted to hang out with these people

time from the smaller height, Derek knew

more, so I had to do something crazy,” says

that he wasn’t ready to take on the gainer

Derek. At some point, a light bulb went off

cork 720 from the very top of the bridge.

in his head: “I decided I had to light myself

The historic structure rests 50 feet above

on fire,” he said. To prove himself to his

the water below, making it a jump with

fellow jumpers, Derek (who volunteers as a

consequences for failure.

firefighter in Proctorsville) wore a wetsuit

I watched Derek try to perfect a gainer

covered in Vaseline. He had someone ignite

JUMPS WITH CONSEQUENCES

the suit as he jumped off an 88-foot cliff

With the steady rise of cliff jumping and its

into the ocean in Acadia National Park,

growing presence in social media, people

Maine.

are increasingly copying tricks they see

Like many skiers, Derek grew up

from videos posted online. Jumpers who

training with trampolines, foam pits, and

know what they are doing won’t attempt

the occasional cliff jump. In the winter

a jump until they’re confident they will be

though, he spent most of his time at

able to safely perform it. That’s not always

Okemo’s terrain parks. His ACL tear sent

the case with those less experienced.

him into several months of recovery. “I’m

the kind of person who can’t sit still. The

Michael Hansen, 41, of Shelburne jumped

first couple of days I was like ‘Wow, this

from a 70-foot cliff and died on impact.

is great, people are waiting on me.’ Then

In July 2017, William Caulkins of Cohoes,

a week passed and I was going crazy,”

NY, jumped from a 100-foot-high ledge in

Derek says. When he came back from his

the Barre granite quarries — a place where

long, drawn-out period of recovery, it was

swimming and diving are prohibited —

summer. He missed the thrill of flipping

and had to be airlifted to the intensive care

through the air on skis, so he decided to

unit at Dartmouth Hitchcock hospital. In

get serious about cliff jumping. “I was

early July of this year, Ryan Syszmanski,

basically jumping with an immobile leg. I

22, an experienced cliff diver, former

would wrap and compress my healing knee

gymnast and free runner, was filmed

with anything I could before I jumped.”

jumping off a similarly high ledge in

Derek was so eager to get back in the air

Barre. He tore every ligament in his knee.

that any fears he had about reinjuring his knee were thrown aside.

In 2015, at Red Rocks in Burlington,

The video of his jump went viral and was Zeke Neubauer, ready to make a splash in the Dorset Quarry.

Photo by Ali Kaukas

Derek acknowledges the similarity

picked up by news outlets such as Inside Edition. “Even though I’m watching from

between freestyle skiing and cliff jumping.

requires that participants stay active to

some kind of other sport background…”

the outside now, I’m absolutely thrilled

Most serious cliff jumpers got their start

avoid injury. “Since cliff jumping is such a

University of Vermont freeskiing coach

that this sport is continuing to grow like

in another sport, whether that be skiing,

new sport, we’re all still learning… We take

Noah Labow says that the “cliff jumping

it is— with people like @clifflifemedia and

gymnastics, or diving. He says that like

tricks from sports like skiing and we add

game” involves maneuvers that are very

@jakeofalltrades808 leading the charge,”

skiing, cliff diving takes a lot of training

something new to them, and we rename

similar to freestyle skiing tricks. The sports

Syszmanski posted on Instagram.

and practice at something he calls “aerial

them… The people who thrive the most in

involve similar training and Noah stresses

All summer around Vermont, you

awareness.” He also says that the sport

this sport are the people who come from

the importance of aerial awareness as

can see people jumping off cliffs into

AUGUST 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 25

swimming holes. Popular spots include Dorset Quarry, Quechee Gorge, Red Rocks, Bingham Falls and various quarries.

Stowe Mountain Rescue’s Doug Veliko says that in the summer about 20 percent of calls to the rescue team are swimming hole-related, whether that be Bingham Falls, Glen Moss Falls, or other places near Stowe. They aren’t all necessarily jumpingrelated, but often steep cliffs lead to slips that end in injury. Veliko says most of the calls he gets are from 19- to 22-yearold males, many of whom are under the influence of drugs or alcohol. He believes that people take little to no precautions when preparing for a jump. “People get misled. They think ‘Oh I’ve been swimming here for 20 years,’ but things change,” Veliko said.

Veliko suggests that people scout out pools, launch sites, and look for wet rocks before attempting a jump, even in a place they are familiar with. He also advises that no one consume alcohol or drugs. This year, with the lack of rain, water levels are low. As a benchmark, Lake Champlain's water level was at 98 feet at the King Street Ferry Dock in Burlington in May. As of late July, it had dropped four feet.

Another problem with cliff jumping is that access to many swimming holes requires

crossing

private

land.

Most

often, encounters between jumpers and police are due to trespassing complaints.

Owners of the property can be held liable for injuries, or even worse, fatalities that happen on their land.

Chief William Dodge of the Barre Town Police Department says that during

McNamara sends a back full from the covered bridge at the Quechee Gorge.

Photo by Ali Kaukas

Serious cliff jumpers always check launch

He acknowledges the big steps that Red Bull

skiing at Green Mountain Academy, says that

sites for slippery rocks, landing pools for

and Volcom have already taken to reinvent

cliff jumping, as well as many other freestyle

debris and depth, and never try a jump

the sport. Because of cliff jumping, Derek

sports, have made their name only recently.

they aren’t ready or practiced for.

has his own bucket list of spots he hopes

“I slowly worked my way up,” he says of the

jumping will take him, among them; New

jumps he did as a freestyle skier in his early

sport and says he could see himself

Derek sees cliff jumping as a serious

Zealand, Australia, and Thailand.

20s. “The modern era of cliff jumping is

coaching younger children in it someday.

pretty extreme… I consider a fall fatal at 55

Noah Labow, who now coaches freestyle

feet. These guys are jumping off of 80+ foot

the summer of 2017 there were only an estimated three or four calls specifically involving

cliff

jumping

incidents—

although there are many other complaints at the quarries involving trespassing. “I don’t know of any regulations specifically regarding cliff jumping, but in our case the

cliffs.” Noah also has a 50- to -60-foot rule.

DIVING IN You can find swimming holes all over Vermont but a few places, such as Dorset Quarry, Bingham Falls, Warren Falls and Red Rocks are known for cliff diving. Always check the depth of the entire pool, especially as water is very low this year, due to droughts. Don't

He won’t jump anything over that height, because of the massive amount of impact.

After interviewing Derek, I tagged along to watch him jump from the Quechee covered bridge into the Ottauquechee River.

trespass, know the conditions, your skills and be prepared.

