The Jaffrey Ice Racing Association held its first races of the season Saturday on its home track – Lake Contoocook.
Weather permitting the races will continue every weekend through the beginning of March.
“If it stays cold. We need a foot of ice to race on,” said Melvin Burgoyne of Jaffrey on the frosty shores of Lake Contoocook Saturday.
The ice was thick enough to finally start the season Saturday and temperatures ranged in the 30s. Though warmer temperatures, hitting the 50s, were predicted for Monday and Tuesday, Burgoyne said Saturday, the ice should be able to survive a few warm days. If the temperatures heat up, it would likely only melt the snow on top of the ice, which would freeze right up when the temperatures drop again.
The Association usually races on Sundays but raced on Saturday to make way for the Annual Ice Fishing Derby that took place on the lake on Sunday.
The Jaffrey Ice Racing Association has been around since the 1930s. Burgoyne, who has been racing with the Association since 1987, was on the sidelines Saturday, a car he has been working on to race in the antique division is not ready yet, he said. His son Dwight Burgoyne, who has been racing since 1997, was there to race in the modified division. The races are simply for fun, Burgoyne said.
“Just for the thrill,” Burgoyne said. “It’s just bragging rights. You just win a plastic trophy. There’s no money to be won.”
They charge for parking to cover their costs, but anything left over at the end of the season is donated to a locate nonprofit, Burgoyne said, and at the end of the season the club members hold a beach clean up to give back to the community.
Nick Ellis of Troy, who has been racing with the club for the past four years, won his first race Saturday in the modified division.
Ellis echoed Burgoyne, saying ice racing is fun and thrilling.
When asked why he races Ellis said, “For the thrill, it’s fun, it’s a blast.”