A Community Event

A COMMUNITY EVENT

Release: October 26, 2007
From: John Brodhead
802-586-7767 x 26
johnbrod@Craftsbury.com

The TD Banknorth Craftsbury Marathon Race and Tour, organized by the Craftsbury Outdoor Center in Vermont, attracts 1000 cross-country skiers to the area the second Saturday after Martin Luther King Weekend each year. The event's success is largely attributable to the outpouring of support from the three communities through which it passes, Greensboro, Albany, and Craftsbury.

Local inns, Highland Lodge, Craftsbury Inn and Historic Craftsbury General Store pitch in to provide hearty home style food stops along the course. Sterling College with help from ELF opens its doors to feed hundreds of hungry people as they finish skiing fifteen or thirty miles. The Craftsbury Academy donates use of its gymnasium for registration and race day headquarters. The United Church of Craftsbury donates its basement for a pre race pasta dinner the night before. The Morrisville Vermont National Guard unit has volunteered to monitor the numerous road crossings. The Craftsbury Road Department clears snow from a huge field for parking hundreds of cars on race day. The Craftsbury Nordic Ski Club prepares and serves the pre race meal and helps with the event's timing and scoring. The local snowmobile clubs provide on-course safety working in conjunction with the Hardwick Rescue Squad. School students and Scout Troops from Craftsbury and other nearby communities help to hand out thousands of cups of steaming hot drinks along the course. Local businesses donate cash and merchandise prizes to reward each of the many participant categories.

This year local groups will be vying for special cash prizes awarded to the best and most creative of the seven food stations based on service, music, cheering, banners, and costume.

Last year one hundred and seventy volunteers helped before during and after the event. The Craftsbury Marathon donated over $7000 dollars to eleven nonprofit organizations in the area. Five hundred marathon participants came from fourteen provinces and states other than Vermont. The business community has enthusiastically greeted this influx of tourists who often stay for several days in the area and return in the future for a visit or vacation.

We hope that school classes, teams, booster clubs, service, church and fraternal organizations looking for fundraising opportunities will volunteer again for this event. Most importantly, the community comes together for a day of excitement and camaraderie in a beautiful winter setting with stories enough to last for an entire year.

Please contact John Brodhead at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center 802-586-7767 x 26 or email johnbrod@craftsbury.com if you or your organization is interested in sponsoring or volunteering for the marathon.