BLIZZARD SPRINT 2017

Willsboro, March 14— It was a day when the town of Willsboro declared an official “state of emergency”, cautioning people to “stay off of the roads”.  Evidently, Jason Fiegl and Cole Starkey felt it was ok to be on the trails, Tuesday morning and afternoon.

“I woke up, heard that school was cancelled, saw the forecast, and decided to go for it,” said Fiegl, of the impending blizzard that would ultimately dump two feet on the Adirondacks in one day.  “I called up Cole and asked ‘Do you want to join?’, and he said ‘yea’.”

The pair of Patch Sprint legends (11 overall titles between them) experienced heavy snow right from the start.  “There was already one or two fresh inches on Bare; over two on the ‘Snake; by the time we hit Pok-O, it was a full on blizzard— cold, wind, and heavy snow coming down.”

With just one pair of micro spikes, and one pair of YakTrax, the duo compromised:  “We each wore one of each.  It was definitely helpful, with the new snow concealing a lot of ice underneath. Sorry we couldn't take more pictures, but the camera froze!"”

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Given all of the obstacles they faced, it’s amazing that Fiegl and Starkey completed the course, let alone finish in an impressive time of just over three hours (SEE FULL SUMMIT SPLIT TIMES HERE).  While understandably not a course record, the time was good enough to better the mark put in earlier this winter by Jacob Gittler.
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With only six days remaining to this winter season, and with the new snow on course, it appears likely that Fiegl and Starkey will be the 2017 winter champions.  This is Starkey’s first winter title, while Fiegl has been seasonal champ nine times, and moves back into a tie with Tim Singer for most Patch Sprint finishes, 26 (SEE EVENT RECORDS HERE)

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