Vermont Sports, April 2016

APRIL FUN IN KILLINGTON | VT'S BEST FLY-FISHERMAN | SPRING GEAR

VERMONT

SPORTS

FREE

New England’s Outdoor Magazine | vtsports.com | April 2016

GO FASTER,

STRONGER, & LONGER!

10 WINNING ADVENTURE DOGS!

50GREAT

SPRING EVENTS

Be first down the mountain again.

BE YOU AGAIN. THE RIGHT SPORTS MEDICINE PHYSICIAN CAN HELP. Our physicians provide comprehensive sports medicine care, no matter how complex the injury. Patients receive a course of treatment that’s ideally suited for them, built around the most advanced options available—whether operative, non-operative or a combination of both. So, if you live in the Burlington area, make an appointment with The University of Vermont Health Network’s sports medicine specialists at UVM Medical Center. To make an appointment, call (888) 974-9783.

UVMHealth.org/MedCenter/SportsMed

VERMONT

SPORTS

NEW ENGLAND’S OUTDOOR MAGAZINE ON THE COVER: Stephanie Firstbrook's winning photo of her adventure dog Ruby was taken in Ludlow in March.

PUBLISHER

Angelo Lynn - publisher@vtsports.com

EDITOR/CO-PUBLISHER

Lisa Lynn - editor@vtsports.com

STAFF WRITER

Evan Johnson - evan@vtsports.com

DESIGN & PRODUCTION

Shawn Braley - braley@gmail.com

ADVERTISING MANAGER

Christy Lynn - ads@vtsports.com

ADVERTISING SALES

Ben Hall ben.hall@vtsports.com | (603) 717-5496 Greg Meulemans greg@vtsports.com | (802) 366-0689 Dave Honeywell | (802) 583-4653 dave_golfhouse@madriver.com

April showers bring... paddlers to Bristol on April 16 for The New Haven Ledges Race. See story on pages 8-9. Photo by Evan Johnson

PRINTING & DISTRIBUTION

Lisa Razo - lisar@addisonindependent.com

DEPARTMENTS

GEAR & BEER EDITORS

FEATURES

MEDICAL ADVISORY BOARD

8 RAPIDS ON FIRE

Sue Halpern & Bill McKibben editor@vtsports.com Dr. Nathan Endres, Dr. David Lisle, Dr. James Slauterbeck —University of Vermont College of Medicine; Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Brian Mohr, Oliver Parini

EDITORIAL AND PRODUCTION OFFICE Vermont Sports | 58 Maple Street Middlebury, Vt. 05753 | 802-388-4944

Vermont Sports is independently owned and operated by Addison Press Inc., 58 Maple Street, Middlebury, Vt. 05753. It is published 9 times per year. Established in 1990.

Vermont Sports subscriptions in the U.S.: one year $25. Canada: US funds, please add $5 per year postage.

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Even though it has been a low snow-

pack year, Vermont's rivers are running strong. Here's where to find the best whitewater. By Evan Johnson

10 THE KING OF SPRING

April in Killington means you can do four seasons of sports in one day.

And then eat, drink and party like a

Plus, the winners of our Readers' Choice awards.

21 GET FASTER, BE

STRONGER AND GO LONGER

If you want to be ready to run or ride come May, your homework starts now. Three top coaches offer advice on how to get fit for spring: RunVermont's Jess Cover shares

rockstar at night. By Lisa Lynn

her training plan to help you set a

16 MEET OUR 2016

Vollers shows how to be century-ride

ADVENTURE DOGS

We asked, you delivered. Meet the

VERMONT SPORTS IS A PROUD MEMBER OF

Best Face shot and the Best Looking.

winners of our 2016 Adventure Dog Contest: the Best Action shot, the

personal best. Cycling coach Peter ready with just 40 minutes training a day. Yoga pro Lesley Ambika Biggs demonstrates her 6 favorite excercises to build core strength.

ADVERTISERS!

The deadline for the May issue of Vermont Sports is April 15.

Contact ads@vtsports.com today to reserve your space!

5 THE START It's a Dog's World. By Lisa Lynn

7 SPEAK UP Rebuilding Our Mountain Huts.

By Michael Snyder

12 GEAR & BEER The Best Gear for April Showers.

By Sue Halpern & Bill McKibben

14 HEALTH Are Kids Doing Too Many Sports?

By Dr. James Slauterbeck

28 READER ATHLETES Fly-Fishing Expert Jesse Haller; Paddler Catherine Hull

31 CALENDAR

50 Great Spring Events

34 ENDGAME

The Person our Dog Wants Us to Be.

By Evan Johnson

APRIL 2016 | VTSPORTS.COM 3

4 VTSPORTS.COM | APRIL 2016

THE START

IT'S A DOG'S WORLD “[Marley] taught me to appreciate the simple things—a walk in the woods, a fresh snowfall, a nap in a shaft of winter sunlight. And as he grew old and achy, he taught me about optimism in the face of adversity.” ― John Grogan, Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog

Y

ou might have noticed a few things different about this issue.

For one, Shawn Braley, who has designed Vermont Sports for more than a decade, did a fresh new logo and design. We love it and we hope you do too. The other thing? There's a dog on the cover. Why? It's our Adventure Dog

contest winner.

More than 65 percent of our readers own dogs and judging from the hundreds of passionately-worded contest entries, they are integral parts of your lives. They are the ones that get you out of bed early to go for a run, that snap at your (free) heels as you skin up a trail or chase you down on a mountain bike. They keep watch at your campsites, hike with you to the summit, skijor, swim, paddle, canoe and even sail with you. Often it’s our dogs who are taking us out to exercise, not us taking the dogs out.

Dogs are in fact, the perfect sports companions: they are always ready to go out, never forget their gear, nearly always keep up and rarely complain— unless you call a yowl and a whimper complaining.

Here at Vermont Sports, our offices are filled with dogs: Christy Lynn, our ad manager, belongs to an Australian sheepdog mix named Trudy.

A gorgeous white Huskie named Lucille is business manager Elsie Parini’s master. Ava, a 10-week-old treeing Coonhound/Pit Bull mix came to the office the other day with our newest employee, Ben Hall. There are six or seven other canines in the building—all part of our extended family.

When you lose part of your family, it hurts. For Evan Johnson, our staff writer, losing his 15-yearold Labrador Retriever, Winnie, this winter was a blow he writes movingly about in Endgame. “It’s not just that I miss Winnie,” Evan quotes his father as saying. “It’s that I miss the person that your dog requires you to be.”

Evan lived up to Winnie. As Evan notes, if we all lived up to what our dogs expected of us, the world would be a better place. —Lisa Lynn, Editor

THIS ISSUE’S MVP: EVAN JOHNSON

NAME: Evan Johnson TOWN: Brandon, Vt. WORKS AS: Staff Writer, Vermont Sports FAVORITE HIKE: Jerusalem Trail to Mount Ellen FAVORITE BEER: Long Trail Limbo IPA DOESN'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT: Camera, extra socks TRAINING FOR: Middlebury Maple Half Marathon

APRIL 2016 | VTSPORTS.COM 5

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Ya, ol' man winter never showed up.

Don't matter. Meat here and git yo drank on.

SPEAK UP

REBUILDING VERMONT'S MOUNTAIN HUTS SOMETIMES WE DON'T FULLY

APPRECIATE WHAT

WE HAVE UNTIL WE LOSE IT.

BY MICHAEL SNYDER

L

ast December, when the Mt. Mansfield Stone Hut was destroyed by fire there was a massive reaction on social media. Skiers, riders and outdoor enthusiasts of all stripes shared memories of winter nights spent in the hut’s simple bunks and snapshots looking out its windows across the Green Mountains.

In the months since the hut burned, many people have volunteered both time and money to rebuild it. Those efforts are appreciated and the Stone Hut will be rebuilt, thanks to a significant financial commitment from the responsible parties and fundraising done via the Vermont Parks Forever foundation. Optimism reigns.

But it’s not the only mountain shelter that deserves our support and attention.

At present, 10 of Vermont’s 52 state parks feature cabins, excellent alternatives to tent camping, and many with views of ponds or lakes.

There are more than 60 shelters along Vermont’s Long Trail, the oldest long-distance hiking trail in America.

Some are simple tent platforms or lean-to structures. But others, like the U.S. Forest Service’s Skyline Lodge (near the shores of Skylight Pond in the Breadloaf Wilderness) sleep up to 14 and the Green Mountain Club’s Taft Lodge can sleep 24. These “lodges” are maintained by caretakers and volunteers and are supported by endowments from organizations and private citizens.

The Stone Hut on Mt. Mansfield will be rebuilt, but it's not the only one that needs our attention.

Photo courtesy Vermont State Parks.

This past winter, the Green Mountain Club began a fundraising drive to restore the historic Bolton Lodge and Bryant Camp near Bolton Valley and both are expected to be opened again for winter use.

More than just cabins or waypoints along the trails or in the woods, these and other huts help Vermonters and visitors gain a greater appreciation of and access to all the Green Mountains offer. They are key elements in Vermont's great tradition of vigorous outdoor life.

Imagine a hut system similar to Colorado’s 10th Mountain Division huts or the Maine Huts and Trails system where you could spend a weekend or weeks hiking or skiing from one hut to the next.

With the increase in approved backcountry ski glading and trail maintenance on state and federal lands, (and the great work that organizations such as the Backcountry Alliance, Rochester Area Sports Trail Alliance, the Catamount Trail Association, the Green Mountain Club and others have done) the vision of a hut-to-hut trail system with yearround access may not be far off.

But building and maintaining our huts and parks takes time, money and collaboration. Ever since Vermont’s first state park, Mt. Philo, was donated to the state in 1924, our department has worked closely with conservationminded donors to protect and enhance Vermont’s most treasured scenic, productive and wild places and to encourage appropriate access to them. We’d like to keep up that tradition.

Michael Snyder is the Commissioner, Vermont Department of Forest, Parks and Recreation as well as a forester, skier, hiker and avid outdoorsman.

Eds. Note: If you loved the Stone Hut and want to help rebuild both that hut and Vermont’s other buildings and parks, consider contributing to VermontParksForever.net.

LIGHTWEIGHT, FUNCTIONAL & PERFORMANCE ORIENTED HEADWEAR FOR ALL CONDITIONS SUN | WATER | RUN

WWW.CHAOSHATS.COM

APRIL 2016 | VTSPORTS.COM 7

Eric Adsit pops into "The Toaster" (a.k.a Bartlett Falls) during last year's New Haven Ledges Race in Bristol.

