Paine Mountain Summit Trail Race

The Paine Mountain Summit Trail Race is a new event. The Saturday evening race will begin at the base of Paine Mountain at the Shaw Outdoor Center near the Norwich University campus in Northfield, Vermont. The race will be a fundraising event with a portion of the proceeds going to the Town of Northfield designated for trail management for the Northfield Town Forest and the Norwich XC program for the development of the new home XC course.

Vermont Flood Trail Damage

In July 2023, Vermont and other areas of the Northeast were hit with devastating flooding affecting many. While the town of Northfield was spared much of the damage, parts of Norwich University property including the Rugby pitch which is part of the new Norwich XC home course, and the trails on Paine Mountain on both the Norwich University and Northfield Town Forest sides were heavily damaged by flash flooding. The proceeds for the race will go towards current and ongoing trail repair, development and management.

Schedule of Events

Saturday, August 3
3:30-4:45 p.m. – Pre-race day registration and bib # pick-up
5:00 p.m. – START! Paine Mountain Summit Trail Race
7:00-8:00 p.m. – Post-race refreshments, Raffle Prizes & Awards
Start/Finish location: Shaw Outdoor Center, 165 Paine Mountain Drive, Northfield, VT

Course Description & Map

The Paine Mountain Summit Trail Race promises to be a scenic and challenging distance race. The summit of Paine Mountain is 2’408 feet. The course will start and finish at the base of Paine Mountain at the Norwich Shaw Outdoor Center. The race begins with a short gravel road section then turns onto a single-track switch back wooded trail, passes through Cheney Field overlooking the Town of Northfield before entering the Paine Mountain Trail with a long, wider trail climb to the Beaver Pond. From there, the course returns to a moderately challenging technical single-track trail climb to the summit. On the descent, the trail will remain single-track with some challenging steep and rocky sections winding down to the “Anchor”, the top of the old Norwich ski slope lift. From the Anchor, the final 1.5 miles will be on a technical switch-back trail to the finish. The distance will be approximately 7.5 miles with the course map to be posted here with a trail link when finalized this summer.

Map link: TBD

Registration and Costs

Early online registration: $35 through June 30, 2024
Later online registration: $40 July 1 through August 1
Day of Registration: $50 cash, check or Venmo only
*online registration fees and taxes added at check-out

Awards, Giveaways and Good Stuff!

Competition Awards will be announced when confirmed
Queen & King of Paine – first female and male to the summit
Top 3 Overall Female & Male Finishers
Top 3 Overall Female & Male Age Category (10 year divisions)
Non-binary awards to equal M/F award offering
Raffle prize drawing for all registered participants
Pre-race and post-race cold refreshments and food
Post-race campfire with Smores & roasting marsh mellows

PMTR Coaster & Tee-Shirts

Custom PMTR Slate Coasters for the first 75 registered participants
Special PMTR technical tee-shirts available for purchase while supplies last
*Tee-shirt and other PMTR gear for purchase as fundraising items

Volunteers

We need volunteers for the Paine Mountain Trail Races. If you are interested in volunteering for either the Summit race on August 3 or the Anchor Challenge race on September 20, please contact the race director. If you want to participate in one of the races and volunteer in the other Paine Mountain Trail Race, a comp entry may be given for one of the races or bring two volunteers to one race for a comp entry consideration. We appreciate your help!

Contact for Questions

Michael McGrane, Race Director
Norwich Cross Country Coach
mmcgrane@norwich.edu

About Paine Mountain

Named after Elijah Paine, a settler in central Vermont in the early 19th century, Paine Mountain is located just East of Norwich University campus in Northfield, Vermont along Route 12 between exits 5 and 6 on Interstate 89. The summit of Paine Mountain is 2’408 feet with part of the western slope of the mountain on the Northfield Town Forest side and part on Norwich University property.

About the Norwich Shaw Outdoor Center

In 2010, Norwich alum Larry Costa donated $1.4 million to the school in the memory of classmate Sgt. 1st Class John Shaw to develop the Norwich University SFC John Shaw Outdoor Center and a network of multi-use trails for hiking, mountain biking, trail running, snowshoeing, and cross country skiing. The Shaw Outdoor Center provides free use of outdoor recreational equipment as a service to the Northfield and Norwich communities.

To learn more, visit: https://www.norwich.edu/shaw

Event's current local time: 1:02 AM ET