Event History: Northfield enters its fifth year as part of the Western Mass. Athletic Club (WMAC) snowshoe series. Northfield has served as a regional qualifier for the USSSA national championship and has attracted many of the top snowshoe racers in the country. The course was 7.25K for the first three years, and was moved to Hallockville in 2006 due to a lack of snow (throughout New England). The 2007 race will be contested over a challenging 10.3K loop course which traverses the border of the Northfield park trails. Northfield has also been the home for the USATF New England Association championships for Mountain running from 2003 to 2005 and was the 2006 USATF NE trail 10k championships. The event has served as a qualifier for the TEVA USA Mountain running team in 2003 and 2005. The race is also part of the USATF NE Mountain running circuit and the New England Grand Tree trail running circuit. Northfield will be part of the National 2-Day challenge to determine the toughest snowshoe racers in the country. The second day s race will a 5K in Saratoga Spa NY on Feb. 4. For more information check: www.runwmac.com Quotes: Northfield has everything a trail race should have. Steep uphill s, single track, gravel roads, grass, and don t forget good old New England rocks and roots Kevin Tilton 2005 TEVA USA mountain team member. The Northfield course is a unique combination of grinding it out and then letting it fly. It's all in how fast you can grind a how well you can fly. Up and down and done. Steve Peterson 1995 USATF Mountain team member. I've run both the trail and the snowshoe races. The facility is nice with plenty of parking, bathrooms and a large enough indoor facility for sign in and awards. The running and snowshoe course is challenging and a nice mixture of single track, double track and field running. The proximity to Hartford International Airport and the city of Springfield, Ma. makes it easily accessible as well as affordable for people traveling from out of State. The fact that the course is not at elevation makes it more of an even playing field as far as national championships are concerned. Runners from the East traveling out West have to carefully plan arrival times in order to eliminate having to acclimatize to running at higher elevations. Paul Young top New England trail runner
Directions using the park map: Start: Facing North with the pond on your right and the visitors center on the left. North on Tooleybush, crossing Reservoir road at #5 Continue North on Rattlebone past C, then East past G, and F Continue East on Tooleybush turnpike past #20, 28, 39, 40 Into the Chute a one Kilometer stretch that averages 11.5% grade. Curve South on Tooleybush Cross Reservoir road at R3 (approx. 5K) Continue South on Tooleybush to #32 At #32 head east to the Summit Continue East to the Overlook Turn at the overlook and return West to #32 Continue South on Tooleybush to #31 At #31 Bear South/West onto 10th Mountain Continue on 10th Mountain past #27 and#24 Continue North on 10th Mountain past #6A and #3 Turn West (down the hill) on the main trail just after #3 Finish at the visitors center (between the visitors center and the pond). The total climb/descent for the race is 1,240. It s not so bad compared to Mt Washington! 6200 5700 5200 4700 4200 3700 3200 2700 2200 1700 1200 700 200 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34 37 40 43 46 49 52 55 58 61 64 67 70 73 76 79 82 85 88 91 94 97 10 10 10 10 112 115 118
Sponsors include: 2007 Northfield Mountain preview: Northfield Mountain will again part of the highly popular WMAC snowshoe (http://www.runwmac.com/snowshoes/default.htm) series and host an Eastern US qualifier for the USSSA National championship on Feb. 3 rd. The race, which starts at 9:00 on Saturday, is hosted by the Central Massachusetts Striders (www.cmsrun.org). The race is one of the many activities available at Northfield Mountain (http://www.nu.com/northfield/default.asp), racers and their families are encouraged to spend the day snowshoeing, hiking, orienteering, or cross-country skiing at Northfield. The snowshoe race has been a USSSA qualifier for the last four years and has been part of the WMAC series since its inception. Northfield has also been the home for the USATF New England Association championships for Mountain running from 2003 to 2005 and served as a qualifier for the TEVA USA Mountain running team in 2003 and 2005. The trail race is also part of the USATF NE Mountain running circuit and the New England Grand Tree trail running circuit and was the New England trail running championship in 2006. There is ample parking and indoor facilities on site for changing, and post race activities. Northfield is conveniently located on Rte. 63 two miles North of Rte. 2. Approx. Distances to major New England Cities: Boston = 100 miles Worcester = 60 miles Lowell =75 miles Manchester, NH = 70 miles The field at Northfield Mountain has always been of high quality, featuring not only excellent open runners, but top age group runners as well (from Anna Pirchtova to Richard Busa). Richard Bolt Stephen Peterson
