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Keeping you on the trail Keld Alstrup resolved his knee pain and returned to hiking with the help of SVMC Orthopedics. They use a teambased approach to provide a full range of surgical and non-surgical services and customized rehabilitation programs that resolve pain and allow their patients to get back to the activites they love as quickly—and painlessly—as possible.
svhealthcare.org/ortho | 802-442-6314 Sports Injuries | Fracture Care | Hand, Wrist, Shoulder, and Reconstructive Surgery Total Hip and Knee Replacements, including Same-Day Surgery
SVMC Orthopedics 332 Dewey Street | Bennington, VT
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Join us for the 17th annual Last Mile Ride, Run, and Walk!
August 13, 19 & 20 All proceeds benefit end-of-life care services
For the latest updates or to register, visit:
LastMileRide.com
Saturday, Aug. 13: Bicycle Ride: 24-Mile and 11-Mile Road or Gravel Routes Registration starts at 8:00 am at Randolph Rec Field, staggered starts begin at 9 am ($25 per person)
Friday, Aug. 19: 5K Run & 1 or 2.5 Mile Walk & Live Music by Something Reckless Registration starts at 4:30 pm at the Gifford Park, walkers & runners leave at 6 pm ($25 per person)
Saturday, Aug. 20: 75-Mile Motorcycle Ride & BBQ
Registration starts at 8:30 am at the Gifford Park ($50 per person or $75 for 2 riders on 1 bike)
VIRTUAL: Ride, Run or Walk! Register online to complete a 5K run, 1 or 2.5 mile walk, or ride anytime before August 20th
Get social! Follow us on Facebook @lastmileride and Instagram @lastmileride_vt
It is time to schedule Well Child Visits & Sports Physicals Schedule your child’s well child visit or sports physical at one of our clinic locations: Berlin, Bethel, Chelsea, Randolph and Rochester. Annual visits are important to be sure your child is developing physically, emotionally, and socially.
Learn more: giffordhealthcare.org Randolph: 728-2430 Berlin: 224-3200 4 VTSPORTS.COM | AUGUST 2022
Take advantage of the summer months and call to schedule!
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Berlin 224-3200 Bethel 234-9913 Chelsea 685-4400 Randolph 728-2420 Rochester 767-3704
Gifford Health Care Caring for you... for life.
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NEW ENGLAND’S OUTDOOR MAGAZINE ON THE COVER: Ian Boswell exploring his backyard in Peacham, Vt., home to his Peacham Fall Fondo. Photo by Ansel Dickey/Wahoo Fitness
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Dan Curts training on Mount Mansfield. The Norwich-based track runner is making a switch to mountain running. See what he’s learning on page 16. Photo by Ansel Dickey/Wahoo
6
The Start Ask the Experts?
16 Feature
Running Up!
The top echelon of a sport can be elitist and cliquey. Not in Vermont.
Vermont’s roster of great trail races is growing as fast as its cadre of elite mountain runners.
8 News
20 Feature
What’s in a Name?
Why it matters that the oldest ski area in America just took on a new name.
12 News Vermont’s Tastiest Gravel Rides Gorgeous routes and gourmet spreads are the norm for Vermont’s gravel bike events.
The Gear Gurus on the Long Trail
When the staff of Outdoor Gear Exchange set out on the Long Trail for a relay thru-hike, we knew we would have some questions. Here’s the gear they loved and what they learned.
28 Featured Athlete
Making Mountain Biking More Inclusive
When she started riding, Dionne Heyliger didn’t see a lot of people who looked like her on mountain bikes. She’s hoping that will change.
30 Calendar
Race & Event Guide
34 Endgame
You Can’t Go Home Again.. Or Can You?
Once you’ve lived and worked in the Grand Canyon, how do you go back as a tourist?
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Doing what you love is what matters most. When joint pain becomes unbearable, everything stops. And what you’ve longed to accomplish isn’t guaranteed. But there are people nearby who care for their community: Dartmouth Health. Our orthopaedic experts are among the most accomplished and skilled in the country. And can give you the opportunity to do what you love again.
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THE START
ASK THE EXPERTS?
AT THE ELITE LEVEL, SOMETIMES SPORTS CAN BE EXCLUSIVE AND CLIQUEY. NOT HERE IN VERMONT.
Saskadena 6 is still “steeper’n a cow’s tail” but no longer “Suicide 6” —or, thanks to its MTB trails, just a ski area.
O
ne thing about Vermont: We have no shortage of experts. Take a look at the roster of talent Vermont has in mountain running. For our article “Running Up!” the question wasn’t whether or not we could find a few trail champions from Vermont, but just how many of them we could fit into a story. Vermont, thanks to its hilly terrain, has an inordinate number of world-class trail runners. We also have one of the top independent outdoor retailers in the country in Outdoor Gear Exchange. Recently, their staff embarked on a relay section thru-hike of the Long Trail. We spoke with several of them after the hike to find out what gear they took along, what they tried for the first time, what they liked and what they left at home. In the outdoor industry, there is something of a cultish adoration of expertise. We are in awe of people like Aliza LaPierre or Eric LiPuma who win 50and 100-mile races. We respect the depth of knowledge of someone like Outdoor Gear Exchange’s Chris Reamer, who has hiked the Triple Crown of long-distance trails: the Appalachian, the Continental Divide and the Pacific Crest. We admire what people like pro cyclist Ian Boswell have accomplished. Before taking a job with Wahoo Fitness ,Boswell was a pro racer who competed in the Tour de France and similar events. Since then, he’s won gravel racing’s premier event, the 200-mile Unbound. Sometimes with expertise comes arrogance. At times, the elite levels of
a sport can feel exclusive, cliquey and intimidating. Not in Vermont. For those who learn a sport as an adult, merely knowing what questions to ask can be stressful, as Laura Sau notes in “Gear Gurus on The Long Trail.” In Vermont, thankfully, we have groups like Unlikely Riders that can make it easier for minority groups to access various sports. And we have elite experts who are also eager to help newcomers engage. “If anyone wants advice on how to run The Race to the Top of Vermont have them text me,” Josh Ferenc said at the end of our interview. Boswell’s Peacham Fall Fondo is intentionally non-competitive – a fun ride that should be accessible to all. Even the Vermont Overland, a sell-out event, has opened a division for e-bikes. Few companies in the state have worked as hard to be inclusive —and to make the outdoors accessible to all — as Outdoor Gear Exchange. This year, for the second year, it hosted a BIPOC Festival at Craftsbury. This, in addition to Pride shopping nights and climbing events, and the BIPOC section hike. Other companies are, thankfull, catching up. A landmark sign of the times is that when the oldest ski area in America decided to ditch its name “Suicide Six” it chose the Abenaki word for “standing mountain,” which is Saskadena. Not only that, it committed to making skiing accessible to tribal members. — Lisa Lynn
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NEWS
I
t was the hill labeled number six on the map. On one side, a pasture would become the site of America’s first rope tow. On the other, a Dartmouth graduate named Wallace “Bunny” Bertram would buy 30 acres that the Vermont Standard described as “steeper’n a cow’s tail.” According to New England Ski History: “Noting that it would be suicide to ski straight down the face, and recalling a lesson in alliteration in high school, Bertram chose the name Suicide Six.” And that was it. It was 1936. The Great Depression. People had other things to worry about. And, besides, good old boys ran the world. Safety? Mental health? Toughen up, son. That world is not this world, and few things that fit then fit now. Vermont changed and America changed. The definition of “suicide” remains as it has for centuries, but the word has become freighted. It evokes tragedy, not glory. Suicide is not adventure. Suicide is disaster. Suicide rates in America have risen by 35 percent since 2000. It was in this context that the Woodstock ski area known for 86 years
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
THE OLDEST SKI AREA IN THE UNITED STATES JUST TOOK A NEW NAME, HONORING AN EVEN OLDER USE OF THE LAND. BY STUART WINCHESTER
A trail map from 1976 shows there was already a move toward a name change. The new logo (opposite page) plays off this graphic. Photo skimap.org
as “Suicide Six” recently changed its name to “Saskadena Six.” The new name, which means “Standing Mountain” in the Abenaki language of Vermont’s native inhabitants, echoes and honors the ski area’s history and legacy. “What are the qualities that we have?”
the resort’s general manager, Tim Reiter asked recently. “We’re engaging, we’re family-friendly, we’re trustworthy, we’re fun. We’re loving. If you had a business that had all those characteristics and you didn’t have a name for it, would you ever sit down at the table and say, I’m gonna
name it ‘Suicide Six?’” Carrying “suicide” in the resort’s name had impacts both mundane and profound, practical and intangible. On the practical, low-impact side, the ski area had long simplified its merchandise logo to simply “S6.” “Kids couldn’t wear stuff
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with our name on it to the local schools,” Reiter said. Official communications and emails often carried this simplification as well. It also no longer called itself a “ski area,” but became a “recreation area” as it began to incorporate mountain biking. Even something so simple as searching “Suicide Six” on Facebook or Google could, according to Reiter, trigger a pop-up that would block a user from proceeding to a website without acknowledging the warning that popped up. “Do you have a problem? Here’s the suicide hotline.” Less hard to define was a sense that the name was misaligned with the zeitgeist of 2022, a feeling punctuated by occasional but powerful letters from individuals impacted by suicide. Reiter said he has received around two dozen such missives over his six-plus years running the ski area. Still, no big public uproar drove the name change. Unlike Alterra’s 2021 rebrand of Squaw Valley to Palisades Tahoe, which was more or less the direct result of a decades-long lobbying campaign by local Native American tribes, Reiter and his team proactively initiated Suicide Six’s name change. “I’m proud to say there wasn’t a particular complaint or a particular group that said you should do this,” said Reiter, who took the general manager
role in 2016 after several years in the industry, including as mountain operations manager at Killington. “I think we all knew in our heart of hearts that this was the right thing to do.” Suicide Six had actually changed its name once before, simplifying it to “Six” in the 1970s. “The local outrage was so much even before the age of social media that they kind of shied away from it and went back,” said Reiter. When Woodstock Inn, which owns the resort, hired Reiter six and a half years ago, the name change was a discussion point, but not a priority, he said. By 2019, however, the ski area was ready to proceed with the name change, hiring an agency and mapping out the process. Covid stalled progress, but a core team kept working in secret. Only four people at the resort knew that the name change was underway. One of the group’s first tasks was to gather stakeholders and ask them how they would feel about a name change.
