42.0°

As one of yesteryear's main means of rural winter travel, snowshoes served as a vital part of transportation and survival along the cold trails. Next month, six local athletes will test their abilities on the traditional equipment against some of the best snowshoers in the Arctic Winter Games.

Juneau coach Merry Ellefson leads six local snowshoers into this year's Arctic Winter Games in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, on March 9-15. Juneau-Douglas High School students Leah Francis and Hunter Brown will compete in the junior division while JDHS freshman Zack Bursell and eighth graders Sidney Browning, David Francis and Abby Query will race in the juvenile division. The junior division is for athletes born in 1989 or later while the juvenile division is reserved for competitors born in 1993 or later.

Palmer's Heidi Donor and Anchorage's Bart Grabam will also represent Alaska in snowshoeing.

The young athletes will not be using the latest technology available to run on packed snow. Instead, the equipment harkens back to the days of wooden frames and leather or gut webbing. Gone from the snowshoes are any means of affixed traction and synthetic materials as well as any commercially fashioned, hard-soled boots. The only footwear allowed must be fashioned of natural material from ankle to sole, so mukluks or moccasins will be worn during competition.

David Francis, 14, snowshoed for two years. For the last two weeks, though, he's made the switch to traditional frames for the Arctic Winter Games. He tried to list all the reasons why modern upgrades were needed from the traditional wooden shoes.

"The bindings break a lot and they fall off all the time," he said. "They are generally heavier and they are way slower and they whack against your legs. And they rot and they fall apart, but they look kind of cool."

While the older, wooden frames may lack the sturdiness and stability of the modern equipment, by no means are the traditional shoes obsolete. It may take a little getting used to, but they can still handle the snow.

"Using the older stuff is not very convenient and sometimes pretty uncomfortable, but when it works out, it's amazing how good it feels because there's no metal things hitting each other and no plastic straps squeaking," Brown said.

Traditional snowshoes are bound to the feet with lampwick - an old-fashioned cotton webbing that is dipped into oil lanterns commonly used by the Amish. Rawhide or soft leather can also fasten bindings, but duct tape and other manufactured products are not permitted.

Arctic Winter Games rules state snowshoes may not be any smaller than 9-by-32 inches and nothing on the shoe or mukluks can be synthetic. Before and after the race, judges inspect inside and outside the footwear for illegal materials.

Although Juneau's team is training with the lightest weight footwear possible, some of the Inuit or Inupiaq people from Greenland and Northern Canada compete in with big mukluks that are generations old.

"Their mukluks are very intricate," Ellefson said. "They have been made by family members and they have stories behind them, and for these people, the games are about sharing culture as much as they are about competing."

Racing in the wooden snowshoes requires a different technique from recreational snowshoeing.

"For me it is a new style of running and a good workout," Query said.

Leah Francis researched competitive snowshoeing and learned from four-time Alaska high school cross country running champion, Kristy Klinnert, what not to do.

"You can't pick up your knees, Francis said. "Otherwise, you'll burn out too quick."

Ellefson interjected, "Although one of the best cross country runners to ever come out of Alaska, in a book about the Arctic Winter Games, there is a picture of Klinnert and her bad form, picking up her knees.

"It is more of a shuffle, not a run, and you recruit other muscles, so there are different things that hurt when you start snowshoe racing."

Elite cross country runners seem to have an advantage in the snowshoeing competition. Tyler Dinnan, a 2005 state cross country champion from Juneau-Douglas, won two gold ulus in snowshoeing while his twin brother, Wesley, won one gold.

The team gets together twice a week to work out but individuals train up to five days a week. Training with the traditional gear is vital because many problems can occur and must be corrected before the games in March.

"I have been having tons of problems with my feet like tissue build up and blisters and all this weird stuff happening on the bottom of my feet," Query said.

For the competitors, learning to keep the shoes on their feet is a challenge in itself.

"I think that is what makes the races so nerve wracking is the fact that your shoes may not stay on and when they come off it is a pain to deal with," said Brown, who competed in the 2006 Arctic Winter Games on the Kenai Peninsula.

Ellefson said competitors must finish the event, even if a racer loses a snowshoe multiple times, to get an overall placement.

Still, the Arctic Winter Games are about more then just winning.

"Last time I went, there was a very relaxed feeling at the snowshoeing event and it wasn't like anyone was out to get you," Brown said. "The competition is really based on having fun and enjoying the games."

The games are as much about culture as having fun. Many aspects of Arctic northern culture are new to the participants, and the games could be a very eye opening experience.

Leah Francis found out about one traditional diet that incorporated eating the contents of a moose's stomach.

"I thought that was very interesting because I would never imagine that happening," said Francis.

Query said, "I am really excited to be apart of the AWG because it is one of the best things I have ever been apart of."

Snowshoeing first appeared at the Arctic Winter Games back in 1974 and has been a staple sport ever since. Contestants from Alaska, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Yamal-Nenets in Siberia are expected at this year's snowshoeing events.

Depending upon the racer's age, individuals compete in sprint distances from 100 to 1,500 meters in length. The 1,600-meter relay is a coed event and the cross country races range from 2.5 to 10 kilometers in length.