Derek was prepared to jump from over 50

Aerial Awareness: Mastering midair control. Aerial Awareness is practiced on

I was more nervous than he was. Before

trampolines and into foam pits to help master a trick.

he jumped, he rolled his shoulders, took

A Double: Two flips.

a deep breath and dove from the bridge,

Gainer Cork 720: A moving forward back flip where you are running at the cliff, with a

doing a single flip. He fell in slow motion

twisting fall backwards.

and straightened out before piercing the

Double Back: A double backflip.

surface of the water far below. I didn’t let

Triple Half: A flip with a half twist (180 degrees) done three times.

jumping spots will be shut down.

myself relax until I saw his head break the

Front 540 (Misty): Spinning forward into a rotation leaning forward.

surface.

Gainer: A backwards somersault while still moving forward.

to is to make sure there are people in the

Double 10: Three rotations on axis combined with two flips off axis.

water when a person is jumping. “One, it’s

with ease, capturing the attention of many,

Cork (Cab) 7: Two full rotations (360 degrees twice) of an off axis or inverted horizontal

fun to fist-bump someone after you stomp

rotation.

I hesitantly climbed a 25-foot cliff. Then,

a jump, but also we take into consideration

Dub Lay: Straight body, layed out backflip.

that things go wrong… humans are

Back Full: A backflip with a 360.

humans,” he says. He also takes time to

Double Gainer: A backwards somersault where the person flips twice, instead of just

swim at depth to make sure a pool is deep

once.

entire property is posted, therefore people who cliff dive are trespassing,” says Chief Dodge.

Derek says that as long as you respect

the police, leave when you are asked, and stay honest with them, little trouble comes out of these encounters. Serious jumpers cooperate with authorities and leave no trace, often due to fear that their favorite Another rule of thumb Derek adheres

enough for the jump he plans to attempt.

26 VTSPORTS.COM | AUGUST 2018

feet, off of the covered bridge above me.

As I sat there waiting for him to jump,

As Derek gracefully dived and flipped

with a series of shrieks (confirming that I was definitely not meant for the sport), I jumped. Cliff jumping, I decided, takes so much more than the courage to huck yourself off a ledge.

HEALTH

CAN WEED HELP YOU WIN?

Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and Cannabidiol (CBD) are the two most prevalent compounds in cannabis plants. THC is psychoactive, and CBD is not. THC's chemical qualities are fairly wellunderstood, but little is known about how CBD interacts with the body.

SOME ATHLETES CLAIM MARIJUANA HELPS THEM. WE LOOK AT THE THE SCIENCE BEHIND THIS NEWLY-LEGALIZED SUBSTANCE AND HOW IT CAN IMPACT PERFORMANCE, FOR BETTER OR WORSE. BY ABAGAEL GILES

T

his past May, Prem Linskey finished fourth in The Endurance Society’s Infinitus 250-miler– a rugged multi-day trail race through the Moosalamoo National Recreation Area.

Linskey has also competed in a handful of other ultra distance trail races around the state.

One of his training secrets? Linskey uses cannabis. “It helps me deal with pain, inflammation and nausea and helps me eat,” he says.

The 29-year-old from Huntington, has also raced in the Catamount 50K and the Jay Peak Trail Running Festival 50K. “Sometimes it helps me get in the groove of a run, [and] sometimes it makes it harder,” he says.

Linskey tries not to use cannabis during races unless he gets sick (after a bout with food poisoning, a few puffs from a vape pen helped him recover his appetite during the 250-miler).

Linskey takes small doses so he doesn’t get high when he exercises.

“I smoke a vape pen or use edibles.

When I take CBD, I take it in capsules,” he says. He doesn’t consider it to be performance-enhancing. “It’s medicine, like I would take ginger for a stomach ache, or turmeric for inflammation.”

Another local athlete, who is a prominent part of Vermont’s

“According to a 2016 study... marijuana is the second most widely used drug among athletes in the United States– after alcohol.” backcountry ski scene uses cannabis three to four days a week. In his early forties, he describes himself as a former competitive cross-country mountain bike racer who goes on hard rides three to four days a week in the summer and ski tours just as frequently in the winter.

He’s smoked pot regularly for 20 years.

“I use it after I exercise, along with CBD oil for inflammation,” he says. He says he wouldn’t smoke before a race, but that 9 of the 10 people he backcountry skis with smoke cannabis when they ski tour.

Another local athlete and competitive mountain bike racer, who also asked to remain anonymous, used to smoke pot before racing to calm his

nerves. “I would wait and get warmed up sober to remind my muscles what we are about to do, then have a couple of hits before my race to calm my fears and focus,” he says. “I found it way easier to focus on my line, body position and what was ahead.”

When asked if he thought cannabis was a performance-enhancing drug, he said, “I’m not really sure it was an advantage because I think three quarters of the field was doing the same thing.”

HIGH PERFORMANCE? As of July first, cannabis is legal in Vermont. You can smoke it (in private), you can possess it (up to one ounce), you can grow it (up to two mature female plants per dwelling), but you can’t buy it, unless you have a medical card.

According to a 2016 study from The American Journal of Addictions, marijuana is the second most widelyused drug among athletes in the United States—after alcohol. Some athletes, such as professional ultra-runner Avery Collins and world-class agegroup triathlete and personal trainer Clifford Drusinsky, have talked openly about using cannabis edibles to train for endurance events in interviews with Men’s Journal and The New York Times.

In a 2017 guest editorial for The LA Times, former National Football League tight end Nate Jackson wrote: “The truth is that NFL players have been proving the viability of cannabis as a pain medication for decades,” touting it as a safer alternative to opioids in treating both chronic and short-term pain.

For better or worse, the World Anti-Doping Agency bans the use of natural and synthetic cannabinoids in competition. The agency decided to allow CBD, the non-psychoactive compound in cannabis, in 2018. WADA's reasoning for banning marijuana includes cannabis’ illegal status in most countries, the potential for smoking to negatively affect respiratory, cardiac and mental health and its potential to enhance performance.

The agency’s website reads “a common misconception of marijuana is that its use impairs physical activity, including exercise performance… there are… effects that than can be performanceenhancing for some athletes.” WADA lists the substance’s potential to reduce anxiety and muscle tension and increase focus and risk-taking behaviors as performance-enhancing qualities.

There’s also evidence that runner’s high, the euphoria associated with

AUGUST 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 27

endurance running, is caused by the same system of chemical interactions as the high from smoking or ingesting cannabis products.

In 2015, a group of German researchers discovered that mice who ran on wheels had higher levels of naturally-occurring endocannabinoids in their blood stream, which appeared to reduce their anxiety and sensation of pain. The study they published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that the endocannabinoid system plays a “crucial role in runner’s high.”

