Photos from Dan Jardin, Report by Frank Gaval

Snowshoe Racers from across the USA took part in the 10th snowshoe championships at Highland State Forest near Syracuse, New York on Saturday. March 6th. There was a junior national 5km event and a citizen 5km also. But the highlight was the women's and men's 10km races. A total of 71 female competitors started the highly technical and demanding course which featured many ups and downs on very difficult snow. The finish was an extreme climb up a sledding hill. Several women who took part in the Nescopeck State Park Qualifier placed well. Janice Morra of Morristown, New Jersey, first at the Drums race was 8th at Nationals in 58:42. The 2nd and 3rd place females at the Pa. qualifier were 27th and 45th. They were Karla Eisch of Vestal,NY and Wendy Snyder of Wash. DC . There were 4 Pa. women in the race. On the male side a field of 131 began with the 3rd male from our Nescopeck State Park event Mike Daigeau of Philadelphia, placing 24th in 53:44. He was followed by the winner of the PA snowshoe race Gary Rosenberg of Morristown,New Jersey in 33rd covering the 10km in 57:53. Geordie Edmunston of Holidaysburg,Pennsylvania was 47th in 1:02. He had competed at Nescopeck also finishing 4th there. Along with these snowshoers, a number of Pa. runners took part in this national competition. Greg Luna (State College) was 50th in 1:03. Travis Cain (Williamsport) and Ed Myers(Obelisk) were 63rd and 67th running 1:08 and 1:10. Tunkhannock's Brian Thomas ran 1:11 to place 71st. Frank Gaval (Sugarloaf) and director of the PA qualifier at Nescopeck State Park finished 117th in 1:28. Complete results can be found at http://auyertiming.com. For more info on this fast growing winter sport check out snowshoeracing.com. Congratulations to all those who represented the state of Pennsylvania at the 2010 Snowshoe National Championships.