Photo by Evan Johnson

RAPIDS ON FIRE

RYAN MCCALL MAKES THE CALL ON WHERE TO RUN RIVERS THIS SPRING.

I

f Ryan McCall, director at-large for the Vermont Paddlers Club, has any advice for paddlers looking to run Vermont’s creeks and rivers this spring, it’s this: Hope for rain.

Spring flows are dependent on two factors: snow melt and spring rains. This year, Vermont missed out on a snowy winter, meaning that precipitation will have to supply the conditions.

“Hopefully we’ll have a wet spring,” McCall says, “We’ve been running higher than our usual state average by a magnitude of about five inches for the past several years. There’s a pretty good chance we’ll be boating.”

Rain can be localized so sometimes it can be sunny in the valleys and raining enough in the mountains to get the rivers running hard. McCall and his buddies rely on a word-of-mouth network around the state to let each other know what’s running. In addition to the emails and texts that start flying when conditions are right, McCall checks charts from water gauges from the USGS on all the rivers around the state, available at waterdata.usgs.gov.

These readings can be compared with river descriptions and advice from American Whitewater (americanwhitewater.org). During the thaws and the rains, a number of rivers have predictable flows.

Here are some of McCall’s favorites for this spring. —Evan Johnson

8 VTSPORTS.COM | APRIL 2016

MAD RIVER

McCall says this river has more boatable days per year than any other river in the state and is still runable even when low. After putting in near the Sugarbush Access Road, enjoy Class I and II rapids between Warren and Waitsfield during normal flows. For more of a challenge, look for the rapid known as “Butternut” near Butternut Hill Road.

Take out when you get to Waitsfield.

GIHON RIVER

Flowing from Whitcomb Island Rd. in Hyde Park to Johnson, Vt. the Gihon’s two sections — an upper and a lower— offer solid Class IV and V waters for strong paddlers. The upper portion starts with a

GREAT OUTDOORS

25-foot dam followed by several Class IV ledges and rapids, culminating with Mustang, a three-stage rapid that shoots through a narrow gorge. A mile of calm flatwater separates the upper from the lower portion, where the daring can tackle a two-stage rapid called Bed-Head. Paddlers use the gauge on the nearby Lamoille River (check the waterdata. usgs.gov site) to know when to run. Water levels on the Gihon rise and fall faster than the Lamoille, so when water is going up or down on the Lamoille, you can bet the Gihon is already ahead.

NEW HAVEN RIVER

Another consistent favorite, the “Ledges” on the New Haven in Bristol is popular for an after-work paddle. From the put-in on the side of Lincoln

Road, negotiate boulder gardens before shooting over the ledges. More boulder rapids follow before culminating with The Toaster, a dramatic 15-foot drop. Pull out is shortly after the final big drop. If you want to watch some of the state's top paddlers in action, the Bristol section of the New Haven is the site of the New Haven Ledges Race, scheduled for April 16.

WELLS RIVER

This mile-long stretch near Groton and Wells River Village features four Class IV and V rapids in quick succession with lots of features to keep your attention in between steep drops and narrow chutes. Thorough scouting and careful picking lines will be needed to avoid damaging your craft or

yourself. Put in is on Old Farm Road in Wells River,.

Take out is a mile downriver before the lower dam.

MISSISSQUOI RIVER

The Mississquoi River in northern Vermont is a source for big river fun. Thanks to an agreement with dam operators on the river, when water levels get high following a rainstorm, paddlers can anticipate releases. The Sheldon Spring Rapids deliver solid Class IV and V rapids that can be pushed to un-runable levels. From after the dam in Sheldon Springs, keep an eye out for Tetanus Shot and Big Shot—the two largest rapids to negotiate early in the run. The take out is just about a mile downriver.

APRIL 2016 | VTSPORTS.COM 9

ADVENTURE TOWN

THE

KING OF

SPRING

IN APRIL IN KILLINGTON YOU

CAN PLAY FOUR SEASONS OF SPORTS IN ONE DAY.

BY LISA LYNN Swoops, banks and berms make Killington Resort's growing trail network a blast. The town also plans to begin work on a network of trails (see map) this spring that could eventually connect the Killington and Pittsfield trails. Photo by Chandler Burgess/Killington Resort

T

he King of Spring does not walk, he saunters. He wears only sunglasses, a tight pair of blue skivvies, and ski boots. His gold chains say “Jersey” and his sly smile screams, “hey now.” His skis are straight.

The King of Spring, a character

in Killington Mountain Resort’s web video series, is everything we love (and sometimes hate) about the state’s largest ski resort: The King is bold, he’s brash, he’s cheesy. But, hey now, he sure is a lot of fun to party with.

Come April, as other resorts are shutting down, Killington embraces its

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Killington Community Bike Trail Project Phase 1 Trails

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(and some not-so-good ones) in a head-to-head bump off. But that’s not the end to skiing. Thanks to an aresnal of snow guns, the snow is likely to hold out until May. Or at least in time for the Killington Triathlon on April 30.

After that, you only have a month before the Killington Stage Race sends up-and-coming pros like Ansel Dickey and Brendan Rhim (both graduates of the Killington Mountain School cycling program) on some of the toughest climbs and most scenic roads in the region.

For mountain bikers, Killington has been upping the ante and is in phase two of a five-year mountain bike park expansion. Already there’s lift-served terrain with more than 2,000 vertical downhill trails featuring berms, banks and swoopy, flowy switchbacks, and that’s just the

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inner cheese like puff pastry baked on a wheel of Brie. Just off the trails, the Umbrella Bars are in full swing, live music blares from every deck. As part of the Vermont Tourism Conference, the Killington K1 Base Lodge hosts the statewide Bartender’s Competition on April 12 (brought to you by Hotel VT and our sister publication, VT Ski + Ride), and pond skimming goes off on April 16.

But beyond the beer-infused tailgate and grill parties, there’s another side of Killington that shines in April: it’s the fact that some of the most hard-core athletes in the state call this area home.

Olympic medalist Donna Weinbrecht hosts a mogul clinic on April 2. A week later, the infamous Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge sends some of the region’s best amateurs

160 0 ft Lakewood Dr

Legend 16 Proposed Trailhead Parking Area 00

Scenic Points off tInterest Boardwalks

Phase 1 Introductory Loop (0.9 mi) Phase 1 Beginner Trails (1.1 mi)

Kent Pond

Phase 1 Intermediate Trails (2 mi) Phase 2 Intermediate Trails (2.6 mi)

Brooke Scatchard January 13, 2015 www.sinuosity.net

Public Hiking Trails Green Mountain National Forest

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10 VTSPORTS.COM | APRIL 2016

Gifford Woods State Park

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Miles 0.2

The King of Spring (who is played by none other than Killington web marketer and photographer Chandler Burgess) embodies everything we've come to love about Killington. Photo courtesy Killington Resort.

LOCAL'S KNOWLEDGE

Killington may be one of the few places in the East where you can have four seasons in one day. With an early spring the Green Mountain National golf course is scheduled to open April 1. Photo courtesy GMN/Killington Town.

beginning: the resort plans to keep expanding this park and trails.

In addition, the town of Killington is ready to begin the first of a three-phase mountain bike trail build out that could result in more than 100 miles of trails and, eventually, link Killington Resort trails with town trails and the Green Mountain Trails in Pittsfield. The hope is to start construction on the first phase this spring.

For now, the trails may be a little muddy but if you can get out to Pittsfield (just 8 miles north of Killington) plan to ride or hike the Green Mountain Trails (www.gmtrails.org).

Call ahead to make a dinner reservation at The Backroom at the Pittsfield General Store.

The restaurant is run by Kevin Lasko, an obstacle course racer and former chef at New York’s Park Avenue and his partner Katie Stiles. Ever since The New York Times reviewed it this past February and called it “a dining experience that feels like New England’s coolest dinner party,” it’s not

easy to get a table.

The Red Clover Inn in Mendon is another good dinner destination with farm-fresh produce and a seasonal menu, and a visit to the Long Trail Inn (just off the Long Trail) is a must. But if you don’t want to drive far from the resort, there’s plenty to keep you satiated on the mountain’s access road (try sushi at Sushi Yoshi or oysters at The Foundry) but call ahead because some restaurants and hot spots like the Wobbly Barn may have closed for the spring season.

If the weather holds up, it’s possible to play four seasons of sports in one day. Get up early and fly-fish with Greg and Kim Newton of Blue Ridge Outfitters (blueridgeoutfitters.com). Make some laps on the snow-covered mountain trails. Go for a road (or, trails permitting) mountain bike ride and then hit a few golf balls. The Green Mountain National golf course is hoping to open April 1 this year.

And while the King of Spring may not be there to challenge you, there are plenty of core local athletes who will.

P

olly Lynn is the editor of Killington’s The Mountain Times newspaper. She’s also been a top contender in Killington’s ski bum league and last October, won The Fittest Bride, an event put on by Spartan Race founder Joe De Sena where the top prize was a wedding at Riverside Farm. Polly and her fiancé and business partner Jason Mikula were married there on April 2.

1) FAVORITE PLACE FOR AN APRÈSSKI OR APRÈS-BIKE

Lookout Bar and Grill at the top of Killington Road is a great place for après ski or bike.

Their outside upstairs deck on a sunny day is hard to beat!

2) FAVORITE FISHING HOLE

Kent Pond and Colton Pond are beautiful little lakes off Route 100, pack a picnic and watch the sunset from the banks or from your canoe.

3) BEST ADRENALINE RUSH

Road biking down East Mountain Road in the off-season with no traffic, it’s super steep, winding and long!

4) FAVORITE APRIL EVENT

Hands down the Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge! The tailgating is huge and people show up with full on barbecues under tents.

5) FAVORITE LOOP BIKE RIDE (ROAD)

There’s a 30-mile loop from Killington to Plymouth that’s fairly flat on well-paved roads with a decent shoulder for most of the ride.

Park at the Killington Visitor Center, bike east on Route 4 to the intersection of Route 100a, just past the Long Trail Brewery. Turn right (south) and follow 100a to Plymouth where the road intersects with Route 100.

Turn right (north) and continue until it intersects with Route 4 at First Stop Board Shop. Turn left (west) and continue back to the Welcome Center.

Sending it is the name of the game at the annual Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge where the action on the hill is only half the fun: the tailgate parties are just as rowdy. Photo by Chandler Burgess/Killington Mountain Resort.

APRIL 2016 | VTSPORTS.COM 11

GEAR

READY FOR APRIL (SHOWERS)?

THE BEST NEW GEAR FOR THE TRANSITION SEASON WILL KEEP YOU WARM, DRY AND READY FOR ANY WEATHER.

