This year’s edition of the Jackson Jaunt was run on the Wentworth Golf course rather than the usual Wave Trails, due to no natural snow. JacksonXC’s staff worked hard to fabricate a 1km loop of machine-made snow for all to enjoy! During the awards Ellen Chandler noted the crew put in 50 hours of snowmaking and 25 hours of grooming to make the loop. For the first time in several years there were nice classic tracks for the event, which was really nice to see.
Skiers from all the New England states, New York and even Arizona gathered to enjoy the event. This included BKL, high school, college and masters skiers, including a solid group of M7s. Skiers were tested by relatively flat terrain and lap counting. There was little rest to be had and plenty of double poling. A couple skiers found the lap counting challenging – but they retraced their steps and finished the correct number and had a good laugh at the end of the day.
Given the shortage of snow, JacksonXC elected to run the race with starts between 7:30-8:30am, with the race effectively being done by 9:00am. This left lots of time in the day for racers to get more time on snow and for the non-racing public to get their fun in the sun and snow. The racers took advantage of the event to do plenty of social skiing on either side of their race. The field gathered in the lodge around 10am for awards – highlighted by a goodie table and group photo of the age group winners.