“The overwhelming response, even from the most diehard Suicide Six fan, was that they understood that a change was necessary,” Reiter said. Perhaps the new name could also honor history beyond that, the team thought. The resort engaged Chief Don Stevens of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk-Abenaki Nation, who, according to Reiter, is one of the only living linguists of the Abenaki language. “Saskadena,” which means “standing mountain,” quickly became the top choice for the resort’s new name. “Not only because of the shape of the mountain, but because ‘standing mountain’ symbolizes so much of what the resort stands for, the values that we stand for,” Reiter said. Maintaining the alliteration of “Suicide Six” was also important. “The fact that it started with an ‘S,’ and it does roll off the tongue more so than some of the other names we looked at.” Saskadena Six’s red ball logo revives one of the resort’s original logos, with some modifications. The vibrant palette, grounded in earth tones and inspired by Abenaki tribal colors, retreats from the bolder reds and blacks, swapping them for something “more symbolic of our landscape,” Reiter said. “We’ll continue to honor our past as we always have,” Reiter said, noting that
the historic photos that blanket the base lodge and document the resort’s history stretching back to the ‘30s will remain. “We have a history wall talking about the evolution from the first rope tow in America, which was on the backside of this mountain. And of course, the legacy of Bunny Bertram and his family and their ingenuity, and all the firsts that we’ve achieved in the industry, from the longest-running ski-and-ride program, to the oldest ski club with the Woodstock Ski Runners.” Additional installations will honor the Abenaki nation, and Saskadena Six will implement ski-and-ride programs to ensure tribal access to the slopes. Response from the Abenaki tribe has been positive. “As a place-based people, the Nulhegan Abenaki tribe appreciates the opportunity to work with the Woodstock resort team to rename this place and recognize its historic context as part of the land,” said Chief Stevens. “This ‘standing mountain’ has been used by thousands of Abenaki ancestors for over 11,000 years and hopefully many more in the future. By acknowledging the original language of this place, the name Saskadena Six will honor the ancient legacy of the Abenaki alongside that of the generations who have loved it over the past 90 years and into the future.”
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Vermont’s “Sweetest” Half Marathon is Back! After two years off because of the pandemic (2020 and 2021), central Vermont's sweetest half marathon is back on!
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Vermont’s Tastiest
Gravel
Rides
CALL THEM MOVEABLE FEASTS OR CALORIENEUTRAL EVENTS: THESE FIVE FALL GRAVEL RIDES FEATURE BOTH GORGEOUS ROUTES AND GOURMET SPREADS.
One of the best ways to discover Vermont's prettiest backroads is to sign up for a gravel ride. Riders in the Peacham Fall Fondo (above) are encouraged to stop for views... and garden gnomes .
W
hen it comes to gravel riding, there’s a different ethos at events. Sure, there can be world-class competition (we’re looking at you, Rooted Vermont and Overland Grand Prix), but once the lead pack takes off, it’s not the same pace-line frenzy that you might see in a road ride. Yes, the routes are just as tough –
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but it’s negotiating the terrain (hills, back roads, scruffy side trails, even cow paths) that makes the ride an adventure. These rides are all about exploring a place: It’s ok to stop to cool off in a swimming hole or take photos. In fact, that’s often the point. More and more, organized gravel rides around Vermont stand out for
three things: drop dead gorgeous scenery, camaraderie and really, really good food. The home-made apple pie with a slice of Vermont cheddar is to the Vermont gravel ride what the PowerBar and Gatorade stops and postrace burgers are (or were) to the classic century road ride aid stations. While the gravel season now runs
Photo by Ansel Dickey/Wahoo
from April’s Rasputitsa well into October’s Hibernator, some of the tastiest events are coming up soon. Go for the ride, stay for the food. If you can’t make the ride date—or the event has filled up— consider exploring the routes on your own: many are posted on the event websites or on Strava. Here are a few of our favorites.
VERMONT OVERLAND, ASCUTNEY, AUG. 26 On the calorie burning vs. calorie consuming spectrum, the Vermont Overland leans hard toward the former. Yes, it’s a 54-mile rocky, forest path suffer-fest that draws some of the best dirt and gravel riders in the country (riders such as mountain bike legends Ned Overend and Tinker Juarez and former Tour de France pros Ted King and Ian Boswell have all competed). And yes, as usual, it’s sold out. But here’s the not-so-dirty little secret: there’s an e-bike category that’s still open. There is also room in the women’s division. The route itself is one you would hardly ever discover on your own: Class IV roads that have devolved into forest paths burst onto some of the gorgeous hill farms of Windsor County. But be prepared, this is an arduous ride with 7,000 feet of climbing on rough terrain. It’s tough even on an ebike. And if that’s not enough, there’s a new running race attached to this event. The food: The reward is a post-race barbecue catered by the Brownsville Butcher and Pantry, which is known for its meats and gourmet cuisine, and it also serves as one of the SAG stops. Plan to camp out for free at one of the firstcome, first-served spots at Ascutney Outdoors and you can make the most out of one of the best post-race parties on the gravel circuit. Vermontoverland. com
TOUR DE FARMS, SHOREHAM, SEPT. 18 Unless you were headed to a farm or an orchard, there’s a good chance you could live in Vermont your entire life and never discover the beautiful routes that traverse Shoreham and Orwell in western Addison County. Here, miles of empty dirt roads cross farm fields and rolling hills with huge western views of the Adirondacks and Lake Champlain. One of the best ways to explore these routes is the Tour de Farms’ 10-, 12-or 26-mile loops. The Addison County Relocalization Network (ACORN) started the event 14 years ago as a way to raise awareness of local farms. This is not a race. You are meant to stop and taste. The tour starts and ends in Shoreham – coinciding with the Shoreham Apple Fest (yes, pie at the end). Stops include Champlain Orchards, Daona Wagyu Beef and Golden Russett Farm and Danz Ahn goat dairy. In 2021, food stops included
The whole town turns out to help at the Peacham Fall Fondo, where homemade pies are a feature at one of the aid stations (top and left). At the Tour de Farms, you can shop at farms along the route and either bring home your produce on your bike or let the sag wagon deliver it to the finish. Photos by Ansel Dickey, TDF courtesy.
such menu items as Fuller Mountain Farm heirloom tomatoes and zucchini bars, accessorized with Vermont Vinegars’ vinegars and dressings, pickles from Pin Up Pickles, and locally made salami from Agricola. The food: This ride functions as sort of a reverse farmers’ market: you go to the farms, sample the produce, pick out what you like and then ride on. A van will collect your purchases and deliver them to the finish. Another bonus: the Middlebury Inn has a $189 special for riders who book before Aug. 18. Acornvt.org
PEACHAM FALL FONDO, PEACHAM, SEPT. 24. The Peacham Fall Fondo may be the brainchild of former Wahoo cyclist, former Tour de France rider and Unbound gravel race winner Ian Boswell, but don’t let that fool you into thinking this is another gravel suffer fest. As Boswell notes “This isn’t a race, so please, stop at the rest stops, enjoy the views and speak to some folks who are out there sharing the ride with you.” The 50-mile route is 80 percent dirt roads that travel the hilly backroads of Peacham with one Class IV section. There is no timing, no prize ceremony
– just gorgeous scenery. And good food. And gnomes. Did we mention the gnomes? “We want people to slow down and enjoy the scenery, so we hid these garden gnomes along the route that have little rakes,” said Boswell after the second event. Those who returned with a rake are eligible for prizes. Proceeds for the event, which sells out fast, go to the Love Your Brain Foundation. The food: The Peacham Fall Fondo may win the prize for the best “aid stations” ever. There are three fuel stops: including one with Peacham’s signature homemade apple pies served with Cabot whipped cream
AUGUST 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 13
Hay bales serve as bike racks at one of the stops on Addison County's Tour de Farms. Each farm has a sampling station that features things like just-picked heirloom tomatoes drizzled with locally-crafted vinegars. Photos courtesy Tour de Farms.
and cheddar. A midpoint stop features Artesano ice cream, and there’s also a third stop. Peachamfallfondo.com
FLY TO PIE, NEWPORT TO GLOVER, OCT. 1 This race is better known as a running marathon but there’s a bike section too. It’s just 26.2 miles from the start at the airport in Newport to the finish in Glover. It’s all one way on dirt roads with sensational views of the Northeast Kingdom. While runners start at 9 a.m., cyclists get on the course at about 10:30. Don’t expect to see a lot of Lycra and fancy bikes on this ride. Organizer Phil White of Kingdom Games keeps it fun and the real reason to do the ride is to get to the finish which is at Parker Pie Company, in Glover. The food: The best prize in this race is you end up at Parker Pie with all-youcan eat pizza by this acclaimed pizzeria. Prizes also have a food theme: you can win either bratwurst beef jerky or maple yyrup. Kingdomgames.co
14 VTSPORTS.COM | AUGUST 2022
THE HIBERNATOR, EAST BURKE, OCT. 15. This one is not for the faint of heart (or weak of legs). In its third year now, the Hibernator is a book end of sorts to April’s gravel epic Rasputita – meaning it will be tough and it could snow. The
100-plus kilometer route has upwards of 11,000 feet of climbing over brutally hilly terrain. As race organizers note, the event features “Kicks in the ass and hard punches when you least expect it, coupled with the most amazing views of the NEK. Expect to spend 4.5 to 7 hours
in the saddle. “ The good news is there is also a 50k course, with just 4,5000 feet of climbing. Expect to ride everything from singletrack at Kingdom Trails to farm fields, logging roads and whatever the organizers (who dub this a “gravel cross” race) care to throw at you. “We want you to remember this for the course, not the party,” they say. “They” happen to be Chris Gagnon and Jesse Holden, the owners of CrossCycle Fitness & Adventures. The food: After the gnarliest of the riding, the purely local food tastes even better. Some of the race takes place on the Honest to Goodness Farm in Newark, Vt. and the cider served at the aid stops is their hand-pressed wild apple cider spiked with maple syrup. There are also homemade pumpkin cookies. Post-ride, there’s a farmto-table meal with a custom beer by local craft brewer Dirt Church. crosscycleadventures.com/dirt/the hibernator.html
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Just like you – we’re enjoying the Green Mountain trails! Just like you, members of our team enjoy the great outdoors too! Don’t let injuries like hand or wrist, or chronic knee, hip, shoulder or foot and ankle pain keep you from getting out on the trails. We provide comprehensive treatment and rehabilitation. Top medical care close to home.
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Our physicians: Nicholas Antell, MD; Brian Aros, MD; Ciara Hollister, DPM; John Macy, MD; Joseph McLaughlin, MD; Kevin McNamara, DPM and Bryan Monier, MD Last year’s Gravel Grinder.
