Saturday, July 17, 2010

Sawnee Mountain 3.5m Trail Run

The sixth and final race in the 2010 Dirty Spokes Trail Run Series took advantage of Sawnee Mountain hiking trail system. The trail is a pretty rocky mostly double track set of trails. Sawnee Mountain Park is maintained by the Forsyth County Park and Recreation department. Like with the five races before, 8:30 AM start time started the run.

There were a lot of entrants for this race. There must of have 200-250 people. It was nice to see such a good turn out. The weather was not too bad despite the overnight passing thunderstorms in the area. The run started in the parking lot with a quick loop around the parking lot to spread out the field a bit. Once out of the parking lot the real work began. It was time to climb the 2.1 worth of uphill. Did a combination of running and speed hiking the hills. The first mile and a half took you up the Lower Laurel Trail which pass by the South Old mine shaft. Past the mine shaft started the Indian Seats Trail which gives the runner a quick view of the Bettis Tribble Gap entrance parking lot area. That point continues pretty flat until the hard right to the top of Indian Seats Trail. This was pretty much a speed hike to the top. The hike to the top does give you a great view of trees and quite a bit of Yucca plant. Once to the top it is nothing but downhill. There is however one catch. The steepest parts of the downhill are also the rockiest. About halfway down the trail changed from Indian Seats Trail to Upper Laurel Trail. The downhill part of the Indian Seats was a challenge. Made pretty good time going downhill. Got in line with a couple of runners to keep a solid pace. It was not until after the full decent and last major turn before the sprint to the finish to the visitor center where a rock reached out and grabbed the shoe. Went down using my hand and hip to slide a bit which allowed for a quick popup and continue the pace. Wondering a bit if the camera guy actually got the spill or not. The sprint to the finish was a good solid run crossing the line in about 37 minutes.

The results of the ascent and descent of Sawnee Mountain have been posted.

Thank you to Dirty Spokes, sponsors, and volunteers for a great race and an awesome series. Looking forward to seeing the calendar for 2011.

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