Northfield Mountain 10.3K Trail race Start to 1K From the Visitors center head north on the wide grass trail for the first 400m, crossing the road at 400m. Continue on the wide grass trail to 800m through open fields. From 800m to 1,000m the trail is wide dirt in the forest. The 1K mark is just after the first trail junction in the woods. The first Kilometer climbs 90 and drops just once (15 ). 1K to 2K From the one Kilometer mark continue East on the dirt forest trail which bears South to the 1500m mark. The race course continues turning East on the wide grass trail under the power line. This Kilometer climbs 110 with no measurable drops. The 2K mark is just after the small snowshoe trail on the right. 2K to 3K Continue from the 2K mark 200m further on the power line trail then bear right into the woods on a wide dirt forest trail. The 3K mark is 150m after the second major trail junction. There is one slight 20 dip at 2.5K; otherwise this Kilometer climbs for a total of 150. 3K to 4K Continue climbing on the forest trail, and turn South at 3.5K. Continue to climb to the 4K mark which is 250m before the road crossing. There is one slight down hill at 3.6K, otherwise this is the toughest Kilometer with 325 of climb. 4K to 5K The wide forest trail begins to bear west and continues Westerly to the 5K mark which is 100m before the minor trail junction (which leads to the summit road). This Kilometer has two down hills one minor drop at 4K of 20 and another from 4.5 to 4.8 K where it drops 85. Other than the two down hills, the course climbs steadily for at total of 180. 5K to 6K After 5K the trail begins to turn south and has two small drops of 15 and 2 small climbs of 15. The course turns East at 5.7K and climbs the final 300m, crossing the summit road and heading to the viewing platform. It climbs 200 to 5.9K. The final 100m to the viewing platform drops 35. The 6K mark is at the viewing platform overlooking the man-made lake on the summit of Northfield Mountain. A water stop will be available at the viewing platform. 6K to 7K The runners retrace their steps for 300m, going West over the summit road and down the forest trail. At 6.3K they turn South on the wide grassy forest trail. The course bears Southwest and forks left. This Kilometer is mostly downhill with a short climb of 35 from the viewing platform to the road and another 10 climb 700m later. The total downhill running for this Kilometer is 115. ; The 7K mark is at the minor trail junction just after branching to the Southwest. 7K to 8K Continue Southwest with a major Western bend at 7.8K. The trail is wide and grassy and there are a few rolling hills despite an overall downhill run. 8K is 150m before the major trail junction. There are four small up hills of 15 each spread out evenly through this Kilometer. The last 300m features a steep 120 downhill. The total for this Kilometer is 285 of descending. 8K to 9K The race continues West on the forest trail, turning North @ 8.5k on the wide grassy power line trail. 9K is located at the stream crossing, 250m after the major trail junction. This Kilometer is all downhill, steadily dropping for a total of 330. 9K to 10K This entire kilometer is a straight run north down the power line on a wide grass trail. There are three up hills mixed in this predominately down hill Kilometer. The first two are bumps of 10 and the final one is a tough uphill climb of 30 starting at 9.8K. The 10K mark is at the end of the power line section, just prior to turning west. The total for this Kilometer is 160 of down hill running. 10K to 10.3K The final 300m of the race heads West down the wide grass trail and then turns north for the final 100m. The finish is located in the field behind the visitor s center, which is the same location as the start. The 200m downhill drops 115 and the final 100m is flat.
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