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bikereg.com/copley-gravel-grinder copleyvt.org/support-copley/copley-gravel-grinder Come celebrate Fall with a 10, 25 or 50 mile ride through the back roads of Lamoille County, on some of the best gravel in Vermont!
RUNNING
UP!
Dan Curts, new to the uphill trail race scene, gets intimate with Mount Mansfield before heading to Italy to race. Photo by Ansel Dickey/Wahoo Fitness
VERMONT HAS MORE AND MORE MOUNTAIN RACES—AND MORE AND MORE TRAIL RUNNERS WHO ARE AT THE TOP OF THE GAME. HERE'S THEIR ADVICE FOR TACKLING THE UPHILL. BY LISA LYNN
I
t’s hard to know which came first: Vermont’s mountain races or its preponderance of elite mountain runners. But both are growing in numbers. There are the classic fall races which now, post Covid, are back—and they are
16 VTSPORTS.COM | AUGUST 2022
being joined by new ones. You can race up and around Jay Peak in an ultra (53k) and up Mount Mansfield in the Race to Top of Vermont or the grueling Mozo Double Up (if you qualify). Stratton now has three races up its
slopes: compete against Olympian Jesse Diggins in the new Summit Challenge (August 6), run the North Face Race to the Summit or sign up for Everesting, which challenges runners to see if they can hike/run the 29,092-foot equivalent of climbing Mt. Everest.
The Vermont Overland has added a trail race on Mount Ascutney and Bolton Valley just added a new event, the 20-kilometer Three Peaks Ultra. That race has already captured the interest of elite runners Dan Curts and Eric LiPuma. “I think that race has the
potential to really become something big,” says LiPuma, who won the 50K National Championships in 2021. Those are just the “summit races.” There are also events such as the Trapp Mountain Marathon, the Vermont 50, the Groton Forest Trail Run and the TAM Trek around Middlebury – all distance trail races that happen in the next few weeks. “I’ve lived and trained in Boulder, Flagstaff, the Pacific Northwest – all the running hotspots, but Vermont is as good a place to train as a runner as anywhere,” says Dan Curts, who moved to Vermont to train with track star Ben True. “From where I live in Norwich, I can run from one track to another by taking the Appalachian Trail,” says Curts. Recently, Curts, 26, began moving away from racing track and road and is picking up trail running. In July, he placed second at the Loon Mountain (N.H.) Race—the first-ever USATF Vertical Mountain Running Championships— behind 21-time national champion Joe Gray. As one of the top two finishers in the 6.1-mile race uphill, Curts qualified to represent the U.S. at two international events – Italy’s Challenge Stellina and Thailand’s World Mountain & Trail Running Championships—his first time traveling out of North America. Alex Lawson, a U23 Nordic skier from Craftsbury, Vt., was third among the women. If Curts and Lawson continue, they will be following in the path of established elite mountain runners from Vermont like Kasie Enman (World Mountain Running Champ) and Aliza LaPierre, former National Champion Eric LiPuma and perennial contender Josh Ferenc. Here’s what Curts is learning about mountain running and advice from other top trail runners.
DAN CURTS: FROM TRACK TO HIGH TERRAIN “I grew up trail running –that’s pretty much all we had in Maine,” says Curts. But as he raced in high school and then in college at Iowa State (where he won the 5,000 meter race at the Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championships) his focus was on track events. Curts was living in the west and racing track when he heard that Ben True was willing to pay someone $20,000 to come train with him in the Upper Valley. Curts answered the call and now lives in Norwich. “Running track was what I did – but it always felt a bit hollow,” Curts says.
Ultra runner Aliza LaPierre trains by running the Long Trail. She recently won the Vermont 100.
“I loved coming back east and running trails and dirt roads again,” he says. Still, his track background has set him up for trail racing. “Being able to run fast on the flats 1,000 percent translates to running trails. Being used to running fast makes a difference. But if left unchecked, I would have the tendency to blow myself up.” The first shift for Curts was in a training mindset: “You have to train by time, not by distance. When I was running track or road, I’d plan a 16-mile or an 18-mile run. Now, it’s more like ‘I’m going on a two-hour long run,’” he says. The reason? The terrain dictates the time. “I’m really just learning all this stuff,” Curts says. One of the things he is working on is how to gauge and modulate effort. “If Ben and I are out on a run, we’re often running on very hilly dirt roads that in all honesty, in Vermont can be as steep as trails. If you were to look at heart rate or effort or something, when you’re going up the hill, we always tend to just run much harder by effort, which isn’t sustainable long term if you’re doing a lot of climbing,” he says. “It’s easy to run super hard but you can’t do that all the time.” At a recent run up Whiteface in the
Photo by Andrew Drummond
Adirondacks, Curts dropped out at the top and took the gondola down. “I wasn’t ready and I think I was a little scared,” he says. “You have to be ok with your heart racing and knowing it’s going to hurt. Just walking up a mountain like Mount Mansfield is hard. You have to be prepared to push through it. I was just too timid in that race.” Another thing he has worked on with True is opening his lungs. “A lot of people when they’re climbing up super steep terrain are bent forward with their hands on their knees. But that’s just closing your lungs down. Whenever Ben or I do core work or stuff in the weight room, we focus on keeping our shoulders down and back so as to keep our lungs open. One thing hiking poles do is help you keep that upright posture as you go up steep terrain.” So far, Curts has only competed in a handful of trail races: the Overland race, Whiteface and Loon. His next big event, Italy’s Challenge Stellina, a 14.3 kilometer race up a mountain with 1500 meters of climbing, takes place on August 28. You might catch Curts before then at the Mozo Double Up (11 miles, 5,000 feet of vertical) on Mount Mansfield on August 14 or at another new race he wants to do, the Bolton Valley Triple
Peaks in early October. But “catch” is the wrong word. It’s unlikely anyone will be catching Curts any time soon.
JOSH FERENC: STILL FAST AT 40 “If I had one bit of advice for Dan Curts it would be this: slow down,” says Josh Ferenc. “Man, that kid runs fast all the time, even in training runs.” Ferenc, a 40-year-old sixth-grade teacher from the Bellows Falls area knows what he’s talking about: he’s been earning podiums at ultra events and mountain races for nearly two decades. With teammate Brian Tolbert, Ferenc won the two-person division at the 120mile TransRockies Run in 2021 and is headed back this year. Ferenc finished ninth at the Loon championship race in July. Ferenc has run pretty much every trail or mountain race in Vermont. “I’ve also run up all the 4,000 footers and am working on every accessible 3000 footer that I can find—that was my Covid project,” he says. He still calls the 50-kilometer Killington Under Armour Mountain Race (which is discontinued) “the toughest race of my life.” His regular training schedule involves running out his back door in Athens to do 10 to 20 miles on the Windmill Hill Pinnacle Association
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cutline here.
"If you do 400 meters at race pace and then collapse, you are training your body to panic when it faces adversity," says Ferenc.
trails and he’ll often do a double run: one in the morning, one after work. “The most important thing is literally getting that time on your feet on the terrain you’re going to race,” he says. “It’s learning to be uncomfortable in climbing and knowing that you’re not going to stop. I can’t tell you how many people I see go into a race to the top of Stratton and it’s their first trail or mountain race,” he says. “Just get as many hills in as you can. And then one day a week do something scary: Find a hill that would frighten you to run up and then make it your enemy (or best friend) and get intimate with it.” As for his advice to Curts to “slow down,” Ferenc says it applies to everyone. “I hate that adage ‘slow and steady wins the race,’ but it’s true in mountain runs. Don’t zap your legs in the first ten minutes. Like a grandfather clock, find your running rhythm and just be consistent in it. You’re not going to get to the top in the first mile,” he says. “I coach kids and they’ll do like
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Photo by
Photo courtesy Josh Ferenc
Ferenc is also an advocate, though, for walking when you have to. “I use walking now to regulate my breathing and lungs and my heart rate,” he admits. “I used to be a hard-headed ‘I’ll never walk’ type of guy and then at this race in Italy in 2004 I was running these twoinch steps and this guy goes flying by me, three strides at a time. If you can feel your heartbeat, you should be walking – but walk with purpose though and use your arms as levers. My big thing is walk early so you can run later.”
ALIZA LAPIERRE, ULTRA TRAIL RUNNER
This fall Britta Clark returns to the Alps to do the CCC ultra race around Mont Blanc.
400 meters at race pace and then collapse. If you do that, you’re training your body to panic when it has any type of adversity. So run through the tough stuff, get on the
Photo courtesy Britta Clark.
hill and try to sustain a hard effort for 10 minutes at a time. That’s a lot of time out there.”
Pro trail runner Aliza LaPierre, who won the 2022 Vermont 100 trail race in July, takes the opposite approach. “Call me stubborn but I never walk. Even if somebody is walking next to me, I often will still be running just because it feels more comfortable to me than hiking.” LaPierre, 41, has won or podiumed at just about every endurance trail race in Vermont and has top 5 finishes at such events as the Western States and Leadville 100.
“I do most of my training by running on the Long Trail,” she says. “But that wasn’t the best preparation for the dirt roads of the Vermont 100, though,” she admits. “It’s really important to train on the type of terrain where you will be racing. If it’s something local, I’ll go out and let my body learn the terrain. But if the race is far away, I look at how many feet. on average, I’ll be either climbing or descending. Will I be on singletrack, double rack or dirt roads? That way your body really gets used to the demands that you’re going to put it through on race day.” Speed is not something she pays as much attention to. It’s more about perceived effort. “We have all this new technology these days that’s telling us our pace, our cadence, our heart rate – even our skin temperature,” she says. “I gauge on a scale of one to 10, how hard am I going.” She then calculates the length of the race to figure out her pace. “A 1 is I am not expending any energy, and a 10 is like all out can’t give anything more. A good analogy is you’re spreading peanut butter on a piece of bread. You want to make sure you have enough peanut butter to spread around the entire piece of bread.” But then there is also pushing yourself just a bit out of your comfort zone. Ask LaPierre what race she is most proud of and she will say her first Vermont 50. “At the time I had only run one marathon — the Vermont City Marathon. But I thought, if I can do 26 miles, I can probably do 30. And if I can do 30, maybe I can do 50.” She did her first Vermont 50 in 2004 at age 24 and finished second. The next year she went back and won it.