BY SUE HALPERN AND BILL MCKIBBEN

Lowe’s Renegade GTX Mid hiking boot

Columbia OutDry ExDiamond Shell

I

f you’ve been feeling like you need more effective rain gear, you have science to back you up. Because warm air holds more water vapor than cold, with climate change big rains are now more common across the East—71 percent more common, to be scientific about it. That’s why road crews are ripping out old culverts and putting in bigger ones—and that’s why you might need to rip up some of your leaky outdoor gear and try something new.

We’ve been hearing about a couple of alternative fabrics to the nowstandard GoreTex, and the best thing we can say about this rainy winter is that we’ve had ample opportunities to put them to the test.

First up: OutDry, a technology that claims to be “absolutely waterproof,

12 VTSPORTS.COM | APRIL 2016

highly breathable, and guaranteed.” To put the “absolutely waterproof” claim to the test, we went for a hike in a pair of Columbia Titanium OutDry trail shoes ($135), making sure to step in every puddle we encountered.

Four miles later the shoes were covered in mud, but our socks and feet were cozy and dry. Then, to simulate slipping during a stream crossing, we slipped during a stream crossing—really, it was on purpose—and watched the water flow over, not into, the toebox. The shoes are comfortable, too, with sticky soles, good for walking on wet rocks.

Columbia has also incorporated OutDry into its OutDry ExDiamond Shell ($400) and pants and here, too, it performs as advertised. And, because the waterproof layer is embedded in

the fabric, it will not degrade over time like so many rain jackets do. The shell fabric here is heavy-duty, with an old-school rubber slicker feel on the outside, which makes its ability to wick moisture from the inside all the more impressive.

The perfect cool-weather underlayer for a shell (or outer layer when it’s dry) is Ibex Climawool ($239) jacket. It weds a wind- and water-resistant polyester shell to a merino wool liner, and the result is a jacket that moves well, wicks well, regulates temperature well and, well, makes you look like an even better runner/hiker or biker than you are.

Plus, it’s a Vermont brand.

We've read rave reviews about Lowe’s Renegade GTX Mid

($230) hiking boot from border patrol agents (they do a lot of walking), soldiers in Afghanistan, and hardened backpackers. But could this hiking boot stand up to the mud, rocks and roots of Vermont’s Moosalamoo Wilderness?

The short answer: yes. Wading through shallow streams, the leather upper and waterproof, breathable and seamless GoreTex liner keeps your feet dry without being clammy. The Vibram Evo sole is super grippy on mossy rocks and the upper gives good ankle support.

The best part? This is a light (2 lbs. 7 oz), flexible boot, higher than most mid-boots with a lot of support and protection (thanks to the full-length Nylon shank). The downsides? Cost, and, one pet peeve, the laces seem to always slip loose.

Ibex Climawool jacket Columbia Titanium OutDry shoes

Sea to Summit TPU Audio Waterproof Smartphone Case

The next most important thing to keeping you dry is keeping your cell phone dry. While there are many expensive hard cases on the market that claim to be (mostly) waterproof, the Sea to Summit TPU Audio Waterproof Smartphone Case ($29.95) actually lists as a recommended use: “Swimming.” Thanks to its dry-bag roll top, it meets the IPX8 testing standards of being waterproof submerged up to 10 meters for 1 hour. We didn’t try that but our iPhone did survive 30 minutes in shallow part of Lake Dunmore.

As a bonus, this case fits many phones and has an audio jack so you can keep your headphones on while running.

The one downside: while you can use the touch screen easily, the plastic is not clear enough for taking photos.

BEER BURLINGTON BEER COMPANY’S HEDGEROW BARLEYWINE

I

f your throat is as dry as your midsection, then head to Mule Bar in Winooski—not far from the waterfalls along the river, first

dammed by Ira Allen himself. It’s a comfortable place in the newly trendy downtown. Have yourself a bowl of poutine to put back the calories you’ve lost in the woods or on the bike and for fluid replacement consider Burlington Beer Company’s Hedgerow Barleywine. It’s aged with red wine grapes from Fresh Tracks vineyards in Berlin, so the normal malty caramel sweetness of the style merges with brighter notes from the grapes. The brewers themselves say it will unleash a “typhoon of flavor,” but given what you’re wearing, no need to worry about that.

APRIL 2016 | VTSPORTS.COM 13

HEALTH

HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?

ARE KIDS SPENDING TOO MUCH TIME TRAINING FOR A SINGLE SPORT?

W

hen I was growing up, earning three varsity letters in three different sports or participating in the heptathlon was a prized endeavor. So was generalizing in multiple sports. Nowadays, there is a trend toward early specialization in a single sport or even a single position, as in the best goalie, the best center, the best shortstop.

Today, indoor soccer fields, basketball courts and hockey rinks are booked year-round for competition and practice. Our role models are athletes like Michael Phelps and Mia Hamm who began very competitive careers well before puberty.

How, as parents, do we balance a young athlete’s desire to be the best high school, college or professional athletes and with the knowledge that his or her chances of being a star are slim? Statistics demonstrate that only about one percent of high school athletes go on to participate in college sports and about one percent of college athletes make it to the professional level.

And if a kid is determined to be a sports star, is specialization or generalization a better pathway?

Supporters of specialization in a single sport often state that early focus in a single sport will increase skills and help one develop better in that chosen sport than participating in multiple sports. Single sport advocates often define success by the number of athletes who become members of the elite traveling, high school or college teams.

Supporters of multi-sport athletes believe that exposing children to diverse skills and sports while they are young helps them develop as a wellrounded athlete. That athlete will take these diverse skills and talents into high school and be able to compete with their peers because of the assorted

14 VTSPORTS.COM | APRIL 2016

Even though your kid may want to play more soccer than David Beckham, getting him involved in multiple sports rather than just one could help prevent injuries.

motor skills and strategies they learned. Tim Tebow, for example, was homeschooled and played in many youth sports and activities before he went on to become a Heisman Trophy winner as a college quarterback.

In either case, too much of any one sport or too many sports played at one time puts a young athlete with an immature body at risk for a single traumatic injury or overuse injuries. Moderation is probably the best practice in either case.

One of the problems I see with young athletes who specialize in a single sport early in life is that it places them at high risk for injury. For example, in the past, athletes played soccer or football in the fall, basketball in the winter and baseball or track in the spring and had the summer off.

The risk of injury in each sport is very different and even alternates from shoulder and elbow to knee and ankle. This gives the body time to adapt to the changes of loads being placed upon it. And that’s important because injuries are often seen at growth plates and in growing bones, ligaments and joints.

On the other hand, simply playing many sports won’t reduce your risk of injury either. Today’s young athletes can play baseball, lacrosse and soccer during the same season and somehow find the time to practice all sports throughout the week.

But they are often plagued by overuse injuries such

as stress fractures, which occur when the body isn’t allowed enough rest.

In my opinion, one of the best ways to decrease the risk of injury is to participate in different sports.

However, if your kid really wants to specialize early, consider working with him or her on skills but limiting scrimmage and games in the off season.

You might want to stick to only one practice per day.

For example, skip participating in both a soccer and a lacrosse practice.

Most of all, our younger athletes should have fun at sports and enjoy their experiences. A healthy active lifestyle begins in childhood and is a good lifelong learning habit.

Dr. James Slauterbeck played football at Arizona State and is still active in many sports, especially cycling. He works with many young athletes as part of his practice as an orthopaedic surgeon in South Burlington. He is an Associate Professor of Orthopaedics in the Department of Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation at the University of Vermont College of Medicine.

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APRIL 2016 | VTSPORTS.COM 15

VERMONT

SPORTS

2016

ADVENTURE

DOG WINNERS

W

16 VTSPORTS.COM | APRIL 2016

hen we sent out the call this year for our annual Vermont Sports Adventure Dog contest we had no idea the reaction it would provoke.

Everyone wanted to tell us about their best friends. We heard about sled dogs who had been the only companions on solo four-day treks in Quebec and dogs trained in avalanche rescue.

We heard about dogs who are accompanying their owners on roundthe-world trips and that have throughhiked the Appalachian Trail.

As readers shared our contest on Facebook, hundreds of entries poured in from around the world, including Austria, France and Croatia. All were eligible for our Reader’s Choice awards, but only Vermont dogs could win the top three spots.

In the end, after narrowing the entries down to finalists in each category, we asked you, our readers, to help vote on your favorites. Then, we chose the three top winners as well as the Reader’s Choice in each category.

All will receive prizes from Ruffwear Performance Dog Gear.

If you didn’t win or didn’t get a chance to enter, don’t worry: entries that didn’t win are automatically entered in next year’s contest.

In 2017, we will also have a video category so get your cameras rolling and start submitting your Adventure Dogs now at VTSports.com/VTS AdventureDog2017.

2016 ADVENTURE DOG CONTEST

VERMONT

SPORTS

ACTION SHOT 1. COOPER (left) Cooper, Amanda House’s Viszla, does pretty much everything his owner does around the Mad River Valley. He skis, fishes and mountain bikes with Amanda and her husband. He was even a groomsman in their wedding. But one of the things he loves best is swimming.

Amanda caught him in this amazing action shot jumping for a catch in the Mad River.

2. NEWT (right) The best place to find Stowe photographer Mike Hitelman is in the backcountry of Mt. Mansfield. That’s where he got this shot of his Viszla, Newt, charging the fresh pow.

“There is something pretty special about spending time in the backcountry with your pup, especially when you realize he loves fresh snow as much as you do!” Mike says.

READER’S CHOICE: MILEY 3. HANNAH Silvia Cassano of Bennington submitted this photo she took of Hannah, her friend’s Lab/Pointer mix, running across a frozen Lake Willoughy. “I have Nordic skied with Hannah and mountain biked and hiked with her in the Sierra and in Vermont,” writes Silvia. “My best Vermont adventure is biking with her wherever the trails take.”

Nicole Truskey’s English Lab, Miley, loves to swim. Before moving to North Carolina, Nicole would regularly take her on long walks at High Point State Park near her home in New Jersey or let her play in the pool.

“She gets so excited when I even say the word ‘swimming,’” says Nicole.

APRIL 2016 | VTSPORTS.COM 17

VERMONT

SPORTS

2016 ADVENTURE DOG CONTEST

FACE SHOT

1. FROOME (left) A Siberian Husky and sled dog in the Lake Elmore Peace Pups kennel, Froome is one of Ken Haggett’s companions on adventures such as a four-day sled trip to Quebec. “We camped out with the dogs,” Haggett remembers. “It was so amazing to be out in the Canadian wilderness with no one around other than Froome and 13 of my other best friends.”

