Women's Race

WOMEN'S RACE

Release October 27, 2007
From: John Brodhead
802-586-7767 x 26
johnbrod@craftsbury.com

This year the TD Banknorth Craftsbury Marathon will have a special race just for women. The marathon, presented by the Craftsbury Outdoor Center this winter on February 2, is a point-to-point cross-country ski race and tour with one thousand participants. Starting in Greensboro at the Highland Lodge the scenic 25 and 50-kilometer course traverses three Northeast Kingdom towns with sweeping hilltop vistas from the White Mountains of New Hampshire to the Green Mountains of Vermont and finishes on the quintessential Craftsbury Common village green.

Women, who make up nearly half of the Nordic skiing population, are often reluctant to go head to head with men in the rough and tumble of a mass start ski race. Typically women number only a quarter of the participants in big mass start ski events. This year women who wish to avoid a mixed start can join the special TD Banknorth Craftsbury Marathon Women's Race beginning15 minutes after the men at 9:15 AM. Last year one hundred and fifty women opted to join the special women's race and over three hundred opted to start in the low key touring event departing during a one-hour window from 9:35 to 10:30 AM.

Women have had nothing but praise for the new format, citing the lack of intimidation and mind games typical of mixed mass start cross-country ski races. Nearly half of the participants in the TD Banknorth Craftsbury Marathon are now women. Women can find out more about this event at the Craftsbury Marathon web site.