THC VS. CBD Dr. Karen Lounsbury is a professor of pharmacology at the University of Vermont College of Medicine who teaches courses on cannabis and studies the way that cells use chemicals to communicate within the body.

The two most prominent compounds in female marijuana plants are THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, and CBD, cannabidiol. The former gets you high and the latter doesn’t.

As Dr. Lounsbury explains, THC affects the body by binding to cannabinoid receptors that are located in nerve cells that regulate pain, and in cells in the brain that regulate higher processing like hunger and decision-making. When it binds to the cannabinoid receptors, it has the effect of “shutting off” pain. By the same mechanism, it also changes the way we experience hunger, nausea and executive decision making.

According to a 2006 study published by the National Institutes of Health, THC essentially functions as an off switch for pain, by mimicking the naturally occurring substance anandamide, an endocannabinoid which tells your neurons to stop telling your brain you’re in pain.

The same study found that CBD does not bind to these same receptors, and little is known about its chemical behavior within the body.

Additionally, a 1991 study in Planta Medica reported that THC has 20 times the anti-inflammatory power of aspirin and twice that of hydrocortisone.

Similarly, a study published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 1998 concluded that CBD is a more powerful antioxidant than vitamin C or vitamin E, and a 2006 study published in by the National Academy of Sciences found that CBD also exhibits anti-inflammatory properties.

28 VTSPORTS.COM | AUGUST 2018

“There's... evidence that runner's high... is caused by the same system of chemical interactions.”

Still, those studies are few and far between since marijuana’s status as a schedule 1 drug under federal law makes it difficult for researchers to secure funding to study it. A 2017 review in The Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport found only 15 published studies that looked at the effects of THC on exercise performance. For CBD, there are so few studies that no one knows for sure how the chemical affects the body.

“CBD doesn’t seem to bind to the cannabinoid receptors, and yet it has similar effects as THC on pain signaling and nausea,” says Dr. Lounsbury. “What gets people excited about CBD is that it seems to give you the same benefits as THC without getting you high.”

According to Shayne Lynn, Executive Director of Burlington-based Champlain Valley Dispensary and Southern Vermont Wellness, most of the people who frequent his businesses to use cannabis for health reasons don’t want to feel stoned. “CBD could be a larger market across the board than THC,” predicts Lynn. He sees a growing market for CBD oil that does not contain THC, which athletes concerned about a drug test could use.

Another perk of CBD? Dr. Lounsbury says it seems to reduce anxiety and counteract the high created by THC. However, she cautions: “At this point, there just aren’t enough studies to say clinically that we know what it is doing in your body.”

SMOKING, VAPING AND EDIBLES The way you ingest cannabis also changes the way it affects your body.

“When you smoke cannabis, it gets into the brain very quickly, so that the effects of the drug in your brain set in really fast and are intense,” says Dr. Lounsbury. “If getting high is the goal, smoking is the fastest way to do it.”

Both Collins and Drusinsky reported that eating edibles before setting out on a long run helped them maintain focus and push through pain. “If your goal is to treat pain, you might be better off

taking an edible because the effects will last longer, be less intense and take longer to kick in,” Dr. Lounsbury says.

Edibles also allow users to bypass smoking the plant. “To be clear, there are carcinogens in joint smoke, and there are many fewer in the vapor from vaping cannabis,” she continues.

“Cannabis is volatile, so they don’t have to put additive chemicals in the cartridges like they do for nicotine.”

A 2014 review of studies about cannabis and health risks published in Current Pharmaceutical Design states that there is no conclusive evidence to suggest that cannabis is carcinogenic when smoked. However, “all the right pieces are there to suggest that if you smoked enough, it could contribute to you being at a higher risk for cancer,” says Dr. Lounsbury.

A 2014 study in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research found that vapor from certain e-cigarettes contains formaldehyde, a known carcinogen.

No comparably conclusive study has been carried out with the cartridges associated with cannabis vaping.

Lynn, who is not a medical professional, said that his staff recommend that those looking to try cannabis should start with small doses, whether experimenting with CBD or with THC. He and Dr. Lounsbury both warned that taking too much of the substances can cause the drug to have the opposite of its intended effect. Too much THC can make a person anxious, and it seems that large doses of CBD can be less effective at treating pain than smaller doses.

MEMORY LOSS, ADDICTION AND OTHER RISKS Cannabis appears to be less addictive than alcohol. However, according to a study published in the medical journal Lancet in 2009, one in six people who start using marijuana as teenagers will become addicted, as opposed to about one in ten who start using as adults. The same study reported that 25 to 50 percent of people (adult or otherwise) who use marijuana daily will become addicted.

A study published in 2014 in The New England Journal of Medicine drove this home: “There is… a bona fide cannabis withdrawal syndrome (with symptoms that include irritability, sleeping difficulties, dysphoria, craving and anxiety) which makes cessation difficult,” wrote the authors, researchers from the National Institutes of Health and National Institute on Drug Abuse.

However, unlike withdrawal from alcohol or other drugs, withdrawal from cannabis won’t kill you.

Since doctors aren’t allowed to prescribe cannabis, they don’t have the chance to cater dosage to a patient’s metabolism and other drug regimen like they would any other prescription drug. “In high doses, THC and CBD do have the potential to interact with other drugs, and the research isn’t there yet to know for certain what that would look like,” Dr. Lounsbury warns.

All parties interviewed said kids and adolescents should not be smoking or ingesting pot. A 2012 study from Brain: A Journal of Neurology found that adults who smoked marijuana regularly during adolescence (up to age 21) had fewer axonal fibers, structures that facilitate communication between different parts of the brain, than nonpot-smokers.

The areas of the brain that were most affected were those responsible for tasks that require alertness, selfawareness, memory, learning and inhibition. The study said it is possible that the damage could be reversed once a person stops using cannabis, but that further research is needed to determine if this is the case.

According to Dr. Lounsbury and a 1975 study published in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, THC has also been proven to suppress a person’s rapid eye-movement, or deep sleep cycle. “It makes you sleepy, which is great if you’re an athlete, but you don’t actually get a full night’s sleep,” she said.

It also inhibits dreaming.

And if you’re worried about a drug test, keep in mind THC typically stays in the brain for about a half hour to an hour when smoked, and two to four hours when ingested. At that point, the liver starts to metabolize it with special cannabinoid-eating enzymes. A standard drug test that uses urine or a blood sample tests for the presence of those enzymes. A standard anti-doping drug test will not detect CBD. However, there is no strict rule about how long cannabis stays in the body.