2. NELLIE While Tom Weaver, the editor of the University of Vermont’s alumni magazine Vermont Quarterly, submitted several shots of Nellie doing what she loves best—jumping off a dock—this image truly says “Best Face Shot.” Nellie is an English Cocker Spaniel, field bred, from Kirby Mountain Kennels in East Burke. “We're not hunters, so, unfortunately, she doesn't get to do her thing that way, but she gets a lot for exercise running with me and my wife, Sheila,” Tom says. He adds: “She is very speedy and has a motor that can go forever. I remember doing one long hike in Nebraska Notch and heading back to the car. She stood at the trailhead and looked back at me like, ‘Really, that's all you got?"

READER’S CHOICE: FRANKIE Taylor Tromp’s Italian Greyhound Frankie captured a lot of hearts.

“Frankie loves to hike and explore the mountains and the falls,” says Taylor, who lives in Sugar Hill, Georgia. She adds, “He is almost always leading the way and loves to cool off in the streams. He is the perfect hiking partner and always seems to have one eye on the trail and one eye on me.”

18 VTSPORTS.COM | APRIL 2016

3. BANDIT If you have ever hiked, biked or skied on the new Sports Trails of the Ascutney Basin (STAB) network, you might have to thank Bandit. “Bandit is a regular on the grooming crew at Ascutney Trails, keeping the network in shape for fat biking, snowshoeing, and winter trail running,” writes the Husky's owner, Michael Bell of West Windsor.

BEST LOOKING

2016 ADVENTURE DOG CONTEST

VERMONT

SPORTS

1. RUBY

2. HUMPHREY

Stephanie Firstbrook got our cover shot of her Sharpei/Lab mix Ruby in Ludlow, Vt., in March. “She loves all outdoor activities and will spend hours playing and exploring in the woods during the winter months,” says Stephanie. “She is just so much fun to have on all of our outdoor adventures—especially hiking and kayaking.”

Lauren Traister takes Humphrey, a Golden Retriever/Great Pyrenees mix, everywhere with her, no matter if it’s skiing near her home in Morrisville or exploring a swimming hole in Maine. “As soon as my SUP is in the water he walks right on to it and takes his position up front,” says Lauren. “We paddle almost every day from May to October at Green River Reservoir. It's his favorite thing to do when we aren't hiking and ski touring through the forest.”

READER'S CHOICE: ALICE Alice, Alina Blochlinger’s Border Collie, won our Reader’s Choice hands down with more than 800 votes. Alina, an avid skier, lives in the Austrian ski town of Kitzbühel, an area that’s perfect for hiking in the summer. “With Alice I hike do obedience training, dog frisbee, and skijöring.” Alice also gets to travel: this photo was taken on the beach in Italy.

3. TENNEY If Lauren Ayotte’s yellow Lab Tenney looks tuckered in this photo, don’t blame her. The shot was taken after a long hike up Pemetic Mountain in Maine’s Acadia National Park. While Lauren and Tenney live in Fayston, they like to explore New England. One of Lauren’s favorite adventures with Tenney was a day trip to ski Mt. Washington. “We skinned up Mt. Monroe, took a snack break at Lake of the Clouds Hut, did four laps in Oakes Gulf and then one long ski out of Monroe Brook,” she remembers. “Tenney had one long nap in the car back to Vermont!”

APRIL 2016 | VTSPORTS.COM 19

20 VTSPORTS.COM | APRIL 2016

FASTER

Kasie Enman by Oliver Parini.

STRONGER

LONGER Brendan Rhim courtesy Giant

IF YOU WANT TO SET A PERSONAL

RECORD, RIDE A GRAN FONDO OR SIMPLY BUILD THE MUSCLES THAT

CAN HELP KEEP YOU INJURY-FREE, YOUR HOMEWORK STARTS NOW.

APRIL 2016 | VTSPORTS.COM 21

RUN FASTER!

ARE YOU READY TO RUN FASTER THAN EVER THIS SEASON? RUNVERMONT COACH JESS COVER SHOWS HOW TO STEP UP THE PACE.

“It’s not enough to run the same distance at the same pace,” Cover says. “You’ll need to do runs with different speeds and distances.” The length and pace of those runs will be relative to the race or distance you’re training for. For someone training for a 10K, a short run will be three miles and a long run will be eight, but for a marathoner, a short versus long run will be entirely different.

You’ll also want to change the variety of terrain you’re running on; runners in Burlington will need to get away from the flat-as-pancake bike path while runners accustomed to steep hills will want to head to a local high school track for a workout.

HEAD FOR THE HILLS

Hills can hurt, but for runners looking to turn up the intensity, the neighborhood “heartbreak hill” can be a new favorite training tool. A sample workout involving a local hill looks like this: n 15 to 20 minutes of easy running on flat terrain for a warm-up. n 30 seconds hard running up the hill and jog back down. n 60 seconds hard running up before descending. n 90 seconds hard running up, before descending.

Photo by Evan Johnson

F

or Jess Cover, any weather is running weather.

When she’s not working in her lakeside office at RunVermont, where she manages marketing and communications, she’s putting in the miles. In addition to her work for RunVermont, she’s also a certified U.S.A Track & Field Level II endurance coach. For the past ten years, she has been working with novice and experienced runners to help them achieve their goals of going faster or longer.

Cover says breaking through a speed barrier doesn’t have to be all suffering and no payoff. With a little planning, diligence and patience, you could be just a few workouts away from smashing your previous PR. Here, Cover gives her advice on how to get a faster finish time by changing up your routine and increasing mileage and intensity. —Evan Johnson

GET CONSISTENT

Cover’s first tip for running faster is one of the most frequently shared in running circles: “Don’t take the winters off,” she says. “For successful runners, consistency is key if you want to improve and prevent injuries.” Even when the weather is cold and wet, keep running a minimum of two days a week. That base will serve you well as you look to ramp up your efforts. Create a run calendar that works for your schedule and put it on your wall or in your phone.

RESPECT THE 10-PERCENT RULE

When you’ve established a schedule for your runs and you’re ready to begin increasing your distance or intensity, follow a slow and steady upward trend. “If you’re running three times a week for 20 minutes, your next step is to add time or distance to one of those runs while keeping the other two short,” she says. To minimize the risk of injury, that increase should never be more than 10 percent of the previous distance and time.

22 VTSPORTS.COM | APRIL 2016

SHAKE IT UP

Beginner runners can follow these four steps for the entire workout. Intermediate or advanced runners can follow a “ladder” and work their way back down the interval times, starting with 90 and ending with 30. Then try going back up for repeated sets.

In addition to a great aerobic workout, hill workouts also force your body into a correct running form. “They get your body into the right position to use all the muscle groups,” she says.

DO THE BODY WORK

In addition to your running workouts, cross training in the gym will help improve fitness, prevent injuries and generally keep you from getting bored. Cover says some of the best strength exercises for runners emphasize core strength, balance and glute activation. These exercises don’t require any weights and should be done at home in at least two 20-minute sessions every week. Some suggestions include: Bridges: Lie on the floor on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor, about hip-width apart.

Keep your feet in a comfortable position, not too close to your hips and not too far away. Keeping your torso flat, press your feet into the floor as your raise your hips. Hold this position before relaxing and bringing your hips slowly back down to the floor.

Planks: Get into a press position like you would for a pushup. Your body should form a straight line from shoulders to ankles. Bend your elbows and rest your weight on your forearms. Engage your core while you hold this position.

Lunge matrix: Do a combination of forward, backward, sideways and diagonal lunges.

SET A GOAL

Cover says it’s not enough to simply train and get faster. For the extra bit of encouragement, give yourself something to train for—be it a certain time in a 5K race or your first half marathon. Once you’ve paid your registration fee and marked your calendar you don’t have any other choice but to get out and run.

GO LONGER!

A

pril is the cruelest month. On the first 60-degree day of the season, it’s tempting to pull on shorts and a jersey, hop on the bike and, after a long winter, get lost in the euphoria of spinning wheels on pavement.

On those first rides, we tend to go out long and hard. Why not? We’ve been skiing all season and our legs feel great. And the first century ride is only 45 days away. Then, our bodies start to punish us. A hamstring gets pulled, a cough starts, after an hour you’re shivering because you didn’t dress warmly enough and your body rebels. In short, you weren’t prepared.

Here, Woodstock's Peter Vollers, who has coached emerging pro riders Ansel Dickie (with Vollers, at right) and Brendan Rhim, shares his spring training regimen. —Lisa Lynn

BUILD STRENGTH

Some people don’t ride at all in the winter. Others obsessively spin indoors competing with strangers on Zwift. I like to take a balanced, and somewhat old school approach.

You can spin all winter and spring and be in great aerobic shape, but after your first 30-mile ride you feel like a train wreck. Your back aches, your neck hurts, and your arms are sore. I like to set out a schedule of 40 minutes of strength training in the gym, three days a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The workouts focus on arms, legs and core. As you start to go harder, it’s important to add reps, not weights.

I warm up spinning or running on the treadmill for about 10 minutes or until I am glistening with sweat. Then, I do three sets of 20-30 reps each, setting the weight so I do each set to near exhaustion.

The first set may be 30 reps, the second one maybe 25 and the third might be 20 reps or a few less.

n Legs: Legs lifts, leg presses, leg extensions, leg curls, calf presses n Core: Abs workouts, back strengthening, neck raises n Arms: Work your arms and upper body using light weights, bench presses, and free weights When I was younger, I used to just wreck myself in workouts, but in my late thirties I tore some quadricep fascia tissue and had to pretty much do nothing for about six weeks. Now I only go to the point in each set that I’m near exhaustion and not quite there. Better to survive the workout a little underdone than overcook it and have a setback.

SPIN FOR INTENSITY

On Tuesdays, I spend 40-45 minutes on the indoor trainer. The first 15 minutes is an easy spin to warm up (again, get your heart pumping until you start to glisten with sweat). Then, the rest of the workout centers on building intensity.

This is increasingly important as we get older.

If you take a month off from training at top intensity, it can take up to two years to build back to the level

A FORMER NATIONAL JUNIOR CYCLING CHAMPION AND COACH, PETER VOLLERS SHOWS HOW TO GET CENTURY-READY BY MAY WITH ONLY 40 MINUTES WORKOUT EACH WEEKDAY.

valuable intensity you worked so hard to build.

GET OUTDOORS

If you want to make fitness part of your lifestyle it has to be fun. When I organize cycling events like the Overland Grand Prix, I spend as much time thinking about the after-party—the place where the tribe comes together and bonds—as I do about routes.

