Revised Snowshoe track unveiled

Riders in the Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series will find a new race course and improved pitting and parking at the Moose Racing Snowshoe GNCC.

The revised track will still feature the challenging terrain it is known for, but also alleviate the biggest concerns from last year’s inaugural event at West Virginia’s largest ski resort.

The GNCC track crew spent the entire month of July cutting new trails for the Sept. 13-14 races. This year’s track will pass near more Snowshoe hotels and condos than before, allowing more racers to pit and park right next to their rooms. This year, the trail will connect from the Silver Creek complex through Camp 4, Powder Ridge, Shamrock, Whistlepunk, Powder Monkey and finally at the Top of the World.

The crew also worked to eliminate high-speed gravel road sections of last year’s course.

“This year we will not cross over the road by Silver Creek, and we will not have two miles of gravel roads off the start,” says GNCC lieutenant trail boss Buren Hamrick. “When we cross the road after the start, we will turn right, and hit woods and trails. Then we will zig zag across the ski slopes. But we won’t be in the gravel.”

Last year’s event quickly garnered a reputation as one of the toughest on the circuit, and Hamrick says the new track will still offer a significant challenge while offering a better overall variety of trail surfaces.

“We took most of those gravel roads out and replaced them with good, technical trails,” says Hamrick. “You’ll have roots and rocks. It will be tough.”

In addition, the redesigned Youth GNCC track will offer more woods than last year’s course, which ran through several high-speed sections. The Youth track will run between Camp 4 and Top of the World.