“For someone who has smoked once in a month or a week, it will probably leave the body in a couple of days,” she says.

“If you’re a regular user? Like every day?

That metabolite starts to build up and it could take up to two weeks to leave your system.”

So if you’re planning on going pro, you might think twice before lighting up.

[ MANSFIELD

O R T H O PA E D I C S

]

Getting you back to the trails you love.

Sports Medicine at Copley Hospital.

Don’t let injuries or chronic knee, hip, shoulder, or ankle pain keep you from getting back on the trails you love. The experts at Mansfield Orthopaedics can help with state-of-the-art treatments designed specifically for you.

Match that with the warm, personalized care Copley is known for.

Top medical care to help you get back to the activities you love.

Our physicians: Nicholas Antell, MD; Brian Aros, MD; Bryan Huber, MD; John Macy, MD; Joseph McLaughlin, MD; Bryan Monier, MD and Saul Trevino, MD.

To make an appointment with a Mansfield Orthopaedic Specialist at Copley Hospital, call 802.888.8405 ORTHOPEDICS | OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY | CARDIOLOGY EMERGENCY SERVICES | GENERAL SURGERY | ONCOLOGY UROLOGY | REHABILITATION SERVICES | DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING

528 Washington Highway, Morrisville, VT 6 North Main Street, Waterbury, VT EXCEPTIONAL CARE. COMMUNITY FOCUSED.

30 VTSPORTS.COM | AUGUST 2018

copleyvt.org

mountain bike racing and skateboarding.

I threw discus and shotput and thought the one-mile warmup run I had to do every day at practice was the worst thing ever.

Then, in 2012, I was diagnosed with Celiac disease. At that time, I weighed 235 pounds and had smoked cigarettes for some time. My doctor told me I needed to lose weight. I figured running would be the best way to do it because that’s what everybody else does, right? So I signed up for the Essex Half Marathon and told my wife I was going to do it.

FEATURED ATHLETE

THE BEARDED LONG TRAIL RUNNER Name: Phil LaCroix Family: Wife, Morgen LaCroix; son, James (8); daughter, Hazel (3); cat, Zack Age: 35 From: Bolton Occupation: Auto Mechanic Primary: Running, Skateboarding, Mountain Biking

A

fter losing seven friends in the last three years to opiate overdoses, Phil LaCroix decided to do one thing he knew how to do to bring change: run. Starting August 24, the auto mechanic from Bolton sets out to run the Long Trail in ten days. The trail is 273 miles long. His goal is to raise $50,000 in support of Vermont Foundation of Recovery and the Vermont Recovery Network through his Enough is Enough VT initiative.

You can contribute to his campaign at: www.gofundme.com/vfyef-enough-isenough

How would you describe yourself as a runner?

I like to call myself an elite mid-packer.

I love telling people that. They think ultra-marathoners are all fast. I’m not.

I think I have the potential to be faster, but that’s ok. I’m a dad.

For example, I was planning to run home to West Bolton after running the Catamount Ultra 50K. But my wife and kids surprised me at the finish line. They’d never seen me finish a race before, and when my three-year-old daughter ran out to meet me for the final stretch, I decided I’d rather go home with them.

Why did you choose to run the Long Trail for opiate addiction?

My wife and I have lost seven friends over the last three years to opiate addiction.

The people we lost were Vermonters, and all of them had been through treatment and rehab. They didn’t have a clean place to go afterwards. When I was growing up in Essex, you never heard of anybody going through this. My wife and I thought, we’ve got to do something to let people know how big of a problem

Phil LaCroix one marathon into the 2017 Infinitus 88K, with one left to go.

this is. This was the only thing I could think of to do to raise some money. I think it will draw attention to the issue because not a lot of people are crazy enough to try to run the Long Trail in a week and a half.

Have you ever done anything like this before?

I have never done anything like this— 274 miles is a long, long way. I was supposed to run my first 100-mile race this summer, but it didn’t work out. The longest single day run I have ever done was 45 miles during the Vermont 50. For this trip, I’ll be running about 27 miles per day for 10 days.

How did you choose Vermont Recovery Network and the Vermont Foundation of Recovery?

I came up with the idea after my friend overdosed in 2016. He’d gone to rehab

Photo courtesy Phil LaCroix

a few times, but kept getting right back into the same group of people he’d been using with. He didn’t have a clean group of people to support him, or a place where he could live and count on there being no drugs and alcohol.

In each case with our friends, transitional housing could have helped them. A lot of insurance only covers a few days of treatment. The big thing is that people struggling with addiction don’t need to be locked up– they need a house to go to that feels normal and safe. The funds raised will be split evenly between the two organizations. I picked $50,000 because that’s roughly the cost of setting up a sober living home for four to five people through Vermont Foundation of Recovery.

How did you get into running?

I was never a runner until after high school, but I’d done a lot of cross country

How did you transition from being a runner to being an ultra runner?

It took about three years for me to go from not running at all in my adult life to running ultra distances.

I would have been content with half marathons, but in 2013, my good friend Andy “A-Dog” Williams was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. When he got sick, I decided I would run the Vermont City Marathon in 2014 for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training. I raised a good bit of money for research. He died the day after Christmas in 2013 and never got to see me finish. I like to tell people he was the kind of guy whom you could call and he would come anytime and anywhere to give you ten bucks to put in your car for gas if you were stuck somewhere.

He went through a couple of bone marrow transplants. Watching how hard he fought for so long, I was inspired to see how far I could go with running.

I thought, what can I do with my body to be better? Now every race I run is for him.

I ran the 2015 Vermont City Marathon and my first Catamount 50K in 2015.

That sounds like a big step, but it’s really not that much longer than a marathon. I ran my first 50-miler as part of the 100on-100 Relay in 2016.

I started running for Andy, and I keep running for him.

What do you love about ultrarunning?

My family and I live about two miles off of the Long Trail in Bolton. I love running on trails. The surface is forgiving. Unlike in road races, nobody looks at you any differently for walking up hills. You run the downhills, jog the flats. I like that people help each other out, where in road races, it feels like everybody is in it

AUGUST 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 31

LaCroix says Vermont's opiate problem is a crisis.

He's running the Long Trail this month to say "Enough is Enough.". Photo courtesy Phil LaCroix

The Best Trailhead in Vermont A great day of Trapp Family Lodge Mountain Biking deserves a von Trapp Bierhall finish!

Our 11 miles of single track and 16 miles of double track lead to our Bierhall on diverse, expertly maintained trails. From rolling hills to the steep berms, to our new skills parks, we have terrain to thrill each and every mountain biker.