BRITTA CLARK, RAISED ON TRAILS Growing up with a network of more than 70 miles of trails in her backyard and among a family of high-caliber Nordic ski racers, Britta Clark, was raised to run. Truth is, with her parents owning the Blueberry Hill Inn and Outdoor Center, Clark had no choice but to run dirt roads or trails as the nearest paved road was at least 5 miles away. Her family has put on one of Vermont’s longest running trail races: the Goshen Gallop, which celebrated its 44th running in July. At 28, Clark has won or placed second in nearly every ultra distance trail running event she’s competed in over the last five years. Some of her favorites include the Vermont 50 (she won in 2021), the Catamount Ultra, the Trapp Mountain Marathon, the
She also recommends practicing short little steps with high knees, like those done in soccer drills, to improve agility on rocky terrain. “Every so often, do a minute or two of those and just practice being light on your feet.”
ERIC LIPUMA: RACING AROUND THE WORLD, COACHING FROM VERMONT
Eric LiPuma training on Camel's Hump: "Anywhere you go in Vermont there are hills."
Moosalamoo Ultra and more. She also won the Castle Peak 100 kilometer trail race in Truckee, Calif. In 2021, Clark finished second at the Ragged (N.H.) 50 kilometer mountain race, earning her the chance to compete in the Worlds in Thailand. She’s done much of this while working on her Ph.D in philosophy at Harvard. This August, Clark will race around Mont Blanc in a 100-kilomter race that starts in Italy, goes through Switzerland and ends in Chamonix, France. “You actually have to run with your passport,” she says. The ups and downs of trails in Vermont are not like the switchbacks that runners often encounter on bigger mountains, she notes. For the first time Clark is trying out hiking poles. “I’d say 95% of the people I see out there are using poles while they’re running and they do a lot of power hiking when it gets steep,” she said. “Some studies say that you use slightly more energy
Photo by Andy Wickstrom.
when you use poles. But you also reduce some of the fatigue on your legs because your arms are taking away some of the weight.” She also recommends practicing with poles before racing with them. “I’ve seen people trip over them and you don’t want to take anyone’s eye out.” For Clark, the question of when to run and when to power hike is one she approaches with an eye toward data. “It takes a while to get in tune with your perceived exertion. Try 30 seconds of power hiking and if you have a fitness watch, see if your heart rate spiked or lowered, and how you felt.” Both Clark and LaPierre excel at downhills, namely because the trails they train on have a good deal of technical terrain. Clark’s advice: “Don’t think about it too much: your body will try to keep you from falling down. If you’re trying to make micro decisions about whether to put your foot like two inches to the left or on that rock or this rock, I think you’re more likely to fall.”
“I think it wasn’t until I moved to Richmond, Vt. about six years ago that I really got into trail running,” says Eric LiPuma. LiPuma had been living in Colorado and moved East. He now works as a graphic designer at Stowe Cider. “When I came here, I quickly realized that if you run anywhere in Vermont, you are going to go up and down hills.” LiPuma was the 2018 USATF Road Champion in the 50K and this fall he’s competing in the 100K World Championships in Germany. He’s also won the Vermont 50 and been a multitime member of Team USA. In 2022, he’s already placed second in the Broken Arrow 52K Sky Race in Lake Tahoe. Recently, LiPuma also opened a coaching practice. “I realized that what I was doing was working and it could help others, too,” he says. One thing that’s been a tried-and true technique for him is to do hill intervals. “I was talking to my friend Dan Curts the other day and suggested he do some longer uphill runs: like a 3 x 10 minutes hard uphill with a three-minute rest in between. That’s something I do a lot on the Stowe Toll Road or on the Bolton Valley Resort access road,” he says. Even those who are just getting into mountain running can do a variation on these workouts. “I tell new trail runners to go out and try to be consistent, running six days a week and then to start doing 10 x 1 minutes fast. Work up to 3 minutes and then 10 minutes. The 10 minutes is important because it hurts and you have to train to push through that.” LiPuma also recommends mobility exercises, things like clam shells, donkey kicks and fire hydrants using resistance bands. “Those are things that I probably should be doing now to train for the 100K Worlds,” he says with a laugh. If that training goes well, you might see LiPuma at the Mozo Double Up. Once this season winds down he’ll start training for the Golden Trail World Series, which will kick off in May in the Spanish Pyrenees. From there? Who knows.
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GEAR GURUS ON THE
LONG TRAIL IN JUNE, STAFF MEMBERS AT OUTDOOR GEAR EXCHANGE SET OUT TO DO A RELAY THRU-HIKE OF THE LONG TRAIL. HERE ARE ALL THE QUESTIONS WE’VE WANTED TO ASK THEM.
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here are lots of experienced hikers on the Long Trail. But what would happen if you put a group of them together and sent them out? And not just groups of experienced backpackers but groups of experienced backpackers who make a living selling backpacks and other outdoor gear? There would be gear comparisons, of course, but also other insights. When Burlington retailer Outdoor Gear Exchange began planning their 25th anniversary celebration, they knew things would be different. Instead of a retreat or a party or a company picnic, they began planning a relay thru-hike on the Long Trail. Covid threw the event off by a year, but this past June more than 100 employees, friends, sponsors, and VIPs set out to section hike Vermont border to border, on America’s oldest long-distance hiking trail. Along the 272 miles, they carried a flag, relayed from one hiking group to the next. Some did one section as a day hike, others did several sections with overnights. Some had years of hiking experience, others had little. One group, which was formed of BIPOC hikers, set out in the dark from Butler Lodge to hike to the summit of Mount Mansfield for sunrise. The relay began on June 6 at the southern terminus and finished June 28. “We wanted to do more than just
"The Long Trail lets you see all muddy, boggy, hilly parts of Vermont," says Kenzie Fuqua.
make it a hike so we set out to raise money for the Green Mountain Club, which manages the Long Trail,” says Outdoor Gear Exchange co-founder Marc Sherman. With the help of donations and sponsors, they have raised more than $20,000 for the Green Mountain Club (and are still seeking donations). They also learned a lot about what gear works and what doesn’t, about how to hike with groups, and about themselves.
MARC SHERMAN Co-founder Outdoor Gear Exchange
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arc Sherman and Mike Donohue founded Outdoor Gear Exchange 26 years ago. The idea for a consignment gear shop was born out their love for the outdoors. Since then, the company has grown to 158 employees, many of whom participated in this hike. Hiking background: “I’ve hiked the Uintas in Utah, the Beartooths in Montana, Maroon Bells in Colorado, a bunch of stuff in the Tetons and quite a bit in the Adirondacks. I’ve done many
Marc Sherman, left, carrying the flag across the Winooski, in Richmond.
sections of the Long Trail but not the whole thing. OGE Section Hike: “Six of us did the section from Burrows Trail on Camel’s Hump to Route 2 in Bolton, (with an overnight at Bamforth Ridge). I also did a day hike to Journey’s End with Green Mountain Club executive director Mike DeBonis, Kelly Ault (executive director of the Vermont
Outdoor Business Alliance) and Jackie Dagger (VOREC program manager for the Vermont Dept. of Forests, Parks and Recreation). We had vendor reps from many of our sponsors (which included Darn Tough, Nemo, Osprey, Oboz, Petzl, Leki, The North Face and Good To-Go) join us on that last day. Favorite section of the Long Trail: The Camel’s Hump section has the nicest views on the trail. Hiking up to the summit is one of the most beautiful trails in the state. How have things changed since you started hiking? The whole culture of hiking has moved to “done in a day,” which means fast and light hiking with minimal gear. I remember going on hikes where I would bring 50 or 65 pounds in my pack for a long weekend. I once brought a pair of Johnson Woolies (those weigh about 1 to 2 lbs.) and three different pocket knives because I couldn’t decide which one to bring. Now, I’m pretty good at packing light and efficiently and for this overnight section hike I brought 35 lbs.
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What did you bring with you? I like to bring things that have two functions, such as a spare shirt I can hike in or wear at camp later and lightweight layers. I also had a lightweight gravity filtration kit, headlamp, a one-person Nemo Hornet tent and a Jetboil stove, which is light and boils really quickly so you don’t need extra gas cannisters. We also had dehydrated food from one of our sponsors, Good To-Go. What did you bring but didn’t need? Food is the one area where I brought more than I needed because I have food anxiety when I hike. I brought a super lightweight hammock which I didn’t use this time, but I don’t regret bringing it. It’s always good to have a hammock to take the load off your feet. What’s special about the Long Trail? It was a good reminder how rugged our trails are and that we don’t do switchbacks, like they do out West. Best part of the hike? It was great to hike with new people and have some really good conversations on the trail. That’s something you don’t do as much when you are hiking with the same person over and over. There’s nothing like the pleasure of hiking with someone and having a good conversation.
CHRIS REAMER Former OGE Department Manager for Camping & Packs, Current SKU manager
Chris Reamer, with his go-to piece of gear for Western backpacking: an umbrella.
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hris Reamer was living in Maryland and working in the automotive industry when he did the Appalachian Trail in 2015. A year later, he came back up to Vermont to do the rest of the Long Trail. After finishing, on a visit to Burlington he found Outdoor Gear Exchange where he has been working ever since. Hiking background: “I did the Appalachian Trail in 2015 and the rest of the Long Trail in 2016. My partner and I did the Pacific Crest Trail in 2018 and the Continental Divide Trail in 2021 so that’s the Triple Crown of hiking. OGE section hike: I did sections on the southern portion in the Glastonbury Wilderness and then Lincoln Gap to Stark’s Nest – and that
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their favorite things
WHAT DO THE OGE GEAR GURUS BRING WHEN THEY HIKE? HERE ARE FEW TRIED AND TESTED ITEMS THEY LOVE. Jetboil Flash Gatewood Cape
Ligthrek Hiking Umbrella Revelation Quilt
Petzl RL Swift headlamp
SIX MOON DESIGNS GATEWOOD CAPE “One of the ways I save weight in my pack, particularly if I know there are shelters along the way is to bring the Six Moons Gatewood Cape,” says Chris Reamer, the former manager of Outdoor Gear Exchange’s backpacking and camping department. The Gatewood Cape ($155) is a hooded, waterproof rain cape that’s large enough to cover your backpack too. But the beauty of it is this: stick an extendable pole in the center and it converts to a one-person tent, complete with a zippered entrance. The cape weighs 10 ounces. Keep in mind that a purpose-made central support pole and support stakes are sold separately. ENLIGHTENED EQUPMENT REVELATION QUILT Another way Reamer saves space in his pack is to opt for a quilt. Unlike a full-zippered bag, the Revelation Quilt ($320) only has a quarter-length zipper that helps form a toe box—making it lighter (just under 20 oz.) and easier to pack. The quilt has straps that can secure it to a sleeping pad. The Revelation comes in four sizes (short/regular to long/wide), two down types (850 or 950) and five options for varying thickness for warmth (from 50 degrees to 0 degrees). It’s probably a better choice for warm weather. JETBOIL FLASH STOVE Jetboil’s breathrough idea was to incorporate a cup and a pot in one, insulate it and focus the flame on the bottom of the container by using what they call FluxRing technology.
