The Shut-in Ridge Trail Race is 18+ miles on one of Asheville’s most iconic and grueling trails. If the scenery doesn’t take your breath away, the uphills will! The course this year will be longer due to the Blue Ridge Parkway requirement that it or any other races can no …
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The Shut-in Ridge Trail Race is 18+ miles on one of Asheville’s most iconic and grueling trails. If the scenery doesn’t take your breath away, the uphills will!
The course this year will be longer due to the Blue Ridge Parkway requirement that it or any other races can no longer finish on the Parkway. The race will start at the NC Arboretum at the original start and continue on the same course as in the past to the Mt Pisgah parking area. At this point it will continue one tenth of a mile on the paved road to the Buck Springs Overlook on the left. Runners will reenter the Mtn to Sea Trail on the right side of that overlook. Runners never reach the parkway during that one tenth of a mile paved stretch.
Once on the Mtn to Sea Trail, runners will go one half mile to a two way intersection and will bear left onto the Laurel Mtn Trail. Runners will stay on this trail for 1 1/2 miles until the next intersection. Runners will take a right onto the Laurel Mtn Connector Trail for three tenths of a mile until it reaches the next intersection. At this intersection runners will take a left onto the Pilot Rock Trail and run for 1.85 miles until they reach Yellow Gap RD (FSR 1206). At Yellow Gap Road they will go right for seven tenths of a mile until they reach the left that takes them to Wolf Ford Horse Camp. After that left they will go one tenth of a mile and take a left into the campground and finish about half of a tenth into the finish line. The new distance for the course will be 22.6 miles. This new 4.8 mile section is EXTREMELY technical and slow except for the last dirt road section.
The origins of the Shut In race date back to December 13, 1980, when some 64 intrepid men and women assembled to clamor over rocks, roots, and fallen leaves as they followed the trail of the same name originally blazed by George Vanderbilt that led from his home, Biltmore, to his hunting lodge up on Mount Pisgah. Runners have continued that tradition now for 38 years, making Shut In one of the oldest continuous-running races in the region.
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