The start/finish area is nice here. Indoor bathrooms, although not enough of them, and the trail was promising at the start. This wasn't a particularly easy course though. If I … MORE
The start/finish area is nice here. Indoor bathrooms, although not enough of them, and the trail was promising at the start. This wasn’t a particularly easy course though. If I was local, I would do this one again, but I drove 90 and probably won’t go back to repeat this one.
The post-race snacks were nice, parking was easy, and it was well-organized. But the directions to the race were not good. I ended up at a nature center. The nature center people gave me directions back to where the race was and it was clear that I wasn’t the first person they’d had to re-direct.
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Nice start/finish area, not easy course.
The start/finish area is nice here. Indoor bathrooms, although not enough of them, and the trail was promising at the start. This wasn't a particularly easy course though. If I … MORE
The start/finish area is nice here. Indoor bathrooms, although not enough of them, and the trail was promising at the start. This wasn’t a particularly easy course though. If I was local, I would do this one again, but I drove 90 and probably won’t go back to repeat this one.
The post-race snacks were nice, parking was easy, and it was well-organized. But the directions to the race were not good. I ended up at a nature center. The nature center people gave me directions back to where the race was and it was clear that I wasn’t the first person they’d had to re-direct.
Nice trail 10k
This was a fun Saturday run. Great production by the Knoxville Track Club - clear parking areas with a volunteer directing. Nice course, well marked, mostly single track. It is … MORE
This was a fun Saturday run. Great production by the Knoxville Track Club – clear parking areas with a volunteer directing. Nice course, well marked, mostly single track. It is in the Knoxville Urban Wilderness so it’s close by. I had 930 ft of vert on my watch. The trails were not muddy for the most part despite two days of solid rain before. There was even a Holiday Fair at Ijams Nature Center which made for a good post race meal within walking distance on paved paths. Definitely will keep this in mind next year.
Beautiful Minimal Trail Race
The 2020 Dirty South Trail Half Marathon & 10K was part of the Knoxville Track Club’s annual trail running series. It takes place in Knoxville’s Urban Wilderness over bike and … MORE
The 2020 Dirty South Trail Half Marathon & 10K was part of the Knoxville Track Club’s annual trail running series. It takes place in Knoxville’s Urban Wilderness over bike and hiking trails, starting at Meade’s Quarry. The KTC does an excellent job putting races on. The trails were well marked, there were 2, maybe 3 water bottle tables, and friendly, helpful volunteers at the staging area. A tshirt was available – one for this year’s trail series, not race specific.
This year’s event had brilliant winter weather that was initially hidden by early morning river fog. The starting temperature was around 32 and was up to 50 3 hours later. The trails had mud from the rain 2 days earlier for a little extra challenge.
It was so nice to have an opportunity to run in the woods thanks to the KTC.
Treading trails in Knoxville
First off, Knoxville is AWESOME. A smaller city with a great downtown area, a free trolley and friendly people. I had read about the "Dirty South Trail" marathon online several … MORE
First off, Knoxville is AWESOME. A smaller city with a great downtown area, a free trolley and friendly people.
I had read about the “Dirty South Trail” marathon online several months ago and thought, “cool!”. I have run a couple trail marathons in the past and enjoyed the solitude and nature. THOSE WERE NOT TRAIL MARATHONS!!
There was no real expo. Just needed to show up 15 minutes before the race. 46 persons had pre-registerd for the full and a hundred or so in the half. There were also a number of people signing up last minute.
Following 2 days of rain, it was refreshing to wake up to overcast but a dry morning, and with the forecast of rain around 2 pm I am thinking, “wow, I’ll be long done by the rain”. Tee hee. 95 % of the course was run on trails, often single path, an occasional creek although not sure if they were normal or a result of the previous day’s rain. This was run on Ijams (I ams) nature park. The trails were foot paths and for some reason (2 day’s rain), thick and gooey mud was present for nearly every step. Remember my mention of creeks? They were useful to clean the mud from, well, pretty much everywhere. And then you jump back into the mud. IT WAS AWESOME! And tough. The course was a 13 mile course, marathoners run the course twice. I was oh so considering of stopping halfway but so happy I pushed on. There were 3 water and electrolyte stops on the course and one at the finish/halfway point. They also had cookies, chips, M&Ma’s and fruit. At the finish line it is a pretty simple affair but there was a hose to rinse yourself clean. All runners receive a t-shirt with the trail runners logo. Pre-registerd marathon runners received a special “finishers ” tee. No medals were given.
This is a run to experience a real trail run. It was tough, but a great pleasure. Although a small race, I often found myself conversing with another runner along the course.