section was on the coldest, rainiest day in June. Favorite section(s) of the Long Trail: I was thankful to do the Glastonbury section. That’s one of my favorite spots. There’s the fire tower
The result is the Jetboil Flash ($114) can bring water to a boil in just under two minutes. “I really like the Jetboil because it’s more efficient, which means I have to carry fewer fuel cannisters,” says Outdoor Gear Exchange co-founder Marc Sherman. There are lots of nice features here too like a push-button igniter and the graphic on the side turns red as the water approaches boiling so you know how hot it is getting. The 1-liter cup also serves as a measuring cup and you can buy accessories such as a coffee press, skillet, FluxRing cooking pot and spare cups. PETZL SWIFT RL HEADLAMP Getting up at 2:30 in the morning to negotiate the rocky, narrow trail that leads from Butler Lodge to the summit of Mount Mansfield is a lot easier with a good headlamp. “Man, that thing is bright! ” says Kenzie Fuqua, who used the Petzl Swift RL ($124) to do so during the OGE relay hike. The compact headlamp weighs in at just 100 grams and has a reflective, two-part headband that fits comfortably and helps keep the lamp in place even if you are running on rough terrain. The 900-lumens beam is bright enough to beam light more than 300 feet. There’s an option to use Reactive lighting (where it adjusts to the surroundings) or standard. The lithium-ion battery lasts from 2 hours on max power to 50 hours and is rechargeable. You can also lock the lamp so it does not turn on accidentally in your pack.
in Glastonbury and it really feels wild down there. You can go for a long way without a road crossing. Also, I wasn’t expecting the big cliffsides around Laraway Mountain, up north. Devil’s Gulch (between Laraway
and Belvidere Mountains, near Eden) has these steep canyon walls and these big boulders you have to scramble around and everything’s moss-covered. It’s really neat through there. If you’re looking for a section to do it’s a fun one.
Osprey UNLTD AntiGravity Pack
gear on the OGE relay hike. And then instead of a tent I brought the Six Moons Gateway Cape – which also doubles as a rain poncho. Anything you wished you’d brought? It poured rain the whole time we were on the Monroe Skyline so an umbrella might have been handy. On that section it was 40 degrees and on the Laraway section it was 90 degrees. It’s a good reminder that the Long Trail can be a real butt-kicker and you have to be ready for any weather. What’s special about the Long Trail: I like the fact that it’s the oldest and first long distance hiking trail in America. There are definitely some spots on the trail where you get those vibes like you know how old the trail is – in a good way, not like run down.
Good To-Go Meals
NEMO Hornet tent NEMO SWITCHBACK PAD
GOSSAMER GEAR LIGHTREK HIKING UMBRELLA “Whenever I hear people are planning to do extended backpacking trips out West, I always recommend they bring an umbrella," says OGE backpacking expert, Chris Reamer. While the clip-on umbrella helps protect from the sun, on Reamer’s recent Long Trail section hike he encountered enough rain that he wished he had the umbrella with him then, too. Gossamer Gear makes what it calls the “world’s lightest, full-size trekking umbrella.” The 6.6-ounce Lightrek Hiking Umbrella ($39) is 25 inches long and has a collapsed diameter of 1.75 inches. The fabric has a UPF rating of over 50 amd the company claims it can keep you 15 degrees cooler in bright sun. OSPREY UNLTD ANTIGRAVITY PACK - 64 If you want a top-of-the line pack and are willing to pay the price ($700 for the Men’s 64 liter), Osprey’s new UNLTD Antigravity packs are the way to go. Marc Sherman was able to try one for the first time on the OGE Relay Hike and he was sold. “We’re definitely going to carry these,” he said. The pack uses a 3D-printed lumbar pad which molds to your lower back. The internal aluminum frame opens and closes like a clamshell for support and easy access and the top lid can be removed and used as a fanny pack. This pack comes with the bells and whistles, too: ski loops, ice axe loops and a Stow-on-the-Go hiking pole attachment. There’s also a reservoir sleeve that you can access from the outside of the pack for easy refills. The entire pack weighs in at 5.5 lbs.
How has hiking the Long Trail changed? When I started the Appalachian Trail back in 2015 I had six days of food and my pack was 52 pounds. The last time I did the Long Trail in 2019, I had four days of food and
NEMO HORNET TENT & SWITCHBACK PAD NEMO’s single-person, double-walled Hornet ($359) tent weighs in at just 2 lbs. and the two-person ($399) at 2.6 lbs. Yet there’s 275 sq. feet of floor area and peak height is just over three feet (39 inches.) For the double, two zippered doors on either side of the vestibule are a great addition —no crawling over your partner to get in and out, though you still have to negotiate the rain fly. Some nice features are the spreader fly bar that attaches to the pole at the roof of the tent; the triangulated guy outs that pull the base of the tent out and clips that pull the inner mesh tent outward. Pair it with NEMO's Switchback Pad ($54) (Reamer's favorite piece of gear on the OGE relay hike) and you have max comfort at minimal weight. GOOD TO-GO MEALS Imagine a camp meal prepared by someone who had cooked at such four-star restaurants as New York City’s Bouley. Chef Jennifer Scism now lives in Kittery, Me., but you can enjoy her freeze-dried meals such as Chicken Pho, Thai Curry, or a Mexican Quinoa Bowl through her company, Good ToGo. Good To-Go also offers options for folks whose diets are gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan or soy-free. The 6.6-ounce meals are pricey at $13 to $14.75 for a double serving— especially since they are so tasty that one serving will leave you wanting more.
my pack was about 15 pounds. Now, I have an even lighter setup: with no food or water, I’m at about seven pounds or so. Seven pounds in your pack! How did you get down to that?
I use an ultralight backpack from a tiny company called Pa’alante and for sleeping gear I have a quilt (instead of a sleeping bag) and a closed-cell foam sleeping pad. The NEMO Switchback –that was probably my favorite piece of
KENZIE FUQUA Social Media, Events, and Outreach Coordinator at Outdoor Gear Exchange
Kenzie Fuqua, the hike organizer.
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ne of Kenzie Fuqua’s jobs this spring was to figure out how to get 100 or so employees from Outdoor Gear Exchange onto and off the Long Trail for section hikes. Fuqua, who has a Master’s in Recreation Management from the University of Vermont, also hiked sections. Hiking background: I did the Appalachian Trail in 2013 and after went to visit someone in Burlington. I spent two days here and I was like ‘I love it!’ OGE section hike: I did the Butler Lodge to Mount Mansfield section with a group of BIPOC hikers, including Sau, who had been a caretaker at Butler. It was wonderful to kind of see people sharing little bits of their culture and where they come from with each other. Favorite section of the Long Trail: The Mount Ellen to Stark’s Nest section is probably one of my favorites. This year it was absolutely miserable: howling winds, views socked in, rainy and 40 degrees but generally that section is my absolute favorite. You don’t see a ton of people if you’re doing that whole 10-mile part, which is really nice. You
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Sau (far right) and Fuqua (next to her) with the group of BIPOC hikers who spent the night at Butler Lodge and hiked to watch the sun rise from the top of Mount Mansfield the next day.
LAURA SAU DESIGNER/PHOTOGRAPHER
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are above treeline for some of it and get amazing views of the Mad River Valley, the Adirondacks and the Greens. And then of course, you can’t say “no” to being at the top of the Single Chair at Mad River Glen. What you brought with you: I had an Osprey Eja 48 ultralight backpack which weighs about 2 lbs. I didn’t bring a tent since we were staying in a shelter and I brought one of NEMO’s spoonshaped sleeping bags, my Olicamp stove, and all the accouterments. Perhaps the best thing I had was a 900 lumens Petzl headlamp. We got up at 2:30 in the morning to hike up to the summit of Mount Mansfield for dawn and that thing really helped negotiate the trail. How has the trail changed? It’s changed for the better and for the worse, if I’m really honest. That’s one of the reasons why I was so jazzed to be able to
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help raise money for it. People come here from all over to go hiking and it shows with the wear and tear on the trails. One of the best examples is actually one that they’re working on right now, which is the Burrows Trail on Camels Hump. Over the nine years that I’ve been here, it has just gotten wider and wider and more eroded. It has turned into a superhighway of trails —which is not what we want. The Green Mountain Club is starting a huge project to make it more sustainable, by narrowing it and putting in appropriate features. What’s special about the Long Trail? It is just a beautiful way to traverse Vermont and to see all of the rocky, muddy, wooded, boggy landscapes that we have. Every time I go out, even just for a short hike to Taylor Lodge near where I live in Stowe, I just feel at ease. Being out “there” is grounding.
au, as Laura Sau is known by most, learned about the OGE Long Trail relay after attending the second annual Outdoor Gear Exchange BIPOC Festival in Craftsbury in June. Sau, who is part Asian and whose mother is from Puerto Rico, can trace her roots back to the Taino people who populated the Caribbean before Europeans arrived. She’s also a member of Unlikely Riders, a group dedicated to helping Black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) to get out in the mountains. Hiking background: I’ve lived in Texas, Vancouver… all over but had only really done day hikes and car camping before I set out to thru-hike the Long Trail in 2017. Two friends of mine (one is half Navajo, the other is part native Hawaiian) got me to go with them. It was only my second time overnight backpacking. After doing it, I decided I wanted to spend a little more time in Vermont and a friend’s parents told me the Green Mountain Club was hiring. I applied and became a caretaker for Butler Lodge. OGE relay section: I picked the Butler Lodge section for the relay. Plus, we had a group of BIPOC hikers – none of whom I had met before — all there to do a dawn hike to the summit of Mount Mansfield. What do you always bring with you on a hike? I like to hike in a dress because it’s cooler and easier to pee (I also bring a p-style funnel for peeing). I like to carry a buff that can be a scarf, a headband or even a tourniquet. And extra socks! I love wearing a clean cozy, Darn Tough socks to sleep in. I tend to run cold too so I have a Kelty sleeping bag that’s rated to 25 degrees. What’s one thing you didn’t use? When I first thru-hiked the Long Trail, I had been living mostly near major cities. I was thinking I would need my phone for emergencies, so I brought a solar powered charger. I didn’t realize there are not many places on the trail where you get much sun. Also, I didn’t bring enough food so after we got to Richmond, I mailed home some gear and stuffed my bag with food. It’s important to know how much your body needs and everyone is different. Favorite section: Devil’s Gulch is magical, and everybody should see it. There are all these huge boulders and ferns cantilevering off them. Then you
Laura Sau, the former Butler Lodge caretaker, joined the relay for a hike to Mt. Mansfield.
