A big thank you to all of attendees, sponsors & organizers of the 12th Annual NEXTerra Back-2-School Run. You made the event, held over the weekend of September 17th, an unqualified success. We were back at our favorite stomping grounds of the Little Monadnock Family Trails with the fantastic Shir-Roy campground being the base camp again this year.
We had just under 50 attendees, with most arriving & setting up camp on Friday evening. The cooler temps at night, allowed for the much sought after group campfire. Sharing the fire invariable led to many shared stories, many adult beverages & snacks lasting late into the night.
The trails this year were quite dry, leading to large plumes of dust resulting in fine coatings of dust on all our rigs. Owing to heavy usage, the trails were significantly more difficult than last year. They were however, just about perfect, challenging all groups, forcing drivers to use finesse & choose proper lines to overcome obstacles that were easily conquered in the past. The black group had the privilege of running a brand new advanced level trail that proved to be an all round favorite, it is aptly named ‘Carnage’. Given the difficulty of each category of trails, it was surprising that damage this year was limited to, at worst, minor scratches/dents. Everyone made it back to camp safe & intact….excited & tired at the same time. We had several first time wheelers who reported having a blast, many commenting that their expectations of themselves, their rigs, wheeling & the NEXTerra community were comprehensively blown away!
Once back at camp, our volunteer grill masters turned out an array of tasty treats for dinner keeping us well fed. The raffle with an amazing range of prizes donated by our many event sponsors followed dinner & was second only to the wheeling…. thank you sponsors!! The wind made the raffle more exciting, repeatedly attempting to blow it all away but was beaten back by some quick thinking attendees. With the last of the raffle prizes being won, folks retired back to the campfires continuing the revelry & planning for the adventures to come.
The rain made an appearance early the next morning, rinsing the dust off our tents & rigs. We had a exceptionally successful weekend, as evidenced by the pictures (here & here).
Thank you once again to all those who attended, our sponsors & everyone who helped make this a success. Make plans to join us on our next club event.
See you on the trail!
Suresh/Dirtysocks
VP, NEXTerra
