Dion Frontenac Snowshoe Race - Course preview

The Dion Frontenac Snowshoe Race will be held on Saturday, January 23 at Frontenac Provincial Park, just 30mins north of Kingston.

The course has been measured by GPS at 7.3km and is of a lollipop design (out and back with a loop at the top). The first (and last) 1.9km features a wide trail to give you lots of opportunity to pass and sort out positioning. The loop portion is narrow, rolling single track that takes you through some breathtaking sections of Frontenac Provincial Park. While there are some decent hills, it is all very runnable with a little bit of everything on this beautiful backcountry course.

Hot chocolate and munchies will be provided after the event. Awards will be given to overall race winners. A great offering of draw prizes will also be handed out after with one lucky participant going home with a pair of the top of the line Dion Running Snowshoes (all race participants are also eligible for a 10% discount off of their purchase of a pair of Dion Running Snowshoes through Spafford Health and Adventure).

For more information or to register, please visit Spafford Health and Adventure . Course video preview (including race tips), detailed course description and route map are now available for viewing.

See you on race day!

Derrick

Frontenac Park Perimeter Run

I had a great run yesterday with Keith "Ditch Dawg" Iskiw, as we set out to run the perimeter of Frontenac Park. We started just after 11am from the Trail Centre and headed in a counterclockwise direction to get the rugged Slide Lake Loop out of the way first. The trail was in pretty good condition, with only a few spots that had quite a bit of growth over it. The northeast end of the park was the most grown over in places due to underuse.

I felt quite good. My knee was a little stiff for the first few hours, but loosened up and felt great on the hills. Very rolling and technical loop, but just beautiful. We saw a few deer, a raccoon and some baby ducks...and no other people. My favourite section of trail was along Buck Lake with lots of soft pine needles to run on. It was pretty hot in the open sections, but nice in the woods.

We ended up breaking my previous best on the loop with a running time of 5:59:37 (yay....under 6hrs!), and a total trail time of 6:19:49 (stops for treating water, pit stops, etc...). Very pleased with how the run went. All fun.

The only hiccup was that the batteries in my Steripen died at 4hrs, so we ran the last two hours with only a half litre of water each (sorry Keith), which we could have used more due to the heat. I'll remember to take backup batteries next time as they are very light (I even took them with me, but left them in the car...stupid me!).

To read Keith's report click here.