cross the road and can hike up to the Belvidere fire tower. What’s special about the Long Trail? I traveled a lot for work before coming to Vermont and the Long Trail was special enough to make me want to move here. Everyone in Vermont was so friendly. I remember when we were thru hiking some rock climber saw us on a road in Richmond, stopped and said ‘throw your packs in the truck.’ Then when we got to the market and a woman said; ‘I bet you are hiking the Long Trail, I’ll give you a ride back to the trailhead.’” How are efforts like OGE’s BIPOC festival and Unlikely Riders’ winter events helping the community? Outdoor sports take a lot of practice. But before even wanting to commit the time, there’s a base of knowledge you need and you have to build the self-confidence to get out there. Being in a community with other BIPOC/ global majority folks or —in my case—being with folks somewhere on the queer spectrum of BIPOC/global majority folks, helps build the base of e that many of us didn’t grow up with. I had never touched skis or a snowboard until I was an adult. That’s the hardest part of starting something new is finding someone who relates to you, who understands where you’re at, who can close that learning gap. It’s not just about helping with the gear, knowledge and accessibility, which is huge, but also with the mental hurdles because they’ve been there too. It’s so much easier to be vulnerable in the act of trying something new, without feeling like you don’t belong from the getgo. Next thing you know, you’re running into each other at Cochran’s on a Friday night.
She Casts: A Women’s Fly-Fishing Weekend Join us for a ladies-only weekend of fly-fishing in Woodstock, Vermont! September 10 & 11, 2022 Woodstock Inn & Resort Activity Center
Local Orvis Endorsed Guide, Samantha Aronson will teach each element of the sport, from basics to skills on the water. Attend one or both days for an intensive, but not intense experience! Open to ages 10+. Lunch Each Day | All Orvis® Gear Provided One Day: $199 | Two Days: $349 Sign Up: 802-457-5530 or fish@woodstockinn.com
Orvis® Endorsed Fly Fishing at the Woodstock Inn & Resort! Lessons · Excursions · Group Trips · Orvis® Retail Shop
woodstockinn.com · Woodstock, VT
AUGUST 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 25
Vermont’s “Sweetest” Half Marathon is Back! After two years off because of the pandemic (2020 and 2021), central Vermont's sweetest half marathon is back on!
MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR
Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022 Capped at 750 runner, so, don’t delay, register today!
MIDDLEBURYMAPLERUN.COM 26 VTSPORTS.COM | AUGUST 2022
FEATURED ATHLETE
MAKING MOUNTAIN BIKING INCLUSIVE Family: Daughter, Ava (15); Son, Hazen (20); two standard poodles, Pepper and Ginger Lives in: Warren Profession: Registered nurse Main Sport: Mountain biking and gravel riding
G
rowing up in Lamoille and Washington Counties, Dionne Heyliger didn’t see many people who looked like her out recreating. She is trying to change that and make sure outdoor recreation in Vermont is seen as open and welcoming to all people. How did you get involved in mountain biking? I grew up seeing boys and men doing it, and it always seemed like something I’d be interested in doing myself. I happened to find a mountain bike event that was put on by what was then called the Stowe Mountain Bike Club. I was a beginner, but I met several women who were members of their board of directors, and they took me under their wing. They had Tuesday night rides at the time, and I found that I kept getting better and better and I really wanted to improve. I’ve been able to make a number of new connections through cycling with other women who ride and several of them have flourished into really great friendships. I feel a lot of women have similar stories of how they got into riding, including feelings of not being supported—whether by their partners or the environment itself. I think ladies’ rides have provided a really valuable outlet for some women. I’ve done many of them but these days I work all sorts of weird hours, so I haven’t had time. I do have an awesome core group of ladies I ride with. What do you love most about mountain biking? It’s a huge stress reliever. On the trail you’re not thinking about anything other than what’s in front of you. It’s
Dionne Heyliger got into mountain biking thanks to a great group of women in Stowe. Now, she wants to help others discover the sport.
very enjoyable to be in that place. I don’t race. I do it for fun and for my mental health. Do you have any favorite trails or trail networks? Every network has something I like so it’s hard to say. In Warren, at Blueberry Lake, I like what I call lunchtime trails because you can zip up and down when you don’t have much time. Stowe is always fun because of the terrain, and I love the old-school Hinesburg Town Forest trails ,which are rocky and rooty. Kingdom Trails has a really vast network and now that I’m working at Dartmouth Hitchcock, I’ve discovered the Boston Lot trails in New Hampshire.
What have you done to help increase diversity in mountain biking? The problem is people don’t see others who look like them. When I started riding there weren’t a lot of women on mountain bikes or maybe I just wasn’t seeing them. I never saw anyone with brown or black skin on a mountain bike. I was involved in Stowe’s diversity efforts, but things were on hold during Covid and lately I’ve been really busy at work. What we did at that time was try to hone their mission statement. On my own, at work or anywhere, if I hear anyone speaking about mountain biking, especially if they’re black or
Photo courtesy Dionne Heyliger
brown, I encourage them to seek it out and offer to go on rides with folks even if they’ve never been on a bike before. Sometimes you can go into shops that feel intimidating or the staff doesn’t pay attention to you, so I encourage folks to go to places that are inviting. One of my favorites is Ranch Camp in Stowe. The staff there is amazing, I never feel intimidated, and the owners are some of my favorite people. Tell us about your current role. I worked at UVM for six years, but I’ve just started working as a contract nurse and I’m at Dartmouth Hitchcock for 13 weeks. At UVM I was a float nurse and also worked in neuroscience and
neurosurgery. Traveling nurses have always gotten paid more. Hospitals don’t pay their staff enough. That was a problem before Covid but Covid exaggerated things. Travel contracts are very individual, and it depends on the company, the department, the location, and the difference between taxable and nontaxable income. You’re also involved in the Vermont chapter of the American Nurses Association, right? That’s correct. It’s an organization that advocates for nurses and their work environment in terms of patient/nurse ratios, workplace violence, and other issues. We are gathering information and working on the workplace violence piece. It’s a national issue. As a trained medical professional who has been involved with the Vermont Cannabis Nurse Association, what do you see as the benefits for athletes in using cannabis? Has it helped you? It’s like anything. If it helps it helps. If something works for your body, and it’s not a performance-enhancing drug, it
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can help. It may lesson your anxiety. Obviously, it’s still federally illegal so if you’re involved in a sport that drug tests, you have to take that into consideration. I advocate for cannabis because I know it does work for people and it’s less invasive than many other things. I help out the Vermont Cannabis Nurses Association with projects when they need a hand. But these days I rarely use cannabis, myself. It’s a medicine that doesn’t always agree with my body and since I’m now working as a travel nurse, I get drug tested. I advocate for it because I know it helps so many people and has very few side effects when compared to more standard, traditional pharmaceutical medications. How welcoming is Vermont to people of color in sports I’ve been pretty fortunate. I got introduced to all of this in Stowe because I befriended women who were very inviting. Once I got into mountain biking and got confident enough to go places on my own there were never any issues. Now that diversity has become more in the open there are people
who go out of their way to say hi. Not everyone and everywhere, but people are more thoughtful. We all belong outdoors. I find that there is more being done in the Burlington area, which is more diverse, but a number of places are now doing BIPOC events. OGE is one of the businesses that has done that, but I also went to a BIPOC event at Craftsbury. The conversation is there, and things are starting to improve. What can Vermont’s mountain biking community do to be more welcoming to all people? It comes down to finances. Not everyone can afford the equipment. This isn’t a huge sport but there are businesses like OGE which tries to get gear donated – not just used gear – to distribute to BIPOC communities. OGE does that with bikes and with ski and snowboard equipment. If businesses are serious about this, there needs to be a way to distribute equipment to people. Advertising is also huge. If you don’t see yourself reflected in ads, you don’t think the sport is for you.