Wrap up your ride at the Bierhall and we’ll be sure to have a cold one ready for you!

WHAT’S IN HIS PACK? LaCroix plans to run light and meet people along the trail every day for food if possible.

He’s using Orange Mudd’s 20L Adventure Pack, which holds a two-liter bladder for water s. He plans to get daytime calories from liquids mixed with Tailwind powder or from Drinkmaple maple water. For water treatment, his Katadyn BeFree collapsible water filter and flask, together weigh just 2.3-ounces and compress down to the size of a tennis ball. For sleeping, he’ll use a light-weight inflatable sleeping pad and a combination bivy sac-sleeping bag with a hammock. Other gear includes:

700 Trapp Hill Road | Stowe, Vermont | trappfamily.com | 802.253.5719

ENO JungleNest Hammock ENO Guardian DX Bug Net (for hammock) Orange Mud 20L Adventure Pack Leki Micro Vario PAS Collapsible Trekking Poles Hoka One One Torrent Men’s Running Shoe Topo Athletic Runventure 2 Running Shoe Katadyn BeFree Collapsible 1L Flask and Microfilter Petzl NAO+ 750-lumen Headlamp Squirrel’s Nut Butter Anti-Chafe Salve 1 pair Salomon S-Lab shorts Salomon Bonatti Pro Waterproof Jacket Lots of Darn Tough Socks Delorme inReach GPS locator with tracking Survive Outdoors Longer Escape Bivvy Jetboil Flash stove Tailwind Nutrition Endurance Fuel

for themselves.

I also love being surrounded by nature. When you’re out in the woods, it doesn’t matter if you’re slow or fast.

You learn that you can get through just about anything for four or five miles with enough water and calories.

Vermont State Parks Home of starry skies, campfires, happy memories and hot showers in the morning vtstateparks.com

32 VTSPORTS.COM AUGUST 2018

What have you learned or been surprised by since starting Enough is Enough VT? You’d be surprised what some people tell their mechanic when they get comfortable with them. It’s probably kind of like a barber shop. Since I’ve been talking about opiate addiction and

how it’s affected people in my life, I’ve had customers come to my shop and share their own addiction stories with me, or stories about people they know and love. I had one customer break down in tears the other day. It reinforces my belief that this is a really important topic and we need to do something as a state about opiate addiction.

Do you think you’re addicted to running?

I’m too busy! I’ve got two kids and a wife.

I’m a mechanic. I have a lot of things that I do, but I do like running.

—Abagael Giles

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Visit Our Website adirondackmarathon.org Probably the most beautiful 26 miles, 385 yards you will ever run!

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Gear, clothing, and expert advice for all your hiking, biking, running camping outdoor adventures!

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AUGUST 10-12

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(802) 225-6736

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3 day stage race on the Kingdom’s hidden gems | theVT3.com/VTS © Chris Williams

GEAR & BEER

SUMMER FUN

Yeti Panga 28 Backpack

SUMMER’S THE TIME FOR SUNSCREEN, MOSQUITO REPELLENT, A CRUISE ON THE SUP AND... PINK BEER? A WATERPROOF PACK Yeti has become synonymous with keeping things cold. Now, the Yeti Panga 28 Backpack ($299, 28 liters) is promising to keep things equally dry. Measuring in at 20” x 12.5” x 7”, it’s shaped like a back-to-school pack that might carry a small laptop. And it might. We tested it and it kept four rolls of toilet paper dry when submerged, thanks to the HydroLok zipper and U-Dock handle cover. Made of a durable laminated nylon, it’s a heavy duty pack that can withstand a beating. And with shoulder straps and plenty of places to hook on water bottles or other gear, it’s the perfect pack to take on a downwind SUP adventure, a trek to go cliff diving or a kayak trip.

TWO-WAY SKIN PROTECTION Tired of carrying around a full Dopp kit of skin products to races? Body Glide SPF 30+ SUN (1.5 oz. $9.99) is an advanced formula that not only protects against chafing but doubles as an SPF 30. It bills itself as “never greasy and never wet” and we became confident enough in that fact to throw the pushcap container into our gym bag without the cap. Of course, you don’t necessarily want Body Glide all over your body (and it’s expensive) so you will still want a second sunscreen, but this is good for those transition areas where straps (or waist-bands or the elastic of bike shorts) meet the skin.

A SWEET-SMELLING REPELLENT We love the idea of natural bug repellents and the notion that anything that smells this good to us, smells bad to mosquitos.

Packed with ingredients like organic white vinegar, clove and lemongrass and totally gluten free, vegan and citronellafree, Brittanie’s Thyme Organic Bug Spray (4 oz, $8.95) is a pleasure to the senses. But will it keep the bugs off?

Meh….not so much. We cross-tested our findings with Consumer Reports.

After extensively testing a variety of repellents, CR concluded that in the

“natural” category, only “two of the three active ingredients that have regularly earned recommended status in our insect repellent ratings—picaridin and oil of lemon eucalyptus, or OLE—are derived from plants. But several other plant-based chemicals, including lemon grass and soybean oil, typically end up at the very bottom of our ratings.” Oh well...

PINK LOCAL BEER? If you’re headed to St. Albans to go kiteboarding with KiteNPaddle or to ride the Mississquoi Valley Rail Trail, be sure stop by 14th Star Brewing Co. This summer they’ll be serving up a handful of beers that are only available at their Main Street tasting room and beer garden.

New this summer, 14th Star’s Raspberry Vermonter Weiss is so good it’s popular with people who don’t even like beer. The dry, crisp sour is modeled after a Berlin Weiss, a balanced, low-alcohol beer that is neither vinegary nor sweet. Every ingredient from the malt to the hops was grown in Vermont.

It’s also brewed with local raspberries, picked fresh from Spirit Ledge Farms in Georgia, Vt. Did we mention it’s pink?

Seriously–this beer somehow manages to satisfy people who don’t like sours, don’t like fruity beer and people who prefer cider and wine. If you don’t like summer, you’re probably out of luck.

Then there is 14th Star’s most requested beer: The 1493. This tangy, hoppy American Pale Ale is brewed with fresh citrus zest and coriander. The brewery has decided to keep it as a draft special to spare its brewers from handzesting any more grapefruits, oranges and lemons than they have to.

On July 26, 14th Star announced it will donate one penny from every draft, can or keg of its Recruit Golden Ale sold to Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports.

The beer pairs well with the taproom’s Grazers farm-to-table burgers, local greens and creative pub fare. Burgers range from $11.75 to $14.

Body Glide SPF 30+ SUN

Brittanie’s Thyme Organic Bug Spray

14th Star's Raspberry Vermonter Weiss (above left) and the 1493 (above right).

