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Tony Dalisio of Tony Dalisio about to cross the finish lineWaterville bested fifteen other runners to win the 13th annual Wildlands Snowshoe Race on Saturday, Feb. 14. Dalisio, 32, completed the brutally cold and snowy 4.9-mile course in 49 minutes, 7 seconds. He was followed by Victor Skorapa of Freeport, with a time of 52:03, and the female winner, Jennifer VanDongen of Bar Harbor, who finished the course in 55:04. For full race results, click GreatPondSSResults2015. For photos, go to our Shutterfly Gallery.

The course was a labor of love for about a dozen volunteers, who spent hours clearing bent saplings and broken branches and breaking five miles of trail for days beforehand!

The Race was part of Wild Winter Fun Day, which also included the Wild Winter Scramble Obstacle course and a talk by Brian Theriault, Master Snowshoes Maker. If you missed his talk, we have his DVD available to loan, or you can visit his website at www.ilovesnowshoes.com.

The race is an annual fundraiser for Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust, which owns and maintains the 4,500-acre Great Pond Mountain Wildlands property. Visitors are welcome to enjoy many miles of trails open for snowshoeing, x-c skiing and snowmobiling.

Big thanks go to Peter Keeney, Jennifer Riefler, Geo Atwood, John & Kristen Wedin, Lin Gould, Patrick Reid, Dave Doherty, Brian Keegstra, Chris & Cheri Domina, Hans Krichels & Kidspeace, Connie Tuller, Ryan King, Emily Hawkins, Dawn Charnetzky, Gene Behrenshauser, Dawn Curtain, Tyler Young, Jack & Bonnie MacBrayne, Barbara Malm, Lucy Leaf, Karen Cote, Gunilla Kettis, Stan Pelletier, Mary and Parker Keller, Beth Mitchell, Paul Jack, Ralph & Jessy Hosford for all your help! Plus our prize donors: Hannaford, A&B Naturals of Bar Harbor, Trailhead CafĂ© of Bar Harbor, Pat’s Pizza, Cadillac Mtn. Sports, Epi’s Pizza of Bar Harbor and McKee Foods.