CASTLETON ‒ Donna Smyers, from Adamant, trains and races on land and in the water. During the spring and summer months, the world champion triathlete averages 100 miles of bicycling, 20-plus miles of running, and three miles of swimming per week. So far in 2023, Smyers has logged 2,240 miles[Read More…]

by Jim Flint NORTHFIELD ̶ The 44th Annual Northfield footraces, on September 2, opened the town’s traditional Labor Day Weekend Festival. Runners and walkers, ages 5 to 84, were dispersed among a 5k run-walk, 5k Power Walk, and one-mile kids’ race. With 128 finishers, the 5k run-walk started the action[Read More…]

STOWE – Athletes from towns covered by the Hardwick Gazette excelled at Sunday’s 15th Annual Race to the Top of Vermont. The rigorous event involved biking or running up the 4.3-mile Mount Mansfield Toll Road. A total of 288 runners and 57 mountain bikers conquered the 2,564 vertical feet climb.[Read More…]

BERLIN ̶ Fifty-three athletes competed in the 43rd annual Berlin Pond Five Miler on August 17. The contest started pleasantly cool with temperatures in the high 60s F. A light southerly headwind gently whisked away sweat as runners climbed up Brookfield Road on the west side of the pond. Bearing[Read More…]

by Jim Flint MILWAUKEE – World champion triathlete Donna Smyers of Adamant added two national championship medals to her collection at the USA Triathlon Age Group Nationals on August 5-6. She finished second in the Olympic-Distance triathlon on August 5 and first in the Sprint-Distance triathlon the following day. Smyers,[Read More…]

WEBSTERVILLE ̶ A record field of 96 runners and walkers turned out for the Barre Heritage Trail Race on July 29. Held at the Millstone Trails, the 5k course looped through the abandoned granite quarries of the Barre Town Forest. For Ben Taska, formerly from Craftsbury and Woodbury, the trail[Read More…]

MCDONALD, Penn. ̶ Elizabeth McCarthy of Walden shook off adversity to excel in track and field at the 2023 National Senior Games. McCarthy and her husband, Tim Hogeboom, were among the 10,000-plus athletes who converged on Pittsburgh, July 7 to July 18, for the biennial Olympic-style senior competition. McCarthy’s fifth[Read More…]

by Jim Flint MONTPELIER – The iconic July 3 Montpelier Mile race kicked off the Capital City’s annual Independence Day Celebration. The pre-parade run was sponsored by Onion River Outdoors, with support from Central Vermont Runners and volunteers. As crowds of spectators lined State Street and Main Street, the diverse[Read More…]

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Evan Thornton-Sherman, from Waterford, keeps getting stronger and faster. On June 30, he traveled to the Boston area. He competed in the Tracksmith Twilight 5000m event at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Tracksmith series offers runners of diverse ages and abilities a summer opportunity to race[Read More…]

MONTPELIER – Thirty-four adventurous runners took flight Saturday at the Second Annual Onion River Outdoors Birdland Trail Race. Starting from the Montpelier Recreation Field, the 95 percent single-track course included a mile-plus hill climb amidst forested scenery. Runners ascended 500 feet during the first half of their run, with a[Read More…]

MONTPELIER – Morning showers served only to whet the enthusiasm of 91 runners at the 44th Annual Capital City Stampede. Ranging in age from 17 to 83, the galloping racers splashed through puddles in the early going and basked in sunlight at the end. Temperatures in the high 50s to[Read More…]