AUGUST 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 35

RACE & EVENT GUIDE

VERMONT

SPORTS

LISTING YOUR EVENT IN THIS CALENDAR IS FREE AND EASY. VISIT VTSPORTS.COM/ SUBMIT-AN-EVENT OR E-MAIL EDITOR@ VTSPORTS.COM. ALL AREA CODES ARE 802.

ALL LOCATIONS ARE IN VERMONT, UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. FEATURED EVENTS, IN YELLOW, PAY A NOMINAL FEE.

RUNNING & HIKING

REGISTER TODAY

!

West Hill Grinder

5K Run & Walk Events $25 minimum per participant

$50 per driver/$75 driver and passenger

AT GIFFORD MEDICAL CENTER IN RANDOLPH, VT

Enter to WIN a ‘18 Harley-Davidson 883 Sportster (approximately $8,800 retail value) from Wilkins Harley-Davidson in South Barre, Vt.

OR Trade toward the bike of your choice OR $5,000 cash Tickets: $100 each (only 100 tickets to be sold)

Raffle winner is responsible for tax, title, registration and pick-up. Color and model dependent on availability.

Learn more and register at: www.lastmileride.com OR CALL (802) 728-2380

Sponsored by #1 FOR TODAY’S COUNTRY

36 VTSPORTS.COM | AUGUST 2018

REGIS

BY AU TER FOR A G. 1 F T-SHIR REE T!

Sunday, Sept 23rd High Meadows Farm Putney, Vermont

An adventure over the dirt roads and through the woods!

Fundraiser for the Windmill Hill Pinnacle Association

To conserve and make accessible lands along the Windmill Hill Ridge

bikereg.com/west-hill-grinder 49 Brickyard Lane, Putney Vermont

n

westhillshop.com

n

802-387-5718

BIKING

15TH ANNUAL

TRAIL RACE

9-16

2018

Event hosted by the Middlebury Area Land Trust (MALT). All proceeds help to maintain & improve the Trail Around Middlebury (TAM).

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2018

COURSE

19-mile & 10k timed runs, 2-mile family fun run/walk. All courses are loops on pristine trails through woods, farmland, meadow and river valleys, circumnavigating the town.

LOCATION

Middlebury Area

Start & end at Wright Park in Middlebury, VT. Post-race celebration with refreshments, prizes & music. All welcome, any ability.

Land Trust

Registration open now at http://www.maltvt.org

AUGUST 11-12

OCTOBER 13

MOUNTAIN ENDURANCE EVENTS, THE HEART OF VERMONT

www.ironwoodadventureworks.com AUGUST 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 37

Ethan Allen Biathlon Club 2018 Summer Race Series

DATES July 12, 19, 26, August 9,16, 23 TIMES 5:00 pm - Registration 5:30 to 6:00 pm - Zeroing 6:15 pm - Race Start WHERE Ethan Allen Biathlon Club Ethan Allen Rd., Jericho, VT

NEW: See our website for mandatory

Safety Clinic information Info: www.eabiathlon.org

38 VTSPORTS.COM | AUGUST 2018

WATERSPORTS

2018_HC-ZoesRace_3x3.85_PRINT.pdf

1

7/19/18

TRIATHLON & MULTISPORT 10 A N NI V E R S A RY !

TH

FREE REGISTRATION

OBSTACLE COURSE & OTHER

1K Fun Run 8:30 AM

C

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5K Walk/Run 9:00 AM

Y

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10K Run 9:00 AM

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K

Sunday August 26, 2018 Oakledge Park, Burlington Register online at zoesrace.org 802-488-6535

•

howardcenter.org

42ND ANNUAL

R U N A G R O U N D T R I AT H L O N

Sunday, September 16 THROUGH 5 TOWNS IN THE BEAUTIFUL BERKSHIRES Bike • Canoe/Kayak/SUP • Run Triathlon Team & Iron Categories

Our Team is committed to helping buyers and sellers every step of the way! #JoshBillingsTri

active.com and trireg.com joshbillings.com

STRATTON: 32 VT Route 30, Bondville, VT 05340 • 802-297-9405 MANCHESTER: 4903 Main Street, Manchester, VT 05255 • 802-366-1430

www.TPWrealestate.com AUGUST 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 39

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IKE SHOPS

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2326 US Route 4 Killington VT 802-773-0000

ALPINE SHOP

1184 Williston Rd. So. Burlington VT 802-862-2714

ALPINE SHOP V

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AlpineShopVT.com Hours: Mon – Sat 10 – 6; Sun 10 – 5 (Hours change seasonally) In operation since 1963, we specialize in mountain, hybrid and commuter bikes from Norco, Felt, Devine and Rossignol, Alpine Shop is a full service Bike Shop with ample parking & riding space.

Rental and demo bikes available. Stylish clothing for men and women plus gear, shoes and apparel for tennis.

3

BELGEN CYCLES

24 Bridge St, Richmond VT 802-434-4876 belgencycles.com Hours: Mon – Sat 10:30 – 6:30, Closed Sundays Belgen Cycles offers custom and stock bicycles supported by 40 years of hands on experience.

Focused on the right bike for you covering the spectrum from road to ‘cross and mountain to fat with selections from Salsa, Xprezo, Moots, Parlee, Litespeed, Lynskey and Soma. Full service maintenance and repair as well as fitting solutions. In business as Village Bicycle in Richmond for 19 years.

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CHUCK’S BIKES

45 Bridge St. Morrisville VT 802-888-7642 chucksbikes802.com Hours: Mon – Fri 9 – 5:30, Sat 9 – 3, closed Sundays

CLAREMONT CYCLE

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Putting smiles on people’s faces for over 35 years.

Bikes by Jamis,Transition, Norco, KHS, Surly, Raleigh, Marin and Diamondback.

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We are a full service bike shop at the base of the Mt. Greylock State reservation.

We also border a beautiful 12 mile, paved rail trail. We carry Jamis, Rocky Mtn. and GT. We offer sales, repairs, and hybrid bike rentals for the rail trail.

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berkout@bcn.net

We offer bicycles from Giant, Liv, Ibis and Yeti for road, gravel, mountain and gravity, plus accessories and apparel and an extensive inventory of service parts. Custom fitting and expert technicians offering everything from tuneups to in-house suspension service. Mountain and DH rentals.

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RR 8, 169 Grove St. Adams , MA 413-743- 5900

alpinebikeworks.com Hours: Tues - Sat 10 - 5

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BERKSHIRE OUTFITTERS

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sponsored content

ALPINE BIKE WORKS

5

25-mile radius around Burlington VT 802-373-3411 cowbellbike.com

Cowbell mobile bike shop is Vermont’s first full service bike shop in a van.