As a Black, female mountain biker, have you experienced racism or prejudice on trails? I haven’t personally, but I guarantee it happens. I think if I were a male, things might have been different. People tend to be more discriminatory towards Black men especially in outdoor sports. All bodies were meant to enjoy the outside but when you are from a low-income area or just don’t have the money to be involved, you get left behind and that’s unfortunate. People don’t realize you don’t need to spend a lot of money to go outdoors but because of hostility, people can be afraid which is a shame because it’s so important for mental health. Things are starting to be more encouraging for the BIPOC community including groups like the Black Sox Cycling Club. I feel like there is starting to be more diversity. Unfortunately, when people think about sports that Black people are involved in, they think of basketball, baseball, and football . There is so much out there, especially if you’re not really built like an athlete. Mountain biking can be for everyone; people just have to be able to access it. —Phyl Newbeck
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AUGUST 2022 | VTSPORTS.COM 29
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RUNNING/HIKING
RACE & EVENT GUIDE 7 | Vergennes Day Race, Vergennes Sign up to walk a 5K, or run a 5K, 10K or 15K as this race comes back in person for its 41st year. vergennes.org 28 | Race to the Top of VT, Stowe Hikers, bikers, and runners come from across the U.S. and Canada to climb Mt. Mansfield, Vermont’s highest peak to benefit the Catamount Trail Association. The course ascends the historic Mansfield Toll Road. It is 4.3 miles in length, and has 2564 feet of up. rttovt.com
AUGUST 6 | Summit Challenge, Stratton Test your fitness against some of the best crosscountry skiers in the world from the USST and SMST2 Team, including World Cup Champion and 3-time Olympic medalist Jessie Diggins as you run 4 miles up Stratton Mountain. stratton.com 6 | Sugarworks Trail Run, Shelburne Run or run/walk the 5K, or run the 10K (two loops of the 5K). The course is rolling - mostly through the woods on the beautiful trail system that Shelburne Sugarworks. racevermont.com 11 | Genny Tenny, Craftsbury A 10 -mile point-to-point dirt road run from one general store to the next! Start in Craftsbury Village, in front of the Craftsbury General Store, and ride to Albany village and the Albany General Store. Craftsbury.com 13| Slate Valley Scramble, Poultney A trai race that features an 8K, half marathon, and kid’s fun run on some of VT's newest and best single & double-track on Slate Valley Trails slatevalleytrails.org 13 | The 100 on 100 Running Relay, Stowe to Ludlow The event starts early in the morning on August 13th at the Trapp Family Lodge and ends in Ludlow with most participants finishing between 5:30 PM and 11:00 PM. The race historically takes place on Route 100. 100on100relay.com 14 | Mozo Double Up, Stowe Gain 5,000 feet over 11 miles on Vermont’s most technical terrain as you race across the state’s highest peak, up the Haselton trail. Ironwoodadventureworks.com 20 | Craftsbury Beer Run, Craftsbury A point to-point dirt road half marathon from Craftsbury Outdoor Center to Highland Lodge. Post-race picnic will be catered by Hardwick’s Caja Madera Food Truck at Highland Lodge. craftsburybeerrun.com
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SEPTEMBER 3-4 | Jay Peak Trail Running Festival, Jay Peak Tackle any of 7 races over 2 days. From a kids race to a 53.1K ulra there is something for everyone. Try the three 5Ks, an 11-, 22-,37- or 53 K run. jaypeak.com 10 | Saucony Charlotte Covered Bridge 5K/10K & Half Marathon Great views of Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks while running through the Holmes Creek (covered) Bridge and back.racevermont.com/ 10 | Groton Forest Trail Run, Groton Run through the Groton State Forest. The 26.5 miler starts at 7 AM, the 15 miler starts at 9 AM, and the 6.2 miler starts at 10 AM. .cvrunners.org 18 | TAM Trek, Middlebury The 19-mile Trail Around Middlebury attracts serious trail runners. There’s also a challenging 10K course for runners looking for a shorter and equally scenic race. The 2-mile family fun run attracts families and run/walkers. maltvt.org/tam-trek 18 | Trapp Cabin Trail Races, Trapp Family Lodge, Stowe The 5K follows Lodge Spur to Luce Hill Loop, following the single track trail back to the finish. Walkers welcome. The 10K continues on to Tap Line, follows Chris’s Run to the cabin and returns on Growler and Tap Line to the finish. The halfmarathon is by far Stowe’s most popular race. The course does a double-loop of the
OCTOBER 1 | Fly to Pie Marathon, Newport Run or bike point-to-point on one of the toughest marathons in the East, mostly on dirt roads through "the gut" of the Northeast Kingdom. In addition to 26.2 miles, there is an option to do o17, 13.5 and 6.2 miles. Start in Newport. finish at Parker Pie in West Glover with all the pizza you can eat. kingdomgames.co 2 | Middlebury Maple Run: The Sweetest Half Marathon, Middlebury A USATF-certified half marathon, 2-person relay, and a 3-mile fun run on scenic routes with views of the Green Mountains and Adirondacks. A mix of trail (10%) paved (45%) and dirt roads (45%) for the half marathon, all paved for 3-mile fun run. Post-race pancake breakfast with Vermont maple syrup. middleburymaplerun.com 2 | Bolton Three Peaks Mountain Race, Bolton Valley Resort Race to Bolton's three peaks on this new ultra which ascends roughly 4,000ft over 20 kilometers. boltonvalley.com 9 | Mad Dash, Moretown Run or walk a 5km trail loop or run the 10km trail course at Harwood Union High School through beautiful woods and fields with great fall views. Enjoy live music and food while celebrating the amazing Mad River Valley outdoors. madriverpath.org/ maddash 9 | North Face Race to the Summit, Stratton Run a 2.18 mile race climbing 2,003 vertical feet up southern Vermont’s highest peak for pride, prize money, awards and great views. stratton.com
30 | The Hills Are Alive, Milton A fun 5k before Halloween on trails at the Arrowhead Golf Course in Milton,. Unique wood awards (Woodals) to all finishsers! gmaa.run
BIKING AUGUST 6 | VSECU Point to Point, Montpelier Enjoy a beautiful ride or run on Vermont's scenic roads. Choose from a variety of distances from 25 miles to a century. Prefer to keep your feet on the ground? Register for a half-marathon, 5K, or one-mile run. It's all to benefit the Vermont Foodbank's efforts to end hunger. thepointtopoint.org 7 | Slab City Trail Challenge, Randolph This event incorporates a majority of the single track that Randolph has to offer. Your goal is to ride to the top of the three major peaks either individually or as a team relay. People can choose their route based on riding ability. This event will start and end at The Gear House which hosts an after event with local food beverage and music. .bikereg.com/slab-city-trail-tour 13-14 | Enduro World Series, Burke Some of the top mountain bike racers in the world will come to Burke Mountain Resort, one of only two U.S. stops this year on round 6 of the Enduro World Series.. Taking place over two days, the race will feature terrain the area is famous for rooty, rocky and above all, highly technical. skiburke.com
16 | Trapp Mountain Marathon, Trapp Family Lodge, Stowe This half or full marathon features steep climbs and descents and a newly updated climb to the highest point on the Trapp Lodge trails. The 13.1 mile loop course is approximately 2/3 double track wide trails and dirt roads, and 1/3 serpentine, rugged single track. trappmountainmarathon.com
13-14 | Black River Grand Prix, Craftsbury A celebration of fast racing, big loops, varied terrain, and fun on bikes in the woods. Saturday is a short track XC race and Sunday is a mass start on one big lap. This ain’t XCO or even XCC, this is VT mountain biking - flow, tech, jank, doubletrack, and even a dirt road or two something for everyone. craftsbury.com
16 | Green Mountain Marathon, South Hero One of the most scenic marathons in the country, passing orchards, farms, forests, and Lake Champlain. Half course is a single out and back on West Shore Road; the marathon runs it twice. 100% paved, and a Boston Qualifier. gmaa.run
27 | Vermont Overland, Windsor A wild 45-mile dirt road bicycle race featuring 6,000 feet of climbing, eight sections of “Vermont pavé” (unmaintained ancient public roads), two well-fortified sag stops, a magnificently scenic route and an awesome party afterwards. Open dirt roads, amazing scenery and an epic course, all within a beautiful Vermont pastoral setting. vermontoverland.com
10.5K. greenmtnadaptive.org
24 | Apple Harvest 10K, Shelburne A great fall 10k that passes farms, orchards and Lake Champlain. Start and finish are at Shelburne Town Beach gmaa.run
20-23 | 29029- Everesting, Stratton Run, walk or crawl up Stratton Mountain. Take the gondola down. Repeat 17 times until you climb 29,029 feet, the height of Everest. 29029everesting.com
28 | Cycle 4 CMT Ride/Walk, Shelburne Enjoy a morning ride with family and friends while supporting those with CMT. Cyclists can choose from one of four beautiful cycling routes of up to 41 miles that travel through the scenic Vermont towns of Shelburne, Charlotte and Hinesburg. All routes start and end at the Old Lantern in Charlotte. cycle4cmt.com
SEPTEMBER 2-5 | Green Mountain Stage Race, Burlington Stage 1 is an individual time trial. Stage 2 is a circuit race. Stage 3 includes the Middlebury Gap and a finish at the top of the Appalachian Gap. The event concludes with the Stage 4 Burlington criterium on a thrilling 6 turn downtown 1K course. Daily podiums and cash prizes as well as GC, Sprint and K/QoM leader's jerseys. Eight categories for different ages and abilities. gmsr.info 9 -11| Quebec Grand Prix, Quebec The world's best road riders compete at the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec, one of the only two UCI WorldTour events in the Americas. On Friday at 11 am they compete in a 200km+ race in charming old Québec. On Sunday. Witness the final sprint of a 220km+ race held on Montréal's infamous Mount Royal. Attendance is free, and VIP packages are available in the VIP Village located at the start/finish line. gpcqm.ca 10 | Woodsplitter MTB Challenge, Pittsfield. The ultimate 6hr event at the home of the Spartan founder, Joe DeSena. Our race’s diabolical origins date back to the 666 race eight years ago, which featured a short, but brutal, six-mile loop ridden for six hours up steep skidder roads and through our budding trail system, barely recognizable to what it’s grown into. gmtrail.org 10 | Kelly Brush Ride, Middlebury Ride 100, 50, 20 or 10 mile routes through the scenic Champlain Valley. For those who can’t make it to Vermont, the foundation offers a virtual option that allows participants to take part in the fundraising ride from anywhere. The ride benefits the Kelly Brush Foundation and helps people with spinal cord injuries resume active lives. kellybrushfoundation.org 11-Oct. 15 Vermont Youth Cycling League, A four-race (XC & enduro) series for riders in grades 5-12. Independent racers and teams are welcome. Sept. 11, Craftsbury; Sept, 17, Kingdom Trails; Oct 1, Mt. Peg, Woodstock; Oct. 15, Cochran's Richmond. vtyouthcycling.org 13-14, Black River Grand Prix, Craftsbury: Saturday is a short track XC race and Sunday is a mass start on one big lap. This ain’t XCO or even XCC, this is VT MTB - flow, tech, jank, doubletrack, and even a dirt road or two. craftsbury.com
