NORWAY — It’s not always easy to plan for an event that requires snow.

The Norway Exile Snowshoe 5K and 10K races set for last weekend were canceled when it appeared there would not be enough snow. Then a snowstorm came barreling through Maine dumping plenty of snow.

“It will probably work out better in February anyway,” said Lee Dassler, coordinator of the Roberts Farm Preserve in Norway where the event is being held.

It is scheduled for 11 a.m. Feb. 19, she said.

The snowshoe races are part of a series of winter events taking place at the Roberts Farm on Roberts Road in Norway next month including a Mellie Dunham Shoe and String Festival set for Feb. 12, which will include snowshoe walk and games followed by corn chowder and chili at the Heywood Club and an afternoon of fiddle playing and dancing at the Norway Grange with Don Roy, David Sanderson and Pam Weeks.

Dassler said the snowshoe races will cap off a month of ski and snowshoe events on the 150-acre preserve and will be one of three snowshoe races in the area this winter.

She said there are two snowshoe races set for Bradbury Mountain as part of the Bradbury Mountain snowshoe series in February. “This will fit right in,” she said of the Feb. 13 and 27 races in Pownal.

Dassler said the snowshoe racers wear smaller snowshoes that are much like running shoes. In fact, she said, many of the racers are runners who are cross-training. “Ten kilometers is a lot. You’re going at a fast clip,” she said of the racers.

Participants can preregister at www.wfltmaine.org for $15 or on site the day of the race for $20 between 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

Other upcoming events at the preserve include an air rifle biathlon on Jan. 30, the annual Land Trust Nordic ski day on Feb. 5, a free presentation about the snowshoe industry in Norway at the Norway Memorial Library on Feb. 10.

The Western Foothills Land Trust purchased the 150-acre property that overlooks Lake Pennesseewassee and put it under land protection several years ago. Since that time, a trail system has been developed for hikers, Nordic skiers, snowshoers, the physically challenged, equestrians and cyclists.

ldixon@sunjournal.com

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