No more waiting around for weeks to get your bike tuned up. Just book an appointment and Cowbell shows up and you ride the same day. Todd the owner and operator has 23 yeas of experience and arrives with van full of parts and accessories. More then just a rolling bike shop...

Cowbell also offers Corporate Visits, Ride Support and Bike Maintenance Classes.

8

EAST BURKE SPORTS

12 Plains Rd. Claremont NH 603.542.BIKE (2453)

439 Route 114 East Burke VT 802-626-3215

- Fri 10:30 - 5:30, Sat 10:30

eastburkesports.com Hours: 9 - 6 every day

Hours: Mon 8:30-5:30, Tues - 4, closed Sunday ClaremontCycle.com

We are a true bike shop where customer satisfaction is top priority and staff is enthusiastic, knowledgeable and friendly. Everyone who walks through our door is welcomed into our diverse bike community. We bring people from all walk of life and ages that share the

COWBELL MOBILE BIKE SHOP

We are the original home to Kingdom Trails. Located in the heart of town, we pride ourselves in expert knowledge while providing friendly customer service. A full service shop awaits you and your repair needs. We have 100 rental bikes with an enormous selection of clothing, parts, and accessories.

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FROG HOLLOW BIKES

74 Main Street Middlebury VT 802-388-6666 froghollowbikes.com Mon - Sat 9:30-5:30, Sun. 11–4 The most advanced and courteous service in our region, including a quick turn-around. We offer the best in new and used road, mountain, lifestyle, and children’s bikes and new gear. We carry brands that offer superior products that balance innovation and performance with reliability and value.

10

GREEN MOUNTAIN BIKES

105 N. Main St. Rochester VT 800-767-7882 greenmountainbikes.com 7 days a week, 10 – 6 Located in the center of Vermont, we are surrounded by terrain that calls to mountain and road bikers alike. Whether you ride twisting trails or back to back gaps, we service, sell, and rent all styles of bicycles, featuring Kona, Jamis, Juliana, Raleigh, Santa Cruz, Transition, and Hinderyckx bikes. So STOP READING and RIDE YOUR BIKE!

11 HIGH PEAKS CYCLERY

2733 Main St. Lake Placid NY 518-523-3764

highpeakscyclery.com Mon – Fri 9 – 6, Sun 9 – 5 Lake Placid’s source for bicycling and outdoor gear since 1983! Sales, Service, Rentals and Tours. Bikes

by Intense, BMC, Salsa, Surly, Giant and Scott. Your information headquarters for Lake Placid and the Adirondacks for all types of riding adventures. Free maps. ADK80 and Ironman race info and course conditions. New! Basecamp Lodges

12 MOUNTAINOPS 4081 Mountain Rd Stowe VT 802-253-4531

mountainopsvt.com Mon - Sat 9 - 6, Sundays till 5 MountainOps offers bike sales and service, fast and friendly with no attitude. We sell a full line Rocky Mountain Bikes for all abilities and riding styles. Tons of clothing and accessories in our converted 1893 barn. Our techs have decades of experience with all types of bike and our staff’s knowledge of local trails is awesome. We rent cruisers and performance mountain bikes for Stowe’s sweet collection of trails.

13

OLD SPOKES HOME

322 N Winooski Ave Burlington, VT 802-863-4475 oldspokeshome.com Mon - Sat 10 - 6, Sun 12 - 6

Vermont’s best selection of refurbished used bikes and new bikes for touring, bike packing, commuting, fat biking, and simply getting around town. Named one of the country’s best bike shops for its “plain-talk advice and no-nonsense service.”

A non-profit as of January 2015, Old Spokes Home uses 100% of its revenue to run programs creating access to bikes in the community.

14 OMER & BOB’S 20 Hanover St. Lebanon NH 603-448-3522

omerandbobs.com Mon.–Fri. 9 – 6, Sat. 9 – 5 Closed Sun

35 Portland St. Morrisville VT 802-888-6557 powerplaysports.com Mon – Fri 9 – 6, Sat 8:30 – 5, Sun 10 – 4 North Central Vermont’s Trek and Giant Dealer. With over 200 new and used bikes PPS has a bike for everyone. Service and rentals too!

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SKIRACK

85 Main St. Burlington VT 802-658-3313 skirack.com Mon.–Sat. 10am–7pm, Sun. 11am–5pm Locally owned since 1969, Skirack provides gear, clothing, expert fitting and accessories for all cyclists, with full service tuning and repairs...plus complete bike suspension service on most forks and rear shocks.

Open 8am Mon-Sat for service, car racks and rentals.

MOUNTAIN 19 STARK BIKE WORKS

The Upper Valley’s bike shop since 1964. Road bikes, mountain bikes and kids bikes from specialty brands including Trek, Specialized and Colnago. Featuring a full service department offering bike fitting, bike rentals and a kids’ trade-in, trade-up program.

9 RTE 17 Waitsfield VT 802-496-4800

20 Langdon St. Montpelier, VT 802-225-6736

Located at the lowest spot in the Mad River Valley so you can coast in when you break your bike on a ride! 20 years of advise, directions and fixing anything that pedals. You know you want a Yeti. Come try one!

RIVER 15 ONION OUTDOORS

onionriver.com M/W/Th 10-6, Fri 10-6:30, Sat 9-5, Sun 10-4, Closed Tues Gear, clothing, and expert advice for all your hiking, biking, running, camping, outdoor adventures! Friendly, knowledgeable bicycle and car rack sales and service. Check out onionriver. com to learn about all our fun events and clinics.

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OUTDOOR GEAR EXCHANGE

37 Church St. Burlington VT 802-860-0190 gearx.com Mon – Thurs 10 – 8, Fri – Sat 10 – 9, Sun 10 – 6 A premier bike shop with a knowledgeable, friendly, and honest staff. Commuters and gravel grinders from Marin and KHS, mountain bikes from Pivot, Transition, Rocky Mountain, and Yeti, and a wide consignment selection and demo fleet. Our service department is capable of everything from tuning your vintage road bike to servicing your new mountain bike.

17 POWER PLAY SPORTS

Find us on Facebook Tues - Fri 9 - 6 * Close at 5 on Thursdays for Shop ride.

Sat 9 - 4, Sun 9 - 1, closed on Mon.

20 WATERBURY SPORTS

46 South Main St. Waterbury VT 802-882-8595

waterburysportsvt.com Mon – Thurs 10 – 6, Fri - Sat 9 – 7, Sun 10 – 4 WBS sells Trek and Giant bikes of every flavor from high-end mountain bikes to kids, hybrids and cross bikes. Our service techs are among the best in northern VT. We also rent and Demo from our downtown location right near the Perry Hill Trails.

