Endurance athlete Roddie Larson of Menasha remarked, “Running through the woods with the “layers” of hills and lights as I looked around was awesome, like a fairyland.  The shadows were almost artistic.  What a magical race….. “.

The idea was conceptualized over a year ago:  a snowshoe race at night on the lighted trails at the fabled Iola Winter Sports Club.  On the evening of Februrary 4 the event became reality as 60 snowshoers toed the line in the staging area just west of the lodge.  A waxing gibbous moon thew its beams of light through the forest.  Orion, Taurus and Pleiades lined up overhead in the wide finish corridor through the red pines.   Jason Ruesch (49:03) of Medford and Andrea Mueller (52:41) of Edgar flew over the undulating terrain to emerge as victors in the 10K.  Ruesch and Mueller each won a pair of Atlas Snowshoes for their performance.   

 John Brylski (50:47) of Appleton challenged Ruesch on the first loop, charging the hills, but Ruesch was relentless and pulled away just before half way point.  Dick Thompson of Iola finished third in 59:55.  Mueller went out hard and maintained a demanding pace, fending off top road racer Jennifer Chaudoir (54:49) ofGreen Bay.   Cheryl Corbeille (1:00:01) of Black Creek, a veteran of many Great Lakes Endurance events, finished third.  In the 5K Paula Liske (29:48) of Medford cruised to victory in the women’s division and was also the overall champion.  Her victory came despite a 30 Km ski in the morning.  Dave Landers (32:18) of Sobieski, WI was the men’s 5K winner.  Both Liske and Landers won Mountain Hardwear Down jackets for their winning efforts.  In the women’s 5K both Kelly Koller (32:09) of Clintonville and Sarah Brundidge (32:17) of Sun Prairie raced within sight of each other over the entire loop to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively.  In the men’s 5K, Tim White (32:44) of Kohler had his best race ever to finish second.  White owns Snowshoe Gear, an ecologically oriented snowshoe equipment company in Wisconsin.  Joe Corbeille (33:08) had a strong finished to cross the line in 3rd. Robbie Vater of Iola showed his fitness in the kid’s 800 meter race, finishing in 5:50  to claim victory.  He was being chased by Will Tappa (6:16), also of Iola and his little brother Charlie Vater (7:21).  Birikinesh Klinner of Wausau won the girl’s 800 meter race in 7:25.

The inaugural event attracted over 60 snowshoers, ages 5 to 74 from Wisconsin, Illinois, and Arizona.  The trail was fast and well groomed by Iola’s Phil Johnsrud.  Many racers had contacted Great Lakes Endurance prior to the race, concerned about the low snow conditions in the valley