U.S. to Host World Snowshoe Championships for First Time
The event—a 10K for seniors (age 20 and up) and a 5K for juniors—will be held in Saranac Lake, New York, at the end of February.
Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! Download the app.
The World Snowshoe Championships will come to the United States for the first time in 2017.
The event—a 10K for seniors (age 20 and up) and a 5K for juniors—will be held in Saranac Lake, New York, at the end of February.
Canada has hosted the event three times in its 10-year existence, most recently in 2015. As for its southern neighbor, Mark Elmore, the United States Snowshoe Association (USSSA) sports director, says his organization has been biding its time.
“I was waiting until the right location became interested in hosting a major ‘international’-caliber event,” he says. “Saranac Lake, New York, and Jim Tucker, the race director, stepped up to submit an awesome bid. There is no place better at celebrating winter, and no race director with more experience.”
The World Championships will be “one of four major snowshoe championships conducted the same season on the same continent”—another first, according to a press release from the USSSA. The others are the U.S. and Canadian national championships and the North American continental championships.
RELATED: Why Run On Trails When You Can Collapse On Snowshoes?