West Virginia Trifecta 8/24/24

Aug 27, 202412 min read

Updated: Feb 8

West Virginia Trifecta Weekend 8/24/24

Overview

I have participated in the WV Trifecta Weekend for 9 years in a row (History of WV Spartan race, 2018). Though I try to make these race reviews objective, it will be hard to do with this SitRep. West Virginia is one of the best venues and race weekends on the Spartan calendar and, in my opinion, a race every Spartan should run at least once. But this isn't a sales pitch. There are unique aspects to this venue that you should know going in, both good and bad. So, grab your EpiPen, your geology textbook, and a cup of coffee. It’s SitRep Time.

Travel

Southern West Virginia is centrally located for many on the East Coast. It’s a reasonable drive from the Southern US, Ohio, Tennessee, and parts of the Northeast. Beckley, WV, is right off Interstate Hwy 77, a major north-to-south route that connects Cleveland to Atlanta, so it's interstate driving. The local airport, Charleston (Charleston Airport, 2024), is a small airport that connects to a major Delta hub. Charleston is a small regional airport with easy car rental pickup and hassle-free TSA; they are familiar with the yearly Spartan drill. There are two choices for hotels in the area: either Oak Hill or Beckley. I have stayed in both over the years, which are equally 20 minutes from the venue. For the last few years, I have stayed in Beckley, which has more choices for hotels, gas, and food stores, but both towns are good choices depending on hotel prices. I recommend booking early, as next year's race has already been announced.

The Region

The geology of this region was solidified 65 million years ago when continental glaciers during the Pleistocene era rerouted and cut the New River off from a larger river, localizing it into its current 360-mile route through North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia (New River National Park, 2024). This makes the New River one of the five oldest rivers in the world.

The Appalachians were initially formed 1.1 billion years ago, but glaciers subsequently created the Appalachians that we know today 480 million years ago. The New River Gorge, created by the New River, presents a unique geology that highlights many of the attributes of the larger Appalachian Plateau. This includes the exposure of over 1,000 feet of sandstone and shale, house-sized boulders scattered throughout the river, plant and invertebrate fossils, and steep drop-offs. The river exposed four different seams of coal, considered among the best bituminous coal in the world

(Geology of the New River, 2024). The bituminous coal mined from the greater

Appalachian Plateau delivered the coal that fueled the nation’s turbines to create electricity and made the United States into the economic powerhouse it is now. Today, this region is experiencing an economic downturn and is looking to reposition itself as an outdoor tourist destination (West Virginia Tourism, 2024). This race weekend is sponsored by the West Virginia Tourism Board, and big news came out of Spartan regarding this venue that is covered in our Breaking News section.

Parking

Parking at this venue is legendary and will remind old-timers of Wintergreen or maybe NJ Trifecta weekend on a bad day. If you get there early you can get a spot in a series of huge fields about a half mile away from registration, if you get there at 8 o'clock or later the walk to registration can be up to a mile. The walk itself is a great warmup, it winds up a hill and then there is a steep drop into a large field if you want to cut a corner off the hike. Parking can be overcome, however. I got to the venue at 5:30 and was standing at registration at 6 am; the proud owner of a parking spot about a .40-mile hike. But if you have passed the Marshmallow Test you know that work done now pays off in the future, so I had a shorter hike at the end of the day. It should also be noted that traffic is bad in and out of the venue. This is primarily due to the small country road that links up with a single-lane dirt road in and out. This road kicks up dust making it tough to see. Combine the dust and the traffic and Saturday turned a 15-minute hotel drive into an hour. This race makes you prove you want it.

The Venue

The WV Tri weekend has been held at the same venue since its inaugural race in 2017. The venue is the Summit at Bechtel Reserve, a 15,000-acre piece of property that doubles as the

Boy Scouts of America headquarters for their yearly jamboree (Boy Scout Jamboree, 2024).

The site can host up to 40,000 campers at one time, has a large outdoor arena with a capacity of 80,000, and has biking, BMS, archery, rifle and shotgun shooting, zip lines, climbing, and reeling sites. The entire site has permanent restrooms and large open areas for camping that makes positioning obstacles easier than other venues.

