Officials from the North Country are looking for more ways to increase tourism.
But the White Mountains have already attracted one new group of tourists, adventure racers.
While they seem to be looking for shots of adrenaline, local businesses are hoping they will give the economy a little rush.
NHPR correspondent Chris Jensen has the story.
SOUND OF TEAM PLOTTING MAP COORDINATES.
At the Franconia Inn about 80 people have gathered for an unusual kind of tourist activity.
They are going over maps, checking coordinates.
They are marking points they will race to find during Untamed Adventure’s New England Adventure Race.
Over three days they will mountain bike, canoe, kayak, hike through the mountains and climb and descend a cliff.
There are no official breaks.
The team that does it the fastest wins.
New Hampshire has a few adventure races, but at none is longer than a day.
This one is three days.
And that fact has drawn competitors from as far away as California.
There may be more races of this kind coming here.
Adventure racer Jennifer Johnson of Bethlehem is working with another group, Ultimate XC.
Johnson is looking for a headquarters to hold an event as early as next year. She hopes to work with local, non-profit groups and thinks the event could draw as many as 1,000 competitors.
“There is the idea of being in the Great Northwoods, there is the idea of being in the Franconia-Littleton region and then there is the idea of traveling through all of them north to south.”
This has some businessmen hoping adventure racing will contribute a little towards making the North Country’s economy a winner, too.
Peter Riviere is the executive director of the Coos Economic Development Corporation.
He says such events are important because they show what the North Country is all about.
“I think that fits in with you know the ideal that we are trying to promote for The North Country. One of the shorthand slogans that people used back when the Great Northwoods started began 10 years ago was that this is not an armchair recreation area, you have to participate here.”
Richard Morris is the innkeeper at The Franconia Inn.
He sees such adventure races as a way to attract a new kind of tourist.
“It is bringing in a younger generation of people which I think that our White Mountain National Forest is getting an older population that is mainly using it. So, a new generation is getting exposed to it and exposed to the North Country of New Hampshire and Vermont, which is great.”
Grant Killian, who heads up Untamed Adventure, said there were plenty of reasons for holding an event in the North Country.
“We’ve got these extremes in elevation, then we’ve also got mountain valleys, a beautiful trail system as well as an infra-structure up here that is really conducive to us holding a race. “
That infrastructure ranges from plenty of hotel rooms to outfitters who can help provide equipment such as kayaks. And, Killian said officials have been easy to work with.
Just before noon on Thursday, Killian was giving the teams their final briefing.
“I mentioned that moose are out there. Moose are not really aggressive, but they are dumb. You do not want to get in their way.”
Then, the teams were off.
By Saturday afternoon they were straggling into the Franconia Notch.
There, they had to scale Artist’s Bluff and then kayak several laps around Echo Lake.
One competitor got directions from a race official:
“We can leave our bike and our bike stuff here, right. Yup and I am going to give you a bag. All you need is your rope gear. You take that with you. Then you come back here and do your kayaking. Okay, thank you.”
They are dirty and scraped. One suspects – if one got too close – they would smell bad. Really bad.
Several are sleeping on top of rocks and boulders.
They are sleeping so soundly one would think they had pillows.
One young woman is calmly using duct tape to cover blisters.
They are weary but oddly cheerful.
By Saturday night the first team arrives back at the Franconia Inn.
Team Summit Achievement from Maine has won.
A Canadian team, Running Free, is second.
Third is Littleton Bike & Fitness.
Only two of the 24 teams drop out.
Coos economic development director Riviere says such events have value.
“Those are what would attract the younger generation because that is the kind of stuff they are into. So, we need to promote that.”
And race organizer Killian is already thinking about coming back.
“There is tons of terrain we are not touching on in this race right out of Franconia. So we certainly could. We have also looked at some areas further north near Colebrook and closer to the Canadian border. But our long-term plan would be to make this kind of an established thing people would circle on their calendar every year.”
For NHPR News this is Chris Jensen in Bethlehem.
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