Gloves in hand and clad in Summit green, McKenna Ramsay claims the national junior snowshoe title. Contributed photo.
Warm weather and Cascade Cement was the name of the game in Bend, OR. Bend played host to 2013 US Snowshoe National Championships. Located in Central Oregon, this 4000 foot mountain town showed racers what the Pacific Northwest was known best for: snow. In town, temperatures were similar to the Front Range with highs in the 60s. Cooler temps prevailed at the race course ten minutes from town, and feet of snow piled up around the runners.
The brutality of the course was something most of the Colorado racers were used to. A steep ascent awaited them for the first 2.5 K, followed by a gradual descent for the next 2K, and a steep and slick “cliff” for the last .5 K. The Colorado racers had to adjust to the snow type, which was slick, mushy, heavy and wet. Their home course in Frisco was quite different!
Colorado’s junior racers at Nationals included three Summit High School track/XC runners and one elementary student from Kyffin Elementary in Golden. Senior Danny Cuadrado and freshmen Logan and McKenna Ramsay represented SHS, while Gina Kelble of KES was the fourth junior racer from Colorado.
Following in the footsteps of former Boulder standout Sam Lewis, McKenna Ramsay won the Junior A girls’ race with a time of 32:04.6. She finished nearly seven minutes ahead of runner-up Rachel Jones from New York. McKenna was third overall in the junior race. Her teammates of Cuadrado and Logan Ramsay finished in times of 37:47.4 and 39:33.3, respectively.
Kelble of KES will someday follow in McKenna’s footsteps. Kelble won the 14 and under race (Junior B) in a time of 47:15.0. Just as McKenna did with Lewis, Kelble will be following McKenna’s lead in the next few years. When McKenna is a senior, Kelble will be a freshman in high school. Colorado’s snowshoe future looks bright, and it will take an extraordinary performance to knock these girls off of the podium.
Next year’s race will move back to the east coast. Belmington, VT will host the 2014 event. Good luck with track and cross country Colorado snowshoers. Look for information on the 2014 Colorado State Championship Race this winter!