Wildlife

Just before you dozed off, I mentioned endemic wildlife in the region. Well, they are still here. Within the first mile of the race and then again around mile 5, we ran through a section of the woods with hornets' nests and yellow jackets (Hornets vs. Yellow Jackets, 2024). Many racers either got stung or bitten; I got 3 stings, and it was a bigger issue for some. At each water station, there was hornet and bee spray. Both hornets and yellow jackets are similar, but after some research, I think they were yellow jackets. Hornets swarm to protect their hive and can be very dangerous (Hornets, 2024). I never felt like I was under a major aerial attack; I got a couple of stings, and that was it. I mean, it hurt, but it didn’t HURT. It raised a small red welt for a couple of hours that I forgot about after we got back to running. But if you are allergic to bees, you probably should run with your EpiPen or understand how you will handle the unlikely event you are stung. I was in an early heat, and at some point, the insects ran out of reinforcements. But keep in mind that hornets and bees are descendants of wasps, which first appeared in fossil records dating back to 120 million years ago. In their defense, these animals have been evolving in this area for millions of years, much longer than humans (Evolution of Bees, 2024).

So, we come through their territory, and they naturally start defending their nests against a larger invader. You don’t last 120 million years by being timid, and their reaction to this invasion has my respect. See you next year, guys.

Another pretty cool moment coming down a downhill section at about mile 6, I just missed stepping on a black snake. The basic rule of thumb is that unless there is yellow, black, white, or yellow coloration, the snake is not venomous. Black snakes are neither poisonous nor aggressive; they keep rodent populations down and are a sign of a thriving ecosystem (Black Snake, 2024). None of this is comforting to anyone afraid of snakes, so just be aware that this is a wild area. Keep your head on a swivel, and don’t let your guard down; we’re only passing through.

Races

As usual, the course had a Sprint, Super, Beast, 10k trail, and 21k trail. This has been the pattern in recent years. Previously, this weekend was part of the National Championship Series, but that is being held in Seattle this year. Still, the race was well attended with over 9,000 racers, spectators, and Kids Race participants.

The Course

Due to some prior scheduling obligations and the rationalization of my laziness, I just ran the Beast this year. But the Sprint, Super, and Trail courses were well-marked; all shared portions of the Beast course, so I can provide some intel. I have run all of them in the past and can recommend any distance at this venue if that means anything. The half marathon trail is scenic and challenging, the 10k trail is fun, and the Sunday Sprint and Super give you a taste for the longer obstacle race.

There are a few unique aspects to the course setup that define the race, but let's get the obvious out of the way first. The race uses the gorge in a variety of ways. With climbs like the NJ Beast in Vernon, there are at least two bushwhacking climbs to the summit and major treeless hill inclines. My GPS read 4,400 feet of elevation, and the course clocked in at exactly 13.1 miles. The back end of the course has some significant rolling inclines that were not steep, but you felt it at the end of a long race. At mile 5, after two major climbs, the course opened to the summit, and we ran across a suspension bridge over a portion of the gorge; if you are afraid of heights, don’t look down. But the course was different this year; we didn’t run back over the bridge after Atlas Carry. We ran down into the gorge and back up into the open area at the summit. If you ran this venue before, we did not do the log carry through the pond this year, which was a little disappointing, but I understood quickly why in the next few miles.

After a few miles of switchbacks, we finally got down to the portion of the course that was most memorable: The Lake Swim. Other than Tahoe, I cannot remember another lake swim, and this year it was AWESOME. It was twice as long as in recent years; my GPS said about 0.25 miles, but it could have been farther. They made you wear a life vest and had lifeguards on duty, so drowning wasn’t an issue; lawyers ruin everything. For most of us, this section took 20–30 minutes, and I have no idea how the elites could swim with those life vests. Techniques varied, but I got on my back and reverse paddled. Others put their heads down and swam, but this seemed like an energy drain for not a lot of benefit. Some didn’t paddle at all, saying that it would cramp them up later. That didn’t happen for me, but it was an issue for some. From experience, I knew we were only at the halfway point and there was still some fun in store, so saving something for the end is always my strategy. Disclaimer: I am mentioning the lake swim as part of the course and not the obstacle section because there is not much training required; it was more of a spa treatment.