15-18 | Fox US Open of Mountain Biking, Killington For the first time since 2018, the Fox US Open returns! Spectating is free, and areas of the bike park are open to the public during the event. killington.com 17 | Gritus, Mad River Glen The 50-mile course is 70% dirt roads, some tame double track sections and a couple of hefty climbs. The course features 7000' feet of climbing and a covered bridge. Cyclists are responsible for navigating the course. A unique award will be presented for the top 3 males and females. endurancesociety.org 18 | Tour de Farms Gravel Ride, Vergennes This gravel ride and farm tour will feature several distances—a 29.6-mile route and more relaxed, family-friendly 10-mile or 12.2 distances. You’ll pass through the beautiful pastoral landscape of the Champlain Valley and visit three to seven farms depending on your distance. Riders sample everything from maple iced coffee and farm-fresh salads to maple-glazed ham and Vermont’s famous cheeses! acornvt. org/tourdefarms 24 | Peacham Fall Fondo, Peacham Join Wahoo cyclist and former Unbound gravel race winner Ian Boswell and his local community on a fun and friendly 50-mile route featuring the Northeast Kingdom's best gravel in support of community. peachamfallfondo.com
26 | 28th Vermont 50 Ultra Run & MTB, Mount Ascutney, Brownsville This 50-mile trail race lets mountain bikers and ultra runners enjoy a challenging and scenic course that is like no other. Net proceeds go to Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports. vermont50.com
OCTOBER 1 | Vermont Rare Gravel Ride, Peru Ride 39 miles on gently rolling terrain with one or two short hills to benefit Vermont Rare, Rasopathies Network, and CFC International. vermontrare.org 8 | Grateful Ride, Derby This 3-race, one-day event combines the excitement of cyclocross with the grueling slog of singletrack mountain bike racing. Is it a bit insane? Yes. Is it perhaps the most unique event you will do? Also yes! For those who have not raced in the past, bike choice is key. DO NOT BRING A ROAD BIKE!!! We recommend a cyclocross/gravel bike with chunky tires OR a hardtail/full suspension mountain bike. bikereg.com/grateful-2022 9 | The Grindstone, Barre A unique gravel grinder cycling event showcasing the granite-filled landscapes of Barre and beyond, The Grindstone features three distances to choose from. grindstonegravel.com
SEPTEMBER
WATER & MULTISPORTS AUGUST 6-14 | NEK Swim Week, NEK Swim 8 gorgeous lakes of the Northeast Kingdom over 9 days —46 miles. Crystal Lake, Island Pond, Lac Massawipi, Lake Seymor, Echo Lake, Lake Memphremagog's Derby Bay, Lake Willoughby and Lake Caspian. kingdomgames.co 6 - 7 | Riverfest Weekend and New England Paddlesports Championship, Brattleboro The Connecticut River Conservancy’s first-Riverfest Weekend is highlighted by the 44th New England Paddlesports Championship on Sunday with races for canoes, kayaks, surf skis, and stand-up paddleboards. neckra.org. 6 | Dryway Pinball Race, Dunbar Beach, Mass. Afer a mass start paddlers work as a team of 3 to get a beach ball downstream to the finish using any means necessary before the other teams. Sabotage is encouraged!! facebook.com/ events/515236590322241/
10-11 | Vista Beast Challenge – Disc Golf Tournament, Bolton Valley Compete on a challenging par 60 18-hole course that tests players’ ability to throw a variety of shots. Stay tuned for more details, but practice up. boltonvalley.com 10-11 | Spartan Ultra 50K, Beast 21K Race, Killington Spartan Ultra is a 50 km, 60 obstacle race built to break your limits over the world’s most difficult terrain. Also, a Beast 21K, a sprint and a kid’s race. killington.com 18 | Josh Billings RunAground Triathon, Great Barrington, MA A pefect fall triathlon: Bike 27 miles, canoe, kayak or SUP 5 miles. Run 6 miles. Prizes for individuals, teams and kids. joshbillings.com 23-25, 4th Annual Vermont Climbing Festival, Richmond A weekend of camping, climbing, workshops, clinics, competitions, speakers, music & more! All proceeds support the work of CRAG-VT. cragvt.org/festival/
6 | Stand Up for the Lake, Burlington This year's SUP event at the Burlington Surf Club includes a $3500 cash purse. On site camping is available for free for racers and families traveling from outside the area. Food, clinics, a rec race, an elite race, and good times. burlingtonsurfclub.com/ 7 | Smuggs Summer Disc Golf Classic, Jeffersonville This disc golf tournament is a single day event: one round in the morning, one round in the afternoon. A doubles charity event with a barbecue and prizes. smuggs.com 7 | Lake Champlain Dragon Boat Festival, Burlington Paddlers compte head to head in colorful dragon boats to support breast cancer research. dragonheartvermont.org
22-25 | Obstacle Course Racing World Championships, Stratton Drawing more than 5,000 athletes from 70 nations, the OCR World Championships features both professional and amateur age-group competitions. Five different races accommodate all types of athletes. The flagship 3K and 15K distance races are only open to qualified age-group and professional athletes. stratton.com
OCTOBER 16-17 | Vermont State Disc Golf Championships, Smuggler’s Notch, Jeffersonville Catch the top players in the state at this PDGA C-Tier event in northern Vermont, hosted by Disc Golf Vermont. Discgolfvermont.com
14 | The Bitter Pill, Craftsbury A summer adventure race for teams of two or three with hiking, biking, and time on the water – as well as requiring you to continually navigate. If you have never done an adventure race before, this is a great way to get started. gmara.org 17 | Vermont Sun & Lake Dunmore Triathlons, Salisbury The Vermont Sun Triathlon is a 600 yard swim, 14 mile bike and 3.1 mile run. The Lake Dunmore Triathlon is a 1500 yard swim, 28 mile bike and 6.2 mile run. Each race has Team and Aqua Bike Categories (swim and bike. No run). vermontsuntriathlonseries. com
Ethan Allen Biathlon Club 2022 Summer Race Series
DATES July 7, 14, 21, August 4,11, 18
TIMES 5:00 pm - Mandatory Safety Clinic 5:30 to 6:00 pm - Zeroing 6:15 pm - Race Start WHERE Ethan Allen Biathlon Club Ethan Allen Rd., Jericho, VT
Register online at SkiReg.com More Info: www.eabiathlon.org
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he Kaibab Plateau is a 700-squaremile forest, a great green ship sailing on parched desert seas. This remote, rugged upland forms the Grand Canyon’s North Rim and is, in my opinion, the most beautiful, mysterious, and jaw-droppingly awesome landscape in North America. Sorry, Bread Loaf. No offense, Mansfield. My apologies, NEK. But that’s simply how it is. Well, sure, you’re probably thinking. Doesn’t everybody (flannel-clad Vermontophiles included) agree that the Grand Canyon is extraordinary? Yes, indeed they do, and with good reason. For me, though, the relationship to this superlative place is different. I didn’t just drive a bumpy dirt road through a maze of ponderosa pines to reach—breaks, please!—the abrupt abyss of the North Rim. I didn’t just snap a couple of photos and call it a “swell vacation,” then drive to Las Vegas to catch a flight. Nope. The world’s most famous ditch was my ditch, my personal backyard sanctuary. The Kaibab’s hawkrich forest was my home, my personal heart’s home. That is until everything changed. For four years after graduating college (and they said I wouldn’t find a job with my “useless” philosophy degree, the jerks), I worked for the US Forest Service studying the raptors that nest along the North Rim. The job involved bushwhacking literally every nook and cranny of the massive Kaibab—involved, in other words, a degree of immersion in the elemental place that is rarely experienced by modern humans, and that leads inevitably to a deep knowledge of, and love for, the very ground underfoot. As a nature boy raised in the Champlain Valley, a young man with a hankering for Western adventures, this gig was the fantasy of all fantasies. My home inside the broader plateau was a cluster of shabby cabins called Big Springs: 40 miles from a grocery store, a 15-minute ride to private Grand Canyon viewpoints that only locals visit. And that’s the really special thing: There were no locals besides my little team of self-titled “bird nerds.” Yes, everybody agrees that the Grand Canyon is extraordinary, but almost nobody gets to call it their place of residence— almost nobody gets to eat and sleep and work and play inside such sprawling beauty, mystery, and jaw-dropping awesomeness. My years on the Kaibab were improbable, a should-be-impossible gift to my life. They were a dream. But dreams, alas, lead to waking. The specter of our research project’s
34 VTSPORTS.COM | AUGUST 2022
YOU CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN.
ONCE YOU’VE LIVED AND WORKED IN THE GRAND CANYON, IT’S HARD TO RETURN AS A TOURIST. BY LEATH TONINO
A bucket-list destination, the north rim of the Grand Canyon is a place it's easy to feel possessive about. conclusion loomed over even the cheeriest wanderers, and in 2011, when the boss was done collecting data, I was suddenly out of a job. More to the point: I was out of a home, out of the woods, out of the cherished, visceral relationship. I’ll be honest and say that I cried. The September afternoon when I drove away from Big Springs—sleeping bag and banjo and box of books packed in the trunk, cabin where those possessions had previously resided now swept clean—I blasted Mozart on the radio and rolled down the windows and through my lumpy throat shouted Goodbye and Thanks. It was a unique predicament: I had fallen in love with a wilderness that wouldn’t let me stay. Short of securing another governmental mandate to bushwhack the Kaibab’s gullies and hunt hawk poo along the North Rim (fat chance), my future visits to this superlative place would have to be of the tourist variety. I was, to put it mildly, less than okay with this new situation. Years. They passed. I did not return. Perhaps I couldn’t return? It’s a cliché that lovers are a jealous breed, and my jealousy—a jealousy born of heartbreak— precluded me visiting Big Springs. I’d heard that my Big Springs had been turned into a Forest Service campground. I’d heard that any Joe Schmo could now
rent the room where I had strummed the banjo, read the books, slept in the sleeping bag, gazed out the window at deer and bobcats and owls. Rent the cabin where my heart still lived? Turn the Kaibab and Grand Canyon into just another weekend getaway, a “swell vacation”? Blasphemy! I’ll wrap this story up shortly, but first let me point out one last thing. Big Springs was named for (duh) an everflowing trickle that emerges from a cliff above the cabins. It’s some of the only fresh water on the entire Kaibab and, consequently, has always drawn living beings: squirrels, frogs, humans. An ancestral Pueblo granary hunches on a shelf of rock near the spring. John Wesley Powell, first person to boat the Grand Canyon (1869), camped near it and drank from it. Teddy Roosevelt, who hunted cougars on the Kaibab, did the same. And then there was me. And then there was… Joe Schmo? For the past decade, the loss of my Kaibab was a pain that wouldn’t subside, a burning ache in the chest. But now, as I get older and less selfcentered—as my awareness sinks into the layered history of the superlative place, the place I was lucky enough to walk and study and learn and love—I’m
Photo Adobe Stock
coming to a new realization. The place is the only thing that really endures. All the rest of us are ephemeral, passing through on a warm breeze rising from the desert, sifting through the needles of ten million ponderosa pines. The spring at Big Springs flows. We come and go. What I’m loving nowadays is how the place sticks around even when we have to leave. And how it invites us to return. And I’m loving, too, that I am but part of a continuum, just one instance of a human responding passionately to geography, to terrain. Having the Kaibab all to myself was special, of course, but it actually feels better to recognize that others are forging their own relationships with the land. That places are not meant to be possessed, but to be shared. That “owning” them means being owned by them, and that they have the capacity to own untold numbers of us over hundreds and hundreds of years. In this era of overcrowded wildlands and busting-at-the-seams parks, not to mention post-lockdown recreation craziness, it’s worth remembering that public lands, whether the Grand Canyon or the Green Mountain National Forest, are just that, public, and that this is what makes them rare and special. So I’m planning a trip, that’s what I’m saying. To Big Springs. To drink deep. There’s plenty of water to go around.
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