The most grueling one-day athletic event held anywhere in the world some Januaries is right here in Duluth -- the 26.2-mile Northwoods Snowshoe Marathon.
It still will be challenging, but not as grueling, this year. For only the second time in the race's 17-year history, there isn't enough snow to run in snowshoes. And the weather isn't expected to be as brutal as it's been for some past races -- such as 1994, when 28 frozen-muscled masochists completed the marathon on a day with a temperature of 30 below zero and a wind chill of 58 below.
This year they are calling it the "No Snow Shoe Marathon." It and a companion half-marathon start at 9:30 a.m., and a 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) race starts at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Lester Park ski trails.
"There's just not enough snow," said race director Barb Van Skike of Askov. "Some spots will be slippery, and there's a little bit of snow. It's hilly and it's challenging. I was out there Sunday looking at the river, and it's looking safe to cross on the ice. That was my biggest concern."
Participants will lace up their road and trail shoes and run up the ski hills, veer east across the Lester River, across Lester River Road, climb behind Moose Mountain, run back across Lester River Road and the river, follow the power lines behind Hawk Ridge and run back down to the Lester Park pavilion. The half-marathoners are done. The marathoners have to go back out in the woods and do it again.
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Rick Cleary, 44, the boys and girls cross-country coach at River Falls (Wis.) High School, is a six-time winner of the Northwoods Snowshoe Marathon. He's completed 40 road-running marathons, including a 2-hour, 44-minute finish at Grandma's.
Cleary won the Northwoods race in 2003, the only other year that it wasn't run in snowshoes. "It was still a tough race -- in some ways tougher, because you had to watch your footing to make sure you had solid ground and no ice on the downhills," he said.
"Running in Lester Park is up and down like a rollercoaster. Once out of the park it levels out for a few miles, then there's the climb up Moose Mountain. Moose Mountain is a tough haul. You climb and you climb and you're like, 'Oh, finally, the top.' But, no, it's a false summit and there's more to go. Moose Mountain is also one of the best spots when you look off to your right and 'Wow, how'd that big lake [Superior] get there?' It's stunning."
Cleary, who still runs road marathons in under three hours, won the snowshoe marathon last year in4 hours, 56 seconds.
Jerry Larson, who lives in Lakewood Township and works for St. Louis County, knows how grueling the snowshoe marathon can be. Larson, now 58, won the 1994 race on that 30-below zero day.
Larson, who has run about 35 marathons with a personal best of 2:41, said finishing that race was the toughest thing he has ever done.
"All my clothes froze to my chest and arms and I got frostbite on my wrists and face," he said. "I had to go to the burn center the next day to be treated. It was also very difficult for the support crews. That was the hardest day ever because of the pain and the freezing frostbite. Anybody who does that thing is a champion, as far as I'm concerned."
The champions in the eyes of most of the competitors are the support volunteers who stand outside in the usually frigid weather, filling water bottles and providing other food and drink for runners. Possibly no other race has competitors more appreciative of the volunteers than the Northwoods Snowshoe Marathon.
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"It's hard to beat the trails and the scenery," Cleary said. "But the race staff and the volunteers do it every year. ... It's one of the best-run races with the warmest staff and volunteers that any runner could ever want."
MARK STODGHILL covers public safety and courts. He can be reached weekdays at (218) 723-5333 or by e-mail at mstodghill@duluthnews.com .