I take the same approach to training: if you don’t make it social and fun, it becomes a chore.

For years, I’ve been part of a Woodstock Wednesday night gravel road ride group that does a pretty fast and always hilly gravel ride during the summer and fall months. And, recently, we started a year-round, any-conditions Thursday Night Adventure Ride (we call it TNAR, with a silent “T”) that goes out on fat bikes with headlamps. It’s not a race or even a hard ride but it’s a whole lot of fun.

Last, on weekends I try to get out for a longer ride—on my fat bike, road bike or mountain bike depending on the conditions. I don’t focus as much on miles as I do on time. I start out with an hour and then build up with gradual 20-minute increments for each ride.

Most importantly, take it slowly. If anything, hold yourself back on those first few rides and finish feeling almost fresh. Again, always better to underdo it in the beginning and let yourself ease into it. There’s plenty of time to push harder once you have some conditioning.

BUILD UP TO A CENTURY Photo by Ansel Dickie

you were at before.

So often in cycling—whether you’re attacking, bridging between groups or pushing hard up a hill— you’re toggling above and below anaerobic threshold, so that’s where I like to train. A tried and true old school workout is to do one-minute intervals with minimal recovery in between. Try sets of five oneminute intervals as follows, with each set including: n One minute interval with the first 40 seconds at a hard pace (for me, between 400-500 watts, if you are starting out, aim for 200-300 watts) and the last 20 seconds all out (over 500 watts, or over 300 watts if you are still building) n 30 seconds rest (desperately recovering and barely pedaling) n Repeat four more times Do two of these sets, resting for 3 minutes in between so you’re fully recovered aerobically, and then warm down for 10-15 minutes. With the warm up, two sets of intervals and warm down, you get a solid workout in 40-45 minutes.

This is a short but extremely effective workout that will build or maintain your intensity conditioning and ability to recover.

If you’re not feeling particularly great that day, back off the watt ranges a bit or just do one set. The key is to use this workout to at least maintain that

Don’t be intimidated and think you can’t ride 100 miles—if you can ride 50 miles, you can ride 100. The key there is to think about pacing yourself.

For most riders, a century ride will take between 5 and 7 hours. If you jump in with the lead pack, skip the food and hydration stops and hammer the first half, rigor mortis is going to set in pretty quickly. Instead, break the ride down into segments.

For the first two and a half hours, hold yourself back.

Ride at a comfortable pace, eat like a pig (and that’s important, if you want to finish) at every food stop.

I like to go into a long ride with a hearty breakfast of carbs, protein and a little fat—eggs, whole grain toast, potatoes and bacon. Unlike sugars, which give you an energy spike, then a lull, those things stay with you.

Lastly, think of that century ride or race not as the be-all and end-all goal or the ultimate test of your fitness level but as a check-in point. Building strength as we get older isn’t about sudden improvements but long steady gains. It’s like the reverse of peeling an onion: you add layers and layers of fitness until all of a sudden you realize you have an onion.

Sure, when I was younger and racing on the World Junior Circuit I’d hammer it out. But now I’m 48, I have a job, a wife and two kids. Rather than focusing my life on staying fit, I like to make staying fit part of my life. By building strength in the winter and spring, you will not only be a stronger rider and have more endurance, but you’ll be less prone to injury.

APRIL 2016 | VTSPORTS.COM 23

GET STRONGER!

YOGA PRO LESLEY AMBIKA GIBBS’S FAVORITE EXERCISES FOR A STRONGER CORE

N

o matter if you’re a cyclist, a runner, a climber or a paddler, the one part of your body that’s critical to anything you do is your core.

The upper and lower abdominals, obliques and muscles in our back are the hinges that hold the rest of our body together and help it perform. “Everybody needs core strength,” says Lesley Ambika Gibbs, a yoga instructor at Vermont Sun in Middlebury, “Your center of gravity is there and you want to be able to support the rest of your structure.”

Gibbs has been teaching yoga in Vermont since 2004, and offers a few suggestions for exercises that will strengthen your core, improve your posture and increase your aerobic capacity. These are well suited for athletes of any level (as long as you don’t have back problems), and can be modified for different levels of difficulty.

These moves engage two of the large muscle groups in your upper and lower core area, the rectus abdominus and the transverse abdominus. Strengthening these will help you maintain a relaxed posture during cycling or running and allow you to breathe more efficiently. “It’s hard to have a weak core and very strong posture,” Gibbs says.

In each of the following exercises, Gibbs aims for eight to ten reps of each. Beginners can try as few as five. You can also complete these exercises with an emphasis on time by setting a stopwatch for 30 seconds or more and doing as many reps as you can in that time.

A key to maximizing your success with exercises, Gibbs says, is to complete them in one fluid cycle, resting only ten seconds between each. “When you do these exercises for long enough, you’ll find you had muscles you didn’t know you had,” she says. —Evan Johnson

1. SINGLE LEG STRETCH

Start by lying on your back in a relaxed position. Your back should be neither arched nor pressed flat to the floor. Without straining your neck, engage your abdominals to lift your head

up so you can peer at your stomach as you raise your feet off the floor. Start by reaching your right hand toward your right ankle while your left hand is on your left knee. The left leg is extended straight out and off the floor. In a fluid motion, switch your legs, bringing your left knee to your chest and your left hand to the left ankle, while your right extends out (remember to keep your ankles off the floor).

2. DOUBLE LEG STRETCH

Lie on your back with knees at your chest, feet hip-width apart. Extend both legs, keeping your feet above the floor while your arms reach up. Then, in a wide sweeping motion, arms sweep toward your ankles as your knees come back to your chest. Your legs should never touch the floor.

3. SINGLE STRAIGHT LEG STRETCH

This exercise starts with both arms and feet pointed straight at the ceiling. Keeping your arms extended straight up, make a scissoring motion with your legs. Then, bring one leg slowly and smoothly down while the other remains up. You may want to place your hands under your hips to reduce lower back strain.

4. DOUBLE STRAIGHT LEG LOWER/LIFT

This one involves the same body position as the previous, but emphasizes the lower abdominal muscles. From the starting position, lower both legs, being careful not to overly arch your back. Don't let your feet touch the floor before raising them again.

5. CRISS-CROSS

Start with both knees bent to your chest and your head and shoulder blades off the floor. Then, extend your right leg but keep it straight and raised off the floor. Engaging your lower abs, bring your right knee up to your left elbow, keeping the right leg off the floor at the same height as during the single leg stretch. Then, lower the right leg and bring the left knee up to the right elbow. This exercise engages the lower abdominals while the twisting motion also engages the oblique muscles.

6. BACK EXTENSION

After an intense abdominal workout, it’s important to counter by strengthening your back. In a classic back extension, lift your head, shoulder blades and legs off the floor, extending your arms out and forward. Hold the pose for counts of 10 to 20 seconds.

1

2

3

4

5

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Photos by Evan Johnson

24 VTSPORTS.COM | APRIL 2016

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READER ATHLETES

THE FLY-FISHING EXPERT Name: Jesse Haller Age: 35 Live in: Middlebury Occupation: Rod and Tackle Product Design Specialist, Orvis.

Primary sport: Fly-Fishing

F

rom splashing around in creeks near his childhood home in Wisconsin to guiding in Summit County, Colorado to casting lines at home in the Champlain Valley, Jesse Haller lives to fish. This summer, he’ll be trying out for a spot on the national fly-fishing team in Lake Placid, N.Y. Haller, 35, works at Orvis in Manchester designing the fishing gear of tomorrow.

VS: Where can we find you on opening day, April 9? Or is that none of our business?

JH: I’ll say probably in the Middlebury area. The Otter Creek is a very special river and its tributary rivers, which have been closed all winter, will be opened and they are fantastic. The New Haven, the Middlebury, the Neshobe, Furnace Brook and Cold Mill are all in that watershed and make for amazing fishing. I will visit all of them over the weekend.

VS: What are current weather conditions indicating for opening day this year?

JH: We’re a month ahead of schedule at this point. When you have more snow going into the water, the water cools and cold-blooded fish won’t be as active. Now that we have low or no snowpack, I’m expecting a season that will rival the best of the eight years I’ve been in Vermont. The lack of snow means the water won’t be around later, so we hope the rain sticks around a little bit longer. It’s nice to have no snow now because we can get out and fish, but we could be in trouble in July.

VS: When’s the best time of year to fish in Vermont?

JH: An argument could be made for just about any time of year. If we’re talking about trout, I like spring a lot. May is exciting because that’s when the bug life starts to take off and we start to see lots of fish feeding on the surface. I like summer to fish for northern pike, large-mouth or

26 VTSPORTS.COM | APRIL 2016

With a catch like this monster brown trout, Jesse Haller stands a chance of making the U.S. Fly Fishing Team. Photo by Matt Kiedaisch

small-mouth bass or carp. The fall is really fun because it’s technical and the water is low. With a mild winter, the water stayed a little warmer and the fish were active. The Otter Creek is open year-round and we were able to catch fish in November and December.

VS: Was fishing a large part of your family while you were growing up?

JH: Absolutely. My dad was a big trout angler and we grew up on the eastern edge of what’s known as the “Driftless Region,” where the glaciers stopped. That southwestern area of Wisconsin is known for highquality trout streams. My dad was always getting me outside from a very young age.

VS: How did you become a guide? There must be a steep learning curve if you’ve never guided in a new place.

JH: When I moved from Durango, Colo. to Summit County I started working for a small outfitter, which led to working for a bigger outfitter and eventually I was guiding five to six days a week. At first they like to keep you in the stables for a year or two, learning the ropes and helping out at the shop. Once you have the ability to fish, you learn the flies, the water and how the fish like to hold.

My father and my fishing buddies added their own thoughts and opinions and inspiration. I took a little bit of this and that and became the angler and guide I wanted to be.

I’ve found guiding to be one of the most rewarding experiences. A lot of times success in guiding is measured by how many fish a client catches, but we’ve found it’s the entire experience that customers value.

VS: How does the fishing culture in the Northeast compare to the other places you’ve lived?

JH: In the Midwest I wasn’t that connected to the fishing culture. It was just part of what you did. Now, it’s more tangible with social media, you can see gatherings, fly-tying nights and movie screenings. Out West is a fishing mecca and a lot of the trout culture is driven from there.

There were so many trout bums like me filling up at gas stations at six in the morning with drift boats on trailers. It was something that I had

never seen before. When I first came to Vermont, there was still a lot of history and tradition here, but that culture hadn’t quite taken off yet.

Thanks to events like the Otter Creek Classic [scheduled for April 9-10 in Middlebury] and social media, more people are reaching out to each other.

