Maine news, sports, weather | Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine

Augusta's new ski trails to be tested in first race

By Keith Edwards kedwards@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

AUGUSTA — Racers on skinny skis will take to Augusta’s woods, hills and fields Sunday in the first-ever race on the newly created trails in the Bond Brook Recreation Area.

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Bill Rogers heads out on a trail Monday in the Bond Brook Recreation Area in Augusta. A member of the Augusta Trails and International Skiing Federation official, Rogers was checking the condition of the new trails that are scheduled to host a “nordic citizens ski race” Sunday.

Staff photo by Andy Molloy

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Organizers see the event as the opening of a world-class outdoor recreational facility. But they still have plenty of obstacles to slalom through: raising funds, solving site access problems and educating users, some of whom have skied the wrong way on the race course surface — potentially damaging it.

They also must plan for the unknown when it comes to the snowfall the previously rutted, neglected paths around Bond Brook need to stay open.

Nevertheless, “we’re excited” about Sunday’s event, said Mike Seitzinger, president of the nonprofit organization Augusta Trails. “It’s the first time we’ve done a Nordic race for some of us, so there is some learning to be done.”

“Fortunately, we have Bill’s guidance,” Seitzinger said. “Bill is the visionary who saw what could be at Bond Brook.”

That’s Bill Rogers — a local doctor with a wealth of experience in such matters who two years ago helped hatch a plan to bring world-class ski racing to a cluster of woods in an otherwise fairly urban part of Augusta.

Rogers is an International Skiing Federation official and certified technical delegate who refereed the 2009 national NCAA Nordic championships. He was also able to tap John Morton, of Vermont’s Morton Associates, a designer of international cross-country skiing venues, to design the Bond Brook trails.

Seitzinger said Morton walked the trails — which traverse woods, steep hills and an open, bowl-like field area — after they were cut, and said they were state-of-the-art and nearly on par with the course used at the most recent winter Olympics, in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Some of the challenges are as plain as getting recreational users of the race course to go the right direction on the trails.

Rogers, in an e-mail to supporters, said at least one individual “sidestepped” — walked sideways on skis, leaving horizontal tracks — up a steep halfpipe and several other hills designed to be descents, not climbs.

That “has effectively destroyed the snow cover on those sections of trail,” the e-mail warned. “Yellow signs are posted at the trailheads indicating the correct direction and also the wrong way. It is up to all of us to follow the informational signs and inform others who may not be aware.”

But while grass may be poking through the snowpack in central Maine, the trails at Bond Brook are covered and ready for racing, Seitzinger said.

He noted snow forecast for today could help provide even more cover.

The races start at 10 a.m. Sunday with Bill Koch League race for children in grades kindergarten through grade eight, followed by a New England Nordic Ski Association-sanctioned men’s 10K freestyle race at 11 a.m. and women’s 10K freestyle at 12:30 p.m.

As the first-ever race here, organizers aren’t sure how many racers and spectators to expect; Seitzinger said he is hoping for at least 100.

Spectators may access the course by foot or skis at the primary entrance at the rear of Mount Hope Cemetery, next to the Augusta State Airport. Down a steep hill is a flat area organizers call “the stadium,” which provides multiple good views for spectators, Seitzinger said.

An access road for vehicles to get into the site is in the planning stages, but building the road isn’t likely to be cheap. Road construction would be paid for by private funds raised by the nonprofit Augusta Trails.

Seitzinger said they’ve raised about 70 percent of their $480,000 fundraising goal. He anticipates the organization’s capital campaign will conclude sometime this year.

The funds will help continue the creation of a planned 17-plus miles of four-season, multiuse trails on the 268 acres of the city-owned Bond Brook Recreation Area.