27°
Windy.
Hills. Hills. Hills.
Joanna (9 mi) and Tracy (4 mi) photo courtesy of TapSnap
Fantastic day for a race! It was sunny and crowds were cheerful in spite of the $5 parking fee charged by the U.S. National Whitewater Center for this event. (NOTE: Not all race events at USNWC incur a parking fee and many runners are vocal about the fee). The entry/exit was streamlined though. At least 6 parking attendants collecting fees to move the line quickly into the parking lot. The lot was never completely full although it looked really close there around 9 AM.
It had been several years since I had participated in a trail race on the USNWC course. Many improvements have been made since then. Bridges, wider paths, better signage and lots of trail activity sites to mark your point along the route and a water stop close to mile 2, for those of us doing the 4 mile race.
One of the main attractions (other than location, trail race) for this event is the shirt. It's actually a hoodie sweatshirt, as seen in the picture above on the left. This year's color was royal blue and it's definitely a keeper. My previous hoodie was black and I believe the original (2011) color was light gray - still the favorite of all amongst CRC Trail Race fans, and I also believe there is a charcoal gray in there, since this is the race's 4th year in Charlotte.
The event includes three different race distances - 4 mi, 9 mi and 13 mi. I opted for the 4 mi while my running buddy headed out for the 9 mi. The two longer distances started one hour earlier (8:30 AM) simultaneously, while the 4 mi race started at 9:30 AM. 418 runners for the 4 mi, 153 for the 9 mi and 207 for the 13 mi race. I do not envy those that hit the trails for 13 miles. New for 2014 - a finisher's medal for the 13 milers and they earned it, they truly earned it.
The route is quite hilly, definitely a challenge for any level runner but doable by all means. And as you can see, it is not the most direct path, lots of turns and alternate paths so signage is critical. USNWC did an awesome job keeping runners on route, regardless of their race distance.
I do not have any other race to date with an elevation graph like this one. As you can plainly see there is no "flat" in this race. Just doesn't happen.
My timing was not stellar but then my goal was simply to complete the course. Trail races are a different breed as far as I'm concerned. I don't know that I've ever participated in one with the goal of competing, it's always completing for me personally. This was no exception.
The post race is a mixture for seasoned runners. Water was provided in two hydro coolers with the little 6 oz cups, same as the water station on route. No bottled water or Gatorade / Powerade. Plenty of coffee, however, pre-race due to the temps and the start times. Bagels and bananas were provided, although cut into quarter pieces for both and some sort of cookies, looked like chocolate chip.
There were a few vendors on site - Charlotte Running Company, a massage group, TapSnap (provided free photos with instant print and email) and the ever fantastic Start2Finish with digital timing results with printouts. Awards were broken up into two sessions. The 4 mi awards were given out at 10:30 AM with the longer race awards following sometime after, based on the number of runners still on the course. We stayed for a photo afterwards then headed out. I truly hope to do this course again next year as I was very pleasantly surprised at the changes to the trails within the U.S. National Whitewater Center.
RACE RESULTS:
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