VS: What are some of your favorite stretches of water?

JH: The Otter Creek through Middlebury is very special. It does get warm in the summer so we have to be careful when the dissolved oxygen content gets too low. I’m usually not able to fish for trout in July and August, but the fishing along the Otter is some of the best I’ve had in Vermont.

What I call the “Big Three” — the Otter, the New Haven and the

Haller fishes all winter for trout when he can, and likes to fish the Otter Creek which is open all year.

Photo courtesy Jesse Haller

Middlebury—are my home pieces of water.

VS: You’ve mentioned trout as a favorite kind of fish and the growth of “trout culture.” What’s it about this fish that you find so alluring?

JH: Trout don’t live in ugly places. They live in cold, clean water and I’m lucky to live in a place with cold, clean water.

There is something about trout I can’t put my finger on. They are special fish and our canary in the coalmine. When we start having trouble with trout in the watershed then we know something’s wrong. If you’re lucky enough to be standing in a stream with trout around you, most likely it’ll be pretty nice around you too.

VS: What are some of the biggest challenges you see anglers facing in the coming years? What has to be done to overcome them?

JH: Clean water is always going to be a challenge and as anglers we have a responsibility. There are lots of problems, from runoff issues to destruction of riparian zones [river banks] to inadequate water treatment. You always have to look upstream. It’s something we need to be cognizant of—whether it’s how you dispose of your motor oil or how you handle the shrubs next to the creek behind your house.

VS: Fly-fishing, seems to be one of those activities that draws a core group of followers. How can it attract more people?

JH: That’s the age-old question. Some people hold the view that fly-fishing is too expensive and while it’s always possible to spend too much, it’s now more affordable.

Fishing is also viewed as being very hard to learn and outreach is another important area. The New Haven River Anglers Association emphasizes making fishing more accessible and clinics or programs like Trout Unlimited’s "Trout in the Classroom" program are teaching kids about the sport. Like golf, fishing is a sport that takes an afternoon to learn but a lifetime to master. It’s a great journey.

VS: What is it you do at Orvis?

JH: A product development specialist is someone who develops new products specifically for fly-fishing. There are many other developers and I work with fly-tying materials and the accessories.

There are all these little problems that we’re striving to solve. We don’t spend all our time fishing but we collaborate with anglers from all over the world, developing flies that will be used to catch anything from bonefish in the tropics or big northern pike in Ontario.

5 FAVORITE FLIES

JESSE HALLER SHARES HIS FIVE FAVORITE ORVIS FLIES FOR EARLY TROUT SEASON.

PHEASANT TAIL NYMPH “Since we are a little ahead of schedule with our weather at this point, there’s a chance we could start getting some fly activity early and this is a great imitation of a mayfly.”

KRYSTAL CADDIS LARVAE “This is an early season imitation of the caddis fly.

They tend to have a bright chartreuse or tan belly and they stick out well in the water.

When the water is off-color or high due to snowmelt, that extra color can be what you need to get a fish to move.”

BUNNY MUDDLER “The Bunny Muddler or the White Conehead Muddy Buddy is a white streamer imitation that works particularly well.

Smaller fish don’t have much pigmentation and when a fish dies it turns white and sinks to the bottom. When the water level comes up in the spring it pushes that stuff around and some fish might be feeding on dead fish, others will be feeding on live fish. White is particularly good color for the early season.”

SAN JUAN WORM “This is an artificial imitation of a worm. When flowing water eats away at the banks, it pulls worms into the water, which sink. When you see exposed soil, this is one to reach for.”

SEXY STONE “The Sexy Stone or Girdlebug is a very general stonefly imitation that’s very buggy looking and lots of fish are caught on it in the early season, especially where there’s higher water. I would especially recommend the coffee-andblack-colored kinds.”

These flies are available at Orvis.com or your local shop.

APRIL 2016 | VTSPORTS.COM 27

Vermont’s Leading Paddle Sports Center

[ C u s to m i z e d tota l K n e e R e p l a C e m e n t s ]

30 days after my knee surgery, I was doing a century bike ride! suzanne szeRmeR, WaRRen

Welcome to the 21st century community hospital.

Welcome to Copley. suzanne does 8-10 century bike rides a year, and she swims and hikes. When her knee pain became unbearable, she called mansfield orthopaedics. two weeks after undergoing custom total knee replacement, suzanne was walking 4 miles a day. thirty days post-surgery, she did a seacoast Century Bike Ride. “the surgery changed my life. the total joint class before surgery really prepared me for what to expect, dr. Huber was wonderful, and my care at Copley was excellent.”

Our orthopaedic specialists: Brian Aros, MD; Bryan Huber, MD; John Macy, MD; Joseph McLaughlin, MD; and Saul Trevino, MD.

RENTALS

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to make an appointment with a mansfield orthopaedic specialist at Copley Hospital, call 802.888.8405

Burlington

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1203 Williston Rd S.Burlington, VT (802) 651 8760

849 S.Main St Stowe, VT (802) 253 2317 www.UMIAK.com

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Bayside Beach 8:30 A.M. START • Sunday, July 31, 2016 Visit www.colchestertri.com for details

Swim: 500 Meters -ORKayak: 1.5 Mile -ANDBike: 12 Miles Run: 3 Miles

Kingdom Games now offers four premier running events and two fun runs. They are accessible for all ages and all athletic abilities. They are “high level pickup games” that are challenging to the most seasoned athlete, but feature options to allow the entire running and walking community to participate, “Just for the Fun of It.”

 The Dandelion Run May 21, 2016 Half Marathon on dirt roads through the

Registration is Open!

world famous Dandelion Fields of Derby, Morgan, and Holland. With a 10 km running and walking option.  The Harry Corrow Freedom Run July 4th, 2016 10 Mile, 5 K, and 1 Mile runs on the Newport – Derby Bike Path and the Memphremagog Ski Touring Foundation Trails.  Echo Lake Road Race & Swim August 27, 2016 – 5 or 10 mile runs on dirt roads around Echo Lake in the morning, a 5 or 10 mile bike in the afternoon and a 1 and 3 mile swim later in the afternoon. Can be a stage triathlon.  Kingdom Marathon Fly to Pie – Run, Bike, and Hike, October 2nd, 2016 – Running the back country dirt roads at the height of Fall Foliage, this is one of the most beautiful AND most challenging marathon courses east of the Mississippi. There are 13.1 mile and 17 mile options as well.  Halloween Hustle October 31st, 2016 – A totally ghoulish costume run for all ages. 10 K, 5 K, and 1 mile on the Newport-Derby bike path.  Newport Santa Run December 3rd, 2016 – A 5 K and 1 mile run down Main Street and on to the bike path and back.

With support from:

and Jay Peak Resort, The Town of Derby, Passumpsic Savings Bank, Northeast Delta Dental, The City of Newport, Community Financial Services Group, Derby Village Store, The Front Desk, Mempremagog Press and Louis Garneau

28 VTSPORTS.COM | APRIL 2016

READER ATHLETES

Four years ago Catherine Hull had never kayaked. Now she's competing in serious whitewater events.

THE PADDLER Name: Catherine Hull Age: 31 Residence: Richmond Family: Husband, Ben Schott Occupation: Registered nurse Primary sport: Whitewater kayaking

F

our years ago, Catharine Hull started whitewater kayaking in order to spend time with her then-boyfriend.

Since then, she’s married and fallen in love with a new sport. As a kayaker, she has progressed from a Class I paddler to a competitive Class V kayaker and now she takes her boat (or more precisely, one of her many boats) out on the water year-round.

VS: I understand your first date involved whitewater.

CH: I was living in Canada at the time and our first date was a two-person rafting trip on the Moose River in upstate New York. Halfway down we flipped the raft and I broke my thumb but didn’t realize it. I went back to work the next morning as a nurse and during my shift I had to catch a baby bare-handed with a broken thumb.

VS: Did that turn you off of Ben or kayaking?

CH: For some reason I kept dating Ben and kept returning to whitewater.

Two years later we did that same river in a tandem kayak. We had a sloppy run and eventually made it to the top of one of the last drops of the section; a 15-foot waterfall called Agers Falls. As we were sitting staring at the horizon line, I turned around from the front of the boat to look at Ben and told him I was nervous. He looked at me with a very serious expression and said he was too, which scared me since he’s a solid Class V boater. It turns out his nerves were from an entirely different source. We nailed the line on the falls and landed it to a crowd of cheering people, followed by Ben getting down on one knee and proposing. That was followed by an exuberant “yes” from me, and an awkward attempt at a kiss in full-face helmets.

VS: What are your favorite kayaking venues in Vermont?

CH: Number one has to be the New Haven Ledges. It’s a really accessible section of quality Class IV whitewater.

It’s continuous and it has waterfalls and boulder gardens. It’s easy to get to so it’s something you can do before or after work.

I learned to kayak on the Mad River in Moretown. It has decent whitewater and tends to hold water pretty well. It’s mostly Class III. Vermont is actually pretty amazing because of all the mountains. In addition to the big rivers, the spring runoff opens up all these little microcreeks. I got on the Sterling Brook along the Mountain Road in Stowe for the first time last year. Another one is Patterson Brook in Granville. Some of those creeks flash up and run for only two or three hours.

VS: How do you find out when the rivers are running?

CH: I belong to the Vermont Paddlers Club which has a Facebook page where people share information.

One of our members, Ryan McCall, has been working with American Whitewater to help us get notified of dam releases. A lot of dams are going up for relicensing and many have a recreational component and letting kayakers know about releases is another way for them to meet their obligation.

It’s a pretty informal process but Ryan gets notified of releases and then he notifies the club. Last year, Green River had a few good releases thanks to the snowmelt. The Missisquoi in Sheldon Springs is another one. The West River in southern Vermont has a big release—usually in September— and there’s a festival at that time.

VS: How do you get into whitewater kayaking?

CH: The Vermont Paddlers Club is a great way to get introduced to the sport. They have beginners’ clinics and they run all levels of trips from Class I to Class V. They have an annual trip to West Virginia for ten days in the spring. Pretty much every weekend there is some trip or activity.

VS: What do you do in winter?

CH: We kayak year round. There are some rivers like the Winnipesaukee which are always open. There are some ice shelves but you work around them. Closer to home we kayak at Chase Mills in Winooski. Sometimes when we’re done we have to jump in the river to thaw out our life vests so we can take them off.

VS: Tell us about your job.

CH: I work 12-hour night shifts at the University of Vermont Medical Center doing labor and delivery. It’s a wonderful job and it’s daylight when I get off from work. The problem is that whitewater kayaking is a sport where you need other people and most kayakers have day jobs. I’m the person who gets called when other kayakers have a random day off.

