The Snowman Adventure Race
March 1st, 2008
Portland, Maine

The Snomman Adventure in the News!

'The Snowman' race to offer Mainers lots of good, cold fun

DEIRDRE FLEMING January 20, 2008: Portland Press Herald

Hawaii can have The Ironman. This winter, Portland's going to have "The Snowman." On March 1, a three-part adventure race geared for the goofy, the get-after-it and the get-outside sort will be staged at the Eastern Prom. "The Snowman Adventure Race" will bring together Maine's runners, bikers... and sledders.

"This is not a triathlon. It is a partner adventure race," said event director Patrick Hackleman, owner of Casco Bay Sports, a new company that runs sporting events.

"The key is that any two people should be able to do it. They don't have to have fancy gear. They don't have to be a triathlete. Just grab a partner, grab the basic gear, and enter. It's meant to just get people out in the winter and doing something different."

The race course on Portland's Eastern Prom and Back Cove trails was approved by the city of Portland on Jan. 7. Hackleman thinks the two-person partner contest will be the first of an annual event. (He's even planning on a Snowman plaque that will be hung at a local eatery yet to be named.)

A portion of the proceeds will go to Portland Trails, a nonprofit conservation group that maintains the trails used in The Snowman. But Portland Trails Executive Director Nan Cumming thinks The Snowman goes beyond encouraging people to use local trails, to get outdoors in the winter and to exercise.

The Snowman is about the pursuit of fun, she said.

"I like the sort of whimsical nature of it. It isn't a triathlon. Instead of swimming, you sled. I love that. It just opens it up to families and people who are not necessarily serious athletes," Cumming said.

"I even love the name. Instead of The Ironman, it's The Snowman. It's just clever fun."

The focus of The Snowman Adventure Race is on everything "snowman," which is to say it is about having fun and enjoying the snow with your partner, Hackleman said.

"I think with a lot of events in Portland, you have to train for them, just a little. They are more serious. This is on the lighter side," he said. The race involves one partner sledding down a hill and then biking four and a half miles around Back Cove and over to the Eastern Promenade. The other partner makes a sled run down the Eastern Prom hill, and runs a two-mile course around the Prom. Both teammates then sled together to the finish line.

The riders do not have to be mountain bikers to navigate the course around the Back Cove's 6-foot-wide walking path. However, for safety, knobby tires and a bike helmet are required. To spread out the riders at the outset of the race, the cyclists will have to run up the Eastern Prom and sled down -- a classic bike race start, snowman-style.

In keeping with the event's "get-outside" theme, Hackle- man offers a variety of ways to enter.

The Snowman has a family category to encourage parents to be on a team with their child.

This registration option was used by Hackleman last fall in the 12 Hours of Bradbury, a race he held at Bradbury Mountain State Park in which 85 mountain bikers rode continuously for half a day.

"It was the only (mountain bike) event that had family teams. There were three families in it. And two of them came from Vermont," Hackleman said.

"I thought that was something unique. So often, parents come to an event, and there is nothing for the kids to do. Why not enter together? That's what I'm hoping to accomplish with The Snowman."

Those who want to participate in The Snowman but do not have a partner can still enter. Solo participants will be matched with a partner by Hackleman, another option he used at the Bradbury Mountain bike race.

And, even if it is snowing, or even if there is no snow on the Eastern Prom, Hackleman said, The Snowman will go on.

If the snow thaws before the race, an obstacle course will replace The Snowman's sledding portions -- preserving the silly, serendipitous nature of this sport.

"I don't want people to feel like they can't do it," Hackleman said.

Staff Writer Deirdre Fleming can be contacted at 791-6452 or at:

dfleming@pressherald.com