Regional Running Series
This year, instead of running one race, try completing a whole series.
THE BEAST • CENTRAL VA
If you can complete The Beast you are a special breed of ultrarunner. With no distance shorter than 50K, the series features six epic races in the most rugged and remote portions of the Virginia Blue Ridge. The Beast incorporates four longstanding races of the former Lynchburg Ultra Series: Holiday Lake 50K, Promise Land 50K (April 24), the 50-mile Mountain Masochist (November 6), and Hellgate 100K (December 11). There are also two new races, the Terrapin Mountain 50K (March 27) and the brutal Grindstone 100-mile slog (October 1).
eco-xsports.com.
ATLANTA TRACK CLUB GRAND PRIX • ATLANTA, GA
Pavement pounders in the ever-expanding Atlanta-sphere are lucky to have access to the Atlanta Track Club, one of the most active running groups in the country. The club hosts over a dozen races a year from low-key 5Ks to the massive Peachtree Road Race 10K (July 4) that features 55,000 runners, and the new increasingly popular Atlanta Marathon and Half-Marathon (November 25).
atlantatrackclub.org.
TRACK CLUB RACE SERIES • VARIOUS LOCATIONS
Several other regional track clubs offer Grand Prix race series, including the Asheville Track Club, Winston-Salem’s Twin City Track Club, Charlottesville Track Club, Richmond Track Club, and the Tidewater-area-based Peninsula Track Club in Virginia.
BACKYARD BURN TRAIL RUNNING SERIES • METRO D.C. AREA
Get some sweet relief from the D.C. area’s metro rut with this growing trail running series that takes place at some of Northern Virginia’s best parks. Each of the eight races (four spring, four fall) has five- and 10-mile options on twisty singletrack, forested fire roads, and a little pavement.
Ex2adventures.com.
WEST VIRGINIA MOUNTAIN TRAIL RUNNERS SERIES
This Mountain State crew often bucks the competitive and conventional in exchange for group-based extreme challenges. There’s the Dirty Dog 15K, held every spring, where you can run with your favorite furry friend on the trails of the Kanawha State Forest, the epic Highlands Sky Trail Run in the Monongahela National Forest in the summer, and the tough Helvetia 10K Mountain Run that coincides with the annual fall fair in the namesake throwback Swiss village.
wvmtr.org.
ROANOKE NON ULTRA TRAIL SERIES • ROANOKE, VA
This small grassroots trail series has grown in the past two years thanks to the efforts of some casual Mountain Junkies (mountainjunkies.net). Located at the different venues around the Roanoke Valley, the series includes the Explore Your Limits 10K/5K (March 6), the Montvale 10/5 miler (March 27), the Mill Mountain 10K (April 17) that climbs up and around Roanoke’s famous inner-city peak, the Trail Nut Half-Marathon and 10K (June 5), and finally the headlamp-required Into the Darkness Night Trail Run (October 23).
BIGGEST SERIES IN THE BLUE RIDGE
BRO has consolidated some of the region’s best races into the Blue Ridge Cup, the biggest race series in the South. Get the details and sign up only at blueridgeoutdoors.com.