VS: What has been your most challenging kayak trip?

CH: The one that was most challenging emotionally and mentally was a trip I did with my husband for my 30th birthday. We went to a remote river in Nova Scotia that he had done but I hadn’t. We went from Cape Breton

Islands to the ocean. It took us two days so we had all our gear in our boats. It was challenging because there’s a section in the middle that has an entrance waterfall that’s 20 feet and an exit waterfall and in between there are sheer walls on either side.

Once you go in, you’re committed.

There were also some boulder gardens and technical rapids. The remoteness was also a challenge. The only other way out is a four-day hike. Since we did the entire section, not just the rapids, there were sections where we had to drag our boats and got eaten by mosquitoes. We didn’t take much.

We slept in hammocks and ate gorp and beef jerky.

VS: Do you have other boats or just whitewater kayaks?

CH: We have a canoe that we don’t use very often and a few inflatable kayaks for friends. We have a pile of about 14 whitewater kayaks. We have some play boats that are five to six feet long for places like the Lachine Rapids in the St. Lawrence River. They have big waves that you can surf on and some kayakers can also do tricks and spins.

You need big volume for that. We also have longer, more traditional boats.

VS: What makes kayaking fun?

CH: The adrenaline is kind of wonderful. When you’re on the river it’s all consuming; partially from the adrenaline and partially because it’s a real escape. It’s also a sport that you can’t do on your own so you build relationships with people from all walks of life.—Phyl Newbeck

APRIL 2016 | VTSPORTS.COM 29

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VERMONT

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RACE & EVENT GUIDE May 1 | May Day Slalom, Killington, Vt Killington hosts a final springtime slalom race on the Superstar trail. www. killington.com

EDITOR@VTSPORTS.COM. ALL AREA CODES ARE 802, AND ALL LOCATIONS VERMONT,

UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. FEATURED EVENTS, IN

YELLOW, PAY A NOMINAL FEE.

ALPINE SKIING AND RIDING April 2-3 | Sugar Slalom, Stowe, Vt. Originating in 1940 and one of the oldest ongoing races in the country, the Mount Mansfield Ski Club’s annual Sugar Slalom celebrates spring with serious racing, serious fun and sugar on snow. www. teammscc.org 3 | Bud Light Glade-iator at Mount Snow, Dover, Vt. Mount Snow’s springtime challenge is one not to be missed as competitors take on the double black diamond Ripcord in the soft spring snow. www.mountsnow.com 9 | Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge at Killington, Killington, Vt. Killington’s famous end-of-season bumps contest. See some of the best amateur bump skiers go head to head and then stick around for the party. www.killington.com

PADDLING – WATERSPORTS April 14 | Reel Paddling Film Festival, Burlington, Vt. The Outdoor Gear Exchange in Burlington hosts award-winning films from the Reel Paddling Film Festival. A raffle benefits the Northern Forest Canoe Trail. www. reelpaddlingfilmfestival.com 16 | New Haven Ledges Race, Lincoln, Vt. Advanced whitewater paddlers challenge the ledges on the New Haven River. www. npmb.com

May 7 | Fiddlehead Slalom, Montpelier, Vt. Canoe paddlers race a slalom course on Class II rapids in the Winooski River.

Practice runs will be held on Saturday, with finals on Sunday. www.nessrace.com/ fiddlehead-slalom/

June 4 | Deerfield River Festival, Deerfield, Mass.

American Whitewater and Zoar Outdoor join forces to celebrate the Deerfield River with a full weekend of outdoor activities showcasing

whitewater paddlesports. The event will raise funds for American Whitewater. www.americanwhitewater.org.

BIKING April 3 | Vermont Overland Maple Adventure Ride, Reading, Vt. Vermont Overland presents their annual 27-mile, gravel grinder ride over class-four roads. www.vermontoverland.com 16 | Rasputitsa, East Burke, Vt. Cyclists charge into spring with this 45-mile unsanctioned gravel ride through some of the Northeast Kingdom’s toughest terrain. www.rasputitsagravel.com 16 | VMBA’s Spring Fundraiser, Burlington, Vt. The Vermont Mountain Bike Association holds their annual fundraiser at 1 Main Street. Evening includes raffles, food, refreshments and a pre-event group ride. www.fotwheel.org 23 | Muddy Onion Spring Classic, Montpelier, Vt. Explore 34 miles of Vermont’s scenic dirt roads and enjoy the fully supported ride followed by a legendary barbeque with chocolate-covered bacon, maple syrup shots and beer from The Alchemist. www. onionriver.com 30 | Gears and Beers Bar Crawl, Waterbury, Vt. The Waterbury Area Trail Alliance holds a beer crawl fundraiser through Waterbury

with four bars and restaurants donating 5 percent of draft sales to WATA. www. waterburytrails.com

May 14 - 15 | Victory Hill Enduro – 2016 Eastern States Cup – Round 2, Victory, Vt. Enduro cyclists race at Kingdom Trails in amateur and pro categories. Part of the Eastern States Cup Enduro circuit. www. kingdomtrails.com 15 | Dirty Road-A-Coaster Challenge, Hartland, Vt. Cyclists in central Vermont ride the gravel roads in 62-mile expert and amateur loops.

A 32-mile course is also available for the beginner class. www.ridereg.com 15 | Millstone Grind XC MTB & MTB Marathon, Websterville, Vt. The trails on the Millstone network in Barre host beginner, expert, pro and marathon races with 6, 12, 18 and 24-mile distances.

Courses are on mostly singletrack trails. www.millstonetrails.com

21 | Richard’s Ride, Richmond, Vt. First annual ride hosted by the Richard Tom Foundation. Ride options include a 4.4 mile Children’s Ride (easy road or mountain bike routes) free for children, challenging mountain bike trails, a 17mile road ride for families, a 30-mile road loop, and a challenging 70-mile road loop. All rides will be staged from the Cochran Ski Area. www. richardtomfoundation.com

All

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APRIL 2016 | VTSPORTS.COM 31

RACE & EVENT GUIDE

8 – 12 | Tour De Kingdom, Newport, Vt. Kingdom Games in the Northeast Kingdom hosts four days of distance rides through the NEK and northern New Hampshire, totaling 440 miles and 25,000 feet of climbing. www.tourdekingdom.com

BIKING cont.

28 – 30 | Killington Stage Race, Killington, Vt. Cyclists tackle courses 11, 110, 128, 146 and 160 miles long through the hills and roads around Vermont in this USA Cycling certified event. www.bikereg.com

June 4 | Vermont Gran Fondo, Middlebury, Vt. The Vermont Gran Fondo is a noncompetitive ride through Vermont’s Green Mountains. This ride will test your fitness with its challenging climbs across Appalachian Gap, Moretown Mountain, Roxbury Gap and Lincoln Gap. Distances include the Gran Fondo: 105 miles, 10,000+ feet of climbing (all four gaps); Medio Fondo: 64 miles, 6,800 feet of climbing (Lincoln & App gaps) and Piccolo Fondo: 43 miles. www.vermontgranfondo.com 5 | Lund Center’s 8th Annual Ride for Children, Burlington, Vt. The Lund Family Center in Burlington hosts a day of distance rides to raise funds for the center. Distances include 50, 33, and 16 miles. www.bike.lundvt.org 5 | Tour De Heiffer, Brattleboro, Vt. This challenging dirt road event features 15, 30 and 60-mile routes all with minimal pavement and significant elevation. The less challenging, but still hilly 15-mile country ride has paved hills and a scenic riverside dirt road section. https://www.bikereg. com/tourdeheifer

11 | The Vermont Epic, Bedford, Mass. To Ludlow, Vt. Cyclists gather for a series of three events.

The 70-mile Vermont Monster is a gravel grinder with 9,000 feet of climbing. The Battlefield to Vermont ride is 134.3 miles long and has 8,101 feet of climbing as it travels from Bedford, Mass. to Okemo Mountain. Recreational rides are also available in 20 and 40-mile distances. www.vtepic.com 17 - 19 | NEMBAFest at Kingdom Trails, East Burke, Vt. The over 100 miles of trails in East Burke host the annual festival celebrating New England mountain biking. Weekend includes demos, live music, competitions and exhibitions. www.nembafest.com 25 | RAS Adventure Ride and 5K Run, Peru, Vt. Cyclists and runners gather to for the second event in support of RASopathies research. Both the ride and the run will cover class four dirt roads. Post-ride party to follow at the JJ Hapgood General Store. www.support4shane.com 18 | Route 100 – 200 Miles, One Day, Derby, Vt. The 100/200 is a one-day bicycle ride that stretches from the Canadian border to the Massachusetts state line. Route 100 is widely recognized as one of Vermont’s most scenic highways and the 200-mile ride is routed to minimize automobile traffic. www.100-200.org

Gravel road riding season is here.

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25 | 6th Annual Long Trail Century Ride to Benefit Vermont Adaptive, Bridgewater Corners, Vt. The Long Trail Century Ride to Benefit Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports returns with an all-day event including cycling on 100, 60, 20 mile routes and family friendly/ adaptive 5K routes in the morning and a party in the afternoon with BBQ, live music, farmers market vendors, kids activities and more. www.longtrailcenturyride.com 26 | Central Vermont Cycling Tour, Montpelier, Vt. The Cross Vermont Trail Association hosts their annual 15, 30, or 60-mile rides on scenic country roads to raise funds for the Cross Vermont Trail. www. crossvermont.org

RUNNING April 3 | Kaynor’s Sap Run, Westford, Vt. Runners from around Vermont gather for a certified 10K out and back on muddy, hilly, country roads through rural Westford. www. gmaa.net 9 | Half Marathon Unplugged, Colchester, Vt. RunVermont hosts a half marathon from Colchester to Burlington on a flat and fast course with views of Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks. www.runvermont.org 16 | Rolling Irish Half Marathon, Essex Junction, Vt. The Green Mountain Athletic Association hosts a certified half marathon on mostly dirt roads, starting and finishing at Memorial Hall in Essex Junction. www.gmaa.net

May 1 | The Sweetest Half, Middlebury Maple Run, Middlebury, Vt. Middlebury hosts its signature springtime half marathon, starting and finishing at Porter Medical Center near downtown Middlebury. www. middleburymaplerun.com 7 | Spring Into Health 5K, Townshend, Vt. Run or walk in this family-friendly 5K-walk/run fund-raiser for Grace Cottage Hospital, starting and ending at the Townshend Common.