21 WEST HILL BIKE SHOP

49 Brickyard Ln. Putney VT 802-387-5718 westhillshop.com Mon – Sat 10 – 6

Since 1971, we’ve been a low-key, friendly source for bikes ‘n gear, service and rare wisdoms. Known for problem-solving techs and bike fitters who specialize in comfort and efficiency. Lots of gravel bikes for the awesome dirt road riding right out our door.

AUGUST 2018 | VTSPORTS.COM 41

ENDGAME

M

RIDING THE WATERSHED

TIBETAN BUDDHISTS MAKE RITUAL CIRCUMAMBULATIONS OF HOLY MOUNTAINS. VERMONTERS RITUALLY RIDE THE INFINITE ROUTES AROUND LAKE CHAMPLAIN

y first outing, on a muggy

BY LEATH TONINO

summer morning, takes me south along Addison County’s

mostly straight, flat roads. I cross Little Otter Creek where it rushes and froths through a gorge and beneath a bridge. I pass an osprey’s bulky stick-nest set atop a telephone pole, twisting on my seat to glimpse wings lifting, the bird curving away through a cloud-mottled sky.

The blacktop is smooth, then rough, then smooth, sometimes patterned by muddy tractor tires, sometimes clean. I weave through traffic in downtown Vergennes, traverse vast hayfields, sing howdies to chomping cows, wipe sweat from my eyes with the back of a hand. Green-and-white signs depicting a bicycle lead me on: more fields, a sleepy village, a red barn fading to gray. Somewhere nearby but out of sight, the valley’s low wet heart beats and beats.

Five days later—days of work and driving and computers and not enough outdoors—I’m on it again, this time up north.

My pal Sean meets me at Oakledge Park in Burlington and off we go, chitchatting, swerving, and joking. The bike path is crowded but pleasant, a slalom course of dogs and joggers and other riders, some on mountain bikes, some on road bikes, some on cruisers. Streets and brick buildings spill down the hill to the waterfront. Sailboats in the harbor rock on their moorings, their rigging tinkling. The path becomes the Causeway, an old raised railroad bed arcing across the mouth of the Inland Sea to deadend at the Cut, a gap just shy of South Hero that allows boat passage to the broad lake.

From mid-June through Columbus Day a pontoon barge known as the “bike ferry” motors riders across the Cut for a nominal fee. Not Sean and I, not today. A light rain comes and goes, falling in screens, and we turn around.

Another week, another ride, another 20, 30, 40 or 50 miles. I’m more of a walker, really, more comfortable bushwhacking in boots than rolling on rims, but when summer rises out of mud season’s slop and squishy weather, rises vibrant and inviting, I do find myself drawn back to the Champlain Bikeway. The route is like a line of music, a melody played over and over again by different instruments. A swim, a maple cremee, a fox in a vegetable garden, a short steep hill, a quart of fresh-picked strawberries, a Revolutionary War fort, a paved road, a dirt road, a family of four riding straight at me, helmets shiny—the variations are endless, the textures always changing.

42 VTSPORTS.COM AUGUST 2018

Exploring one stretch of the 363-miles of Champlain Bikeways. You can download free maps of more than 35 routes at champlainbikeways.org Photo by David Goodman The 363-mile bikeway marks an oval

folks spend a single afternoon exploring,

drinking water for some 200,000 people.

around Lake Champlain and makes me

while others bike from B&B to B&B as

Whether riders on the bikeway think of it

think of the Ouroboros, the mythological

part of an organized tour, a hired van

this way or not, to circumcycle the lake is to

snake that eats its own tail, symbol of

shuttling clean clothes and toiletries to each

wrap oneself around the low wet center, to

eternal renewal. A journey commences

night’s destination. Ferries cross the lake

hug that softly beating heart.

in Shelburne, Vt., or Crown Point, N.Y.,

at Shoreham, Charlotte, Burlington, and

Another week, another outing, another

or Sabrevois, Quebec, or Panton, Vt., or

Grand Isle, lending even greater flexibility

bikeway. Here I am, alone, riding into haze

Ausable, N.Y., or anywhere between. You

to route design.

and humidity, my ears full with the drone

can bike to Whitehall, where Wood Creek

I can imagine living in a different

flows in from the south, or you can bike

time and a different culture, one where it

to Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, where the

would be unremarkable to speak of Lake

Richelieu River flows northward to the St.

Champlain as a god or deity. One hundred

Lawrence. As with the snake, neither of

twenty miles long, 12 miles wide, 580 miles

these are true beginnings or endings. The

of crinkled coast—the lake is big, powerful

lake eats its own tail, pulling water from the

to behold; it shapes the earth and the lives

hills that pull water from the sky, returning

of those who dwell in its basin. Eighty-one

it to the oceans and the air only to be filled

fish species slip through dark depths and

with it again. Picture a wheel endlessly

sun-shot shallows. Three hundred eighteen

rotating. Water cycle. Bicycle. Lots of cycles

species of birds hunt liquid surfaces, roost

here.

on overhanging trees, nest in marshes, visit

I haven’t pedaled the entire bikeway;

during migration.

I haven’t even come close. Champlain

The Tibetan Buddhists make ritual

Bikeways has 35 subloops, each with a

circumambulations of holy mountains:

name and character all its own, veer from

Kailash,

the principal route to form a thousand-mile

circumcycle Lake Champlain is to cross

network. "Rebel’s Retreat" sets working

31 major tributaries and dozens of smaller

farms against an Adirondack backdrop.

streams draining an 8,234-square-mile

"A Trail to Two Beaches" inscribes a figure

watershed. It’s to become the ring on

eight with a state park at either end. Some

a

Lapchi,

Kawa

6.8-trillion-gallon

Karpo.

bathtub

To

holding

of insects in tall grass and the whir of tires against the road. What began as an easy meander has become a hunched, huffing grind—the pleasure of the pain of pushing hard. Fence posts blur. An osprey cuts a cloud. The lake, ah, the lake is only a mile or two away; I can practically taste it, smell it, feel it around me. My bike leaned against a tree or laid on smooth blue stones at the water’s edge, I’ll swim a hundred strokes, another hundred, a hundred more. I don’t wear Spandex shorts when I ride—I wear a bathing suit. If you ask me, it’s eminently sensible.

Leath Tonino is a writer from Ferrisburgh.

This piece is excerpted from The Animal One Thousand Miles Long, a collection of his outdoorsy essays, due out this September.

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