Cazenovia now has a world champion to call its own.
Jeanette Cudney, a Cazenovia High School graduate, went to Quebec City, Quebec on January 31 and won the 5,000-meter division of the International Snow Shoe Federation World Championships.
Having qualified for this event by winning the Junior National Snowshoe Championships in Vermont last year, Cudney headed for Canada amid a busy freshman year at Le Moyne College, where she ran cross country in the fall and is now in the middle of indoor track.
The conditions for the ISSF World Championships were tough. Four inches of snow that fell the night before the race created a course that had a softer, less packed-in surface. The 2.5-kilometer Quebec City course featured two steep climbs and a long downhill stretch, too.
In addition, the 200-plus competitors, men and women in various age groups that either took part in 5K or 10K divisions, dealt with frigid temperatures of minus-2 degrees that, with the win, felt more like 13 below.
None of this bothered Cudney one bit. Of the 76 snowshoe competitors who went 5,000 meters, Cudney was the fastest of the women, and 14th overall, beating several men with her time of 30 minutes, 10.36 seconds.
Cudney was well clear of the other female competitors. Her closest pursuer, Canada’s Lise Le Guellec, finished in a time of 32:11.27, more than two minutes behind.
After that was done, Cudney made her way back to Le Moyne, where she’ll finish the indoor track season and then run outdoor track in the spring.
