UPDATE: The White Pine Stampede is on!...minus the 50k...plus SNOW!
Thu, Feb 1, 2018 - By Mike Muha
Breaking news: SNOW!
NOAA Forecast:
- 3 inches today
- 3 inches tonight
- 1 inch on Friday
- 3 inches Friday night
- 3 inches Saturday
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The White Pine Stampede will be held this Saturday, February 3, 2018, but the snow draught has required that Race Director Jack McCaig and crew make multiple changes to the event.
First change: No point-to-point race this year. The January thaw impacted the race, with sections of the 50km trail especially hit hard. As a result, the 50km race has been officially cancelled.
Conditions also affected the 10km and 20km courses, particularly the section running from the Mancelona High School (traditional start for the race) to Schuss Mountain. There are also sections of ice, according to Jack McKaig, making certain sections too dangerous for racing.
What's left is some nice snow at Schuss Mountain. To manage the snow and course, officials are running the 10km and 20km races as laps on a 5.4km look [an earlier version of the article mentioned a 4.5km loop, but the loop was remeasured], with the start and finish lines near the Nordic Center at Schuss Mountain. There are also new start times:
- 9:30am: Start of "10km" race. Racers will ski two 5.4km loops (10.8km).
- 10:30am: Start of the "20km" race. Racers will ski four 5.4km loops (21.6km) - [the original article had 5 instead of 4 loops]
Registration the day of the race will tentatively be held at Ivan's. The Friday night registration will still be held in the lobby of the Lakeview Hotel at Shanty Creek. Participants may still also register online.
The Short's Cool Down Party and Awards Ceremony will still be held in the Bellaire Ballroom at Shanty Creek.
The pancake breakfast normally held at Mancelona High School before the race will also be cancelled.