[ Event Details ]

Please join WVMTR in celebrating the 2024 Winter Solstice with an all-night run in Helvetia, WV. The run and clock will start at sunset on Saturday 21 December, 5:02pm, and end at sunrise on Sunday 22 December, 7:35am. We will run together and alone to complete as many laps of the Helvetia Historic Trail as we can in that time.

This will be a fun run and *not* a race---but there will be some small recognition of whoever chooses to run the most complete laps and whoever runs the fastest single lap during the night. Runners will get bibs with chips to wear for the duration of the night to keep track of completed laps automatically but it will still not be a race.

Runners and their crew will have access to the Star Band Hall throughout the night to use as an aid station and gathering place. We will provide some basic hydration and typical ultra aid station fare, but please consider this event as a potluck and bring both useful and less-useful-but-fun things to share with your fellow runners.

[ Event Size ]

Helvetia is a small town without much lodging or many facilities, and the Star Band Hall is a small hall, so this event is limited to a small number of runners. That is a hard cap that will not be increased, so do not drag your feet about signing up for too long.

[ Trail Info and Maps ]

The Helvetia Historic trail is a 2.9 mile loop starting and ending at the Star Band Hall in town. It heads up the first paved then gravel Old Helvetia Road to a hairpin left on to double track farm road. Part of the way up that double track hill, you take a gentle left for the last mile or so back to town on unimproved county road, with just a little bit of pavement again at the very end. In not-quite-three miles, you gain and then lose about some 550 ft of elevation.

You can find more information about it and a topo map at the links below, but after the first few laps you will know it like the back of your hand.