7 | Lewis Covered Bridges 5K/10K and Half Marathon, Charlotte, Vt. Race Vermont hosts an out-and-back half marathon through the scenic Charlotte countryside. The course runs along the Lewis Creek River and passes over two covered bridges. www.racevermont.com 7 | 7th Annual Adamant 20 Miler, Adamant, Vt. This Central Vermont Runners event follows a scenic but hilly course. The race is designed to be a last long training run for the Vermont City Marathon and can be run in a relay. Benefits the Adamant Music School. www.cvrunners.org 12-13 | 2016 Peak Ultra, Pittsfield, Vt. Recreational to elite-level runners will have the choice of running 15, 30, 50, 100, 200 or 500 mile distances on cross-country trails. www.peak.com 14 | The Road to the Pogue, Woodstock, Vt The Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park hosts a 6.1-mile run on carriage trails to the 14-acre pond known as “The Pogue” and back. www. roadtothepogue.com

15 | Sleepy Hollow Mountain Race, Huntington, Vt. The Sleepy Hollow Ski and Bike Center is the site of a hilly and muddy 10K race on singletrack and mowed trails. www. sleepyhollowmtnrace.com

swim, 14-mile bike ride and a 5K run through the Stowe area. www. theswimmingholestowe.com 29 | Saratoga Springs Duathlon, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. This annual race starting at the Saratoga Casino and Raceway combines 10K running and biking 30K. The race can be completed as a two or three-person team. www. saratogalionsduathlon.com

21 | Dandelion Run, Derby, Vt. Kingdom Games hosts their annual half marathon and 10K on dirt roads through the dandelion fields of Morgan, Holland and Derby. Runners enjoy live bluegrass and folk music along their run. www. dandelionrun.org

June 18 | Lake Memphremagog Swim, Newport, Vt. Kingdom Games hosts 2, 4 and 6-mile swims in Lake Memphremagog and can be used as a qualifier for other open water swims. Event repeats on June 25. www. kingdomgames.co

29 | Vermont City Marathon, Burlington, Burlington, Vt. RunVermont hosts their annual marathon through downtown Burlington, finishing in Waterfront Park. This year’s course features a slight change from last year. www. vermontcitymarathon.org

18 | Vermont Sun Triathlon, Salisbury, Vt. Vermont Sun in Middlebury organizes their annual triathlon series with a 600-yard swim, a 14-mile bike ride and a 3.1-mile run on the shores of Lake Dunmore. Event repeats on July 17 and August 14. www. vermontsuntriathlonseries.com

June 4 | Colchester Causeway 5K/15K, Colchester, Vt. Choose either a 5K or 15K and enjoy the scenic Colchester Causeway.

The race will begin at Airport Park and follow a gravel trail out onto the historic Causeway where runners will make their way to designated turnaround points before returning to the finish. www.colchestervt.gov

18 | Lake Dunmore Triathlon, Salisbury, Vt. Vermont Sun’s Olympic distance triathlon includes a 0.9-mile swim, 28-mile bike ride and a 6.2-mile run on the shores of Lake Dunmore.

Event repeats on August 14. www. vermontsuntriathlonseries.com

11-12 | Green Mountain Relay, Jeffersonville, Vt. Teams of seven to 12 runners exchange relays for 200 miles from Jeffersonville to Bennington on Route 100. www. greenmountainrelay.com 11 | Fight for Air Climb: Bennington Battle Monument, Bennington, Vt. Runners race up the stairs of the battlefield monument while raising funds for research, education, and patient programs to help people affected by lung disease. www. lung.org 11 | 39th Annual Capital City Stampede 10K, Montpelier, Vt. Runners race a flat and fast out-and-back course on half-paved, half dirt roads.

Course is USATF-certified. Top three winners receive gift certificates. www. cvrunners.org 24-26 | Coyote Scramble Trail Runs, East Burke, Vt. Kingdom Trails hosts three days of trail running with suggested distances for each day. Runners rack up miles before joining in the post-run activities, including bowling and live music. www. coyotemoonultras.com July 16 – 30 | WMS Climbing Camp, Bethlehem, N.H. The White Mountain School’s Climbing Camp for 12-16 year olds provides a safe and challenging

OBSTACLE COURSE RACING Get your yoga on at Wanderlust. The festival and celebration of all things groovy returns to Stratton, June 18-20, with live music, classes, workshops and more. www.wanderlust.com Photo by John Suhar II

climbing experience for beginner and advanced climbers. Climbers learn gear placement techniques, climb legendary multi-pitch routes, and gain an understanding of safe practices at Cannon, Rumney, Cathedral and Whitehorse. w w w.w h i te m o u n t a i n . o r g/ climbingcamp July 24 -26 | Green Mountain Running Camp, Meriden, N.H. Runners of all levels are invited to a week-long residential camp with specialized instruction for cross-country runners at Kimball Union Academy. www.ussportscamps.com September 25 | Vermont Sun Half Marathon, Salisbury, Vt. Vermont Sun organizes a 5K, 10K and half marathon alongside Lake Dunmore in Branbury State Park. www. vermontsuntriathlonseries.com

TRIATHLON & SWIMMING April 2 | Berkshire Highlands Pentathalon, Charlemont, Mass This pentathalon returns with a 4.2-mile road/trail run, a 16-mile cycling leg, a 2-mile obstacle course and a climb to the summit of the Berkshire East Ski Area with a downhill ski/ride to the finish (athletes must carry gear to the top). www. berkshirehighlandsevents.com

April 3 | Brian Bill Memorial Challenge, Northfield, Vt. Individuals and teams tackle an 8K course with 20 obstacles at Norwich University.

All proceeds benefit the Brian R. Bill Scholarship. www.active.com

May 6 – 8 | Jill’s Folly, Benson, Vt. Individuals or teams of three attempt to complete 100 or 50 miles on Shale Hill’s 10K course with over 65 obstacles. Race is capped at 48 hours. www.shalehilladventure.com

30 | Killington Triathlon, Killington, Vt. Killington holds the kind of triathlon it knows best: ski, bike and run all over the mountain in this spring event. www. killington.com

TO STAY UP TO DATE ON

May

FORGET TO "LIKE" VERMONT

15 | Stowe Triathlon, Stowe, Vt. Athletes compete in a 500-meter pool

RACES AND EVENTS, VISIT VTSPORTS.COM/EVENTSCALENDAR/

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APRIL 2016 | VTSPORTS.COM 33

ENDGAME

I

was picking through the slightly imperfect sock bin at the Outdoor Gear Exchange in Burlington recently when I noticed the t-shirt on the person next to me. It featured bold black lettering and a shaggyhaired dog sitting with its head cocked at an angle that suggested it was trying very hard to listen.

“Be the person your dog thinks you are,” the shirt said.

It’s a favorite motto of mine— because it’s the most accurate and concise observation I’ve found on how our pets see us and how much they can shape our lives if we allow them.

A poet friend of mine wrote that to miss someone or something is to experience a haunting—a clear presence in spite of an obvious absence.

Though it has been three months since our Labrador Retriever, Winnie, passed away, my parents’ house in Marlboro is still strewn with half-chewed toys, water and food bowls, and towels for wiping muddy paws. I doubt they’ll ever get nearly 15 years worth of dog hair fully out of their sweaters or her favorite rugs.

I still carry one of her vaccine tags in my wallet; the metal disk has left a heart-shaped imprint in the leather.

Winnie is still very much here.

It’s easy for those details and memories to overwhelm me. That happens, from time to time, but the feeling always passes when I consider that Winnie left behind much more than a collection of stuffed animals, a collar and a leash.

Rewind the clock to when I was 10 years old with wild red hair and a freckled, sunburned face, walking on the side of the road, followed behind by a wriggling puppy, tripping over its own oversized paws. When she got too tired, I picked her up and carried her under an arm. This tiny thing would incur terrific amounts of destruction and frustration but she was mine to protect. The responsibility filled me with awe and made my chest swell with pride.

On those early walks, I learned patience and how to shepherd this small life as it sniffed and plodded its way down the road with me. Besides, when she gained weight and grew

34 VTSPORTS.COM | APRIL 2016

THE PERSON

YOUR DOG

THINKS YOU ARE

BY EVAN JOHNSON

into those paws, it was my turn to try to keep up.

In her later years, Winnie’s walks could last all afternoon. Endlessly stubborn, she always wanted to keep going, putting her head down and marching even when her aging body must have been screaming to stop. The toll of the years was plainly visible: she developed cysts on her legs and under her stomach that impeded her walking. The pain medicines damaged her liver and she became a fussy eater. “It’s a case of too many birthdays,” her vet quipped.

On one of our last walks in early winter, her hips gave out and she collapsed on the pavement. Her eyes went wide in panic, looking back at her legs splayed awkwardly and then at me. Darkness was falling and the temperature was near freezing. I had carried her home as a puppy and 15 years later, I carried her again, held to my chest in both arms. We were coming full-circle.

We began making dilatory outings to a field behind the house.

I’d bring a mug of tea or a beer and wander alongside her while she

The expectations we put on our dogs can be just as varied; we require them to assist, hunt, work, protect and serve, but whether or not we realize it, the relationship is always a two-way street.

explored. There was never any rush and we didn’t need a leash. It was her time to go at her own pace and simply be a dog. When she pointed her nose at the house, we’d start our slow journey home.

The day she died, I drove home to be with my family. We spent the afternoon taking turns laughing at memories of messes made and crying over our shared heartache.

I was a mess, awash in the awareness of how much time had passed in our years together and how profoundly changed I was.

The reasons for adopting are many and the expectations we put on our dogs can be just as varied; we require them to assist, hunt, work, protect and serve, but whether or not we realize it, the relationship is always a two-way street. Winnie required me to take on nobler qualities; to be loyal, compassionate, gentle, brave, considerate and merciful. She kept me on the straightand-narrow and as long as I did my best to live up to her expectations of me, then I was doing well enough.

But that first afternoon without her, my wheels were spinning. With so much love put into my life, I needed to find a place to put it now.

The solution, I decided, was to put it everywhere; apply it to every new relationship, every adventure and every project as unconditionally as it was put into mine.

Since Winnie’s passing, my parents have confronted the uncomfortable questions of if and when they should get another dog.

My mother misses Winnie, giving her the mostly empty yogurt container and having her curled under the desk, keeping her toes warm while she worked.

My father and I miss something deeper.

“It’s not just that I miss Winnie,” he said. “It’s that I miss the person your dog requires you to be.”

And this brings me back to that t-shirt. Imagine a world where everyone lived up to that.

Evan Johnson is a staff writer at Vermont Sports. He is very much the person Winnie expected him to be.

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