Occoneechee Mountain Challenge Race Report

Sometimes it’s freezing cold, sometimes it’s warm, sometimes there’s ice, sometimes there’s mud — that’s just the nature of January in North Carolina — but there’s always good company at this community favorite race!

This is the second time I’ve run the Occoneechee Mountain Challenge. The first time was in 2022 in 18°F weather where ice formed in my hair and a friend grew icicles on the bill of his running hat during the race. This time Martin Wileman, the race director, joked over the loudspeaker at the start line that he could guarantee no ice as we lined up on the historic Occoneechee speedway in balmy 60+°F weather. But while there was no ice, the course had its own surprises this year!

About the Race

The race is organized by the Hillsborough Running Club and started in 2020 just before the pandemic hit, with one year off in 2021 when races hadn’t fully returned from the lockdown. Now in its fourth year running, it offers a tour of Hillsborough running highlights — including the historic speedway, the riverwalk along the Eno River, and the technical singletrack trails of Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area.

Same-day packet pick-up is available at the speedway, and I surprised myself by getting to a race early for once and not stressing about pick-up! Previous years the race has offered a hoodie or a beanie for swag, and this year the swag matched the weather with a sturdy tote from Beers to Bags made from recycled brewery malt bags.

2024 Race Report

It’s always fantastic seeing friends at the race — including many folks from the Fleet Feet Trails program that I coach, as well as friends from other run groups and friends I haven’t seen in a while.

The race started promptly at 9am on the historic speedway in front of the concrete risers, and we were off! After running the straightaway of the former NASCAR dirt oval, we headed right onto the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. Soon the MST runs in tandem with the Hillsborough Riverwalk, which is primarily packed dirt or pea gravel at this point, and includes some informational signs and the Occaneechi Village Replica Site (as you might intuit, this is all on the historic lands of the Occaneechi people). The riverwalk has some wooden boardwalks and eventually turns into a paved greenway with various bridges criss-crossing the Eno River until it reaches Gold Park at around the 2.5 mile mark. At Gold Park there’s an aid station and there’s usually some opportunity to get in some good doggo pets at the dog park right next to the greenway, or sometimes you can find small children bundled up with families to cheer on their runner in between playing on the playground.

After Gold Park, the course continues on a paved greenway until it intersects with Eno Mountain Road, at which point we cross the road under the care of volunteers and a police car, and head left up a sidewalk along the road to a turn-off onto singletrack.

For the next 3.5 miles it’s a delightful romp up and around the mountain. The course follows Occoneechee Mountain Loop Trail (about 2.5 miles, red blazes) which is all singletrack and fairly technical, with a one-mile sidetrack up and down the gravel Summit Trail. The Summit Trail gains about 200 feet in half a mile to the cell tower and then drops back down to reconnect to the loop trail, and is a fun spot to see friends and cheer on other runners during the out-and-back. Nearly all of the 800+ feet of total elevation gain for the race is packed into these total 3.5 mountain miles, making this race a really dynamic challenge for road and trail runners alike.

I didn't snag any pictures of the singletrack portion because I was having so much fun running, but if you haven't been to Occoneechee before, trust me -- there's some quality gnarly sections!

After completing the Occoneechee Mountain Loop and summit, the course heads back the same way it came — across the road, past Gold Park (and the aid station again), down the riverwalk and MST, and back to the historic speedway. Veering onto the speedway and making all left turns around the one-mile dirt oval track adds a bit of mental challenge when you know the finish line is RIGHT THERE! But the excitement and anticipation just adds to the joy of crossing that finish line amongst cheering friends. 🥰

Personal Recap

I kept a fairly consistent pace and effort throughout the race. For some reason going out on the river walk isn't so bad — it's a nice warmup, the crowd carries you, and I'm just eager to get to the mountain. I ran the trails in classic Liz fashion: power-hiking the ups, and then bombing the downs 😁 Sorry to anyone I leapfrogged with several times — great job out there and I hope I wasn’t too annoying! It was very much a "if it's funnable it's runnable" sort of day as I ran with joy. We had run easy at Occoneechee the day before with the Fleet Feet Trails program, but the trails definitely got significantly muddier and gnarlier after all the rain overnight, but that slipe-and-slide aspect just added to the fun for me. I always love running at Occoneechee but I usually do it with a group, so it was delightful to just let it rip on some downhill sections. But with my highly variable pace on trails, it meant I bumped into quite a few people along the way, including Kevin and Laura and Danica and Raheleh and so many others! Ahhh what a joy!

But alas, all good things come to an end. I popped out of the trails section back onto the pavement and was very bummed the fun part was over. I had to do some mental gymnastics to get myself to run the whole way back on the greenway 😂 Just like in 2022 when I ran this race the first time I had a few people comment on the greenway section that I must be a trail/ultra runner based on my pack and my style (yup! That’s me!)

I had so much fun seeing people at the race! It is such a great gathering of the community. Congrats to all the folks who did the race! Huge thank you and congrats to the RD Martin Wileman and the Hillsborough Running Club for another great year of the race! And so much love to all the volunteers that were out there today! 🥰

For those looking for some sustenance after the race, there is chili (including some vegetarian chili), bread, and coffee at the top of the concrete risers. Parking is well-marked and described in the pre-race emails, and the pre-race emails include a Strava map of the course and annotated trail map of the mountain singletrack portion. Some runners (cough Garmin users cough) found the course short, but my watch had me at 10.1 miles and 804 feet elevation gain. With the riverwalk section and the mountain section, the course has lots of fun for those who prefer road or trails! The race officially has a 2.5 hour time limit (due to permitting and time tracking and other official logistics) but because there are no road closures the organizers make a point of tracking first and last racers and allowing participants to keep going past the official cut-off when safe. Because of the welcoming community, fundraising for local charities, good support, and dynamic course it is a great option for local runners ready for some January adventures!

Strava Route:

Here’s the info for my Strava route if you want to explore the route!

Have you done this race before? Or is it on your list of races to do? Let me know in the comments!