The lake section was for the Beast course only. After this, we connected with the Sprint and Super. After another incline, we reached the summit and started on a loop that was different from last year. For the last few years, this loop was about 4 miles and included a long climb up a small hill and then out into an open area for a sudden steep descent. This year, we just did the hill and came back around, doing several miles of switchbacks that eventually went down but also had elevation gain in some sections. The good news is that it made the descent runnable instead of a mountain goat descent. This also made the final 4-mile section seem longer than anticipated but eventually brought us down to the base of the mountain, near the festival area. Overall, a great course layout, no bottlenecks, different running opportunities, and wooded sections made the sun and heat a non-factor.

Obstacles

This year’s obstacles were harder, though not much different. The critical eyes of OCR King subscribers and the editorial division of OCR Kings will be disappointed to know that a lot of the obstacles were generally backloaded. However, they did set up obstacles on several of the summit climbs and in the open areas between climbs and where the woods opened. So, I think critics will be happy with the distribution of obstacles with the understanding they were festival-loaded. All the overhead obstacles were standard including multi-rig, bender, rings, etc. Multi-rig and rope climb was at the end; Bucket Carry was in the last mile

on the side of the mountain just like last year right before Herc Hoist. Great catch by OCR subscriber David Best, the route of the bucket carry was the Tough Mudder logo.

This year’s obstacles were harder, though not much different. The critical eyes of OCR King subscribers and the editorial division of OCR Kings will be disappointed to know that a lot of the obstacles were generally backloaded. However, they did set up obstacles on several of the summit climbs and in the open areas between climbs and where the woods opened. So, I think critics will be happy with the distribution of obstacles with the understanding they were festival-loaded. All the overhead obstacles were standard, including multi-rig, bender, rings, etc. Multi-rig and rope climb were at the end; Bucket Carry was in the last mile

on the side of the mountain just like last year, right before Herc Hoist. Great catch by OCR subscriber David Best, the route of the bucket carry was the Tough Mudder logo.

This year there were two sandbag carries. The first one was like recent years right after the suspension bridge. The second was a challenge; it was right after the Lake Swim and the second Yellow Jacket attack. A lot of racers, including myself, were tight after a cold swim and another aerial insect attack. We grabbed a pancake and headed up a short hill over the guardrail, across a road and down a steep hill in an open field, and then came right back. Putting together the Lake Swim, a swampy connecting section, and the second Sandbag Carry slowed things down considerably. I thought this was a great addition to this year’s race.

Peppered through were several walls I thought were higher than usual. If you ran this year, I am referring specifically to the non-painted wall right after the 3rd ascent. Inverted Wall, Bucket Carry, and Herc Hoist sent us on a short .25, then into a long Barbed Wire Crawl into rolling mud into a refreshing Dunk Wall then Slip Wall then another Barbed Wire- Crawl. From there it was a sloppy half-mile run to the final gauntlet of Spear Throws, Rope Climb, Multi-Rig. All of these were in the Festival Area. The perfunctory Fire Step-Over ended things for the day.

In my humble opinion, this was one of the best obstacle layouts this season. Sure, they used the same basic obstacle placement in recent years, but they put a twist on them, got creative, and made them challenging. The Lake Swim, second Sandbag Carry, and final section(s) were great. I always try to thank the race director; turns out he is the brother of another Spartan employee I always talk to at venues. I think he did a nice job. Disclaimer – I try to remember all of this to the best of my limited ability. If I am wrong, feel free to fact-check me because I never look at the race map. I still don’t think they should publish it; venturing into the unknown should be part of the assignment.

Injuries

Just before the final descent, the Sprint and Beast courses converged for the final gauntlet and dunk wall. There was a bad injury just behind me. A young woman got up the slip wall and fell back, injuring her leg and was in pain. Luckily, paramedics were there to assist her since the festival area was close by. I want to wish her the best, and after speaking to the paramedics in the Medical Tent, I know she is in good hands. A significant number of people were cramping. It was a hot day, made warmer by the cloudless sky. I passed a lot of racers way fitter than me who were hobbling with cramps. I