SCUM work crew move downed tree on N40

The warmer weather and winds have brought down gobs of snow from trees along the Birch Hill trails. It also brought down a good-sized white spruce on the lower section of the N40 trail.

Here are the SCUM heroes that moved it off the trail. Doing a good deed is easy when you’re still fatigued from the 30 km Frank Soos Distance Race on Sunday.

SCUM trail crew on N40–photo by Dan Johnson

Frank Soos Distance Race #3

Sunday’s Frank Soos Distance Race #3, The Unpleasantry turned out to be a tough tour on trails that were in immaculate condition at 9:00 a.m. before the 2 deg F snow started falling. The 70-year-old SCUM wave started at 10:00 a.m. when the PistenBully corduroy was still visible beneath the fluffy half inch of new snow. The tracks were ghastly slow so the three skiers on classical skis were skiing in the skate platform as were those of us who arrived with skate gear. The snow was absolutely lovely, but we didn’t see any lynx or moose tracks to distract us from our 3-lap tour of the White Cub and White Bear loops. Our tour took the “kid” among us 3:23:44.6, a full 1:34.16 behind FXC coach Jesse Wilkins. I had the opportunity to enjoy almost an hour more time on the White Bear than this “wannabe 70-year-old SCUM”.

A number of skiers didn’t start or finish because of illness, equipment failures, or better judgement than those of us who prevailed. A huge thanks to Chris Puchner, Pam Laker, Anna Sorensen and all the other volunteers who hung in there with smiles and encouragement. We really appreciated you.

Here are the results by distance:

https://zone4.ca/race/2023-02-19/647504b0/results