OUR FIRST TIME ORGANIZING THE BEST RACE OF THE WINTER

On the 4th of March TrailHeads sponsored the 34th Annual Lake Waramaug Polar Bear Run! This is a race that we dearly love and have been a part of for many years, but it was our first time officially organizing the run.

At first it seemed like the race might not happen this year due to organizational changes, but we received so many emails and Facebook messages from runners who love this race that we decided it had to be put on! We spent the past few weeks working with our other local sponsors to put together the event and we learned a lot. While we like to get involved in lots of area races and encourage running whenever we can, this was the first time TrailHeads had ever been in charge of everything from getting town permissions to portajohns. What an eye-opening experience! Kudos to race directors everywhere!

We also made a significant change to the race this year by designating a charitable beneficiary, one of our favorite organizations; Guiding Eyes for the Blind. This organization trains and partners over 160 guide dogs per year with people who are blind or visually impaired. We are pleased to announce that the race raised $1,418 for the non-profit.

The Polar Bear Run is practically in our backyard, it passes through Kent, Washington and Warren as it follows the circumference of Lake Waramaug, a beautiful glacial lake. The weather in Connecticut at this time of year is completely unpredictable, so we were a little worried by the nor-easter that tore through the area on the Friday before the race. Come Sunday morning however, the roads were clear and a bunch of dedicated runners from all over Connecticut and New York braved the winds to come race!

Despite the last minute organization and weather scare 315 runners completed the 7.6 mile course on March 4th! The first place finish went to Brandon Leclair of Goshen, CT with a time of 42.01. Rob Weston from Middletown, CT finished second and the third place finisher was Robby Doyle from Bethel, CT.

The first place female finisher was Sherri Odell from Litchfield, CT with a time of 52.01. The second place woman was Shea Williams of West Hartford, CT and taking third was Chelsea Kromnel from Wallingford, CT. For complete results visit https://fasttracktiming.com/results/. Event photos were provided by Big Play Photos and can be viewed and purchased at http://www.bigplayphotos.com/.

We’d like to thank everyone who ran or volunteered and made this year’s last minute race such a success! We’d also like to thank the Lake Waramaug Country Club for hosting us! We’re excited for next year’s race and we promise to get it started a little sooner!