Canada’s Annie Jean finishes second at World Snowshoe Championships

It was an interesting scene at the World Snowshoe Championships in Saranac Lake, N.Y. on the weekend as those watching the race spotted shorts and singlets on course thanks to the warm temperatures. According to the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, two-dozen volunteers shovelled snow onto the course ahead of the race and conditions forced organizers to reduce the course to 8K from 10K.

In what was Saturday’s most impressive result for Canadians, Annie Jean finished second in the women’s division at the World Snowshoe Championships. David Le Porho, a world champion in previous years, finished fifth and was the top master in the men’s race. See some of Le Porho’s tips when it comes to snowshoe running here.

Jean, who resides in Chelsea, Que., covered the 8K course in 36:48.77, finishing 50 seconds behind first-place finisher Ragna Debats of the Netherlands. The 36-year-old had a strong end to 2016 finishing fourth overall (top Canadian) at The North Face Endurance Challenge 50-Mile Championship in San Francisco on Dec. 3. See the full backstory on Jean here, which includes her recovery from having surgery to repair a kink in her external iliac artery.

The championships were held at Dewey Mountain in Saranac Lake, located approximately 90 minutes south of both the Ontario and Quebec borders. There were 262 participants who ran the World Snowshoe Championships, 18 of who listed their home address being in Canada.

RELATED: Why elite ultrarunner Annie Jean calls rubber clogs her “secret weapon.”

Champion mountain runner Joseph Gray of Colorado won the overall men’s race in 28:22.05, which translates to roughly 3:32 per kilometre. Le Porho, who told Canadian Running before the race that he was looking to podium despite not “focusing his training” on this race, ran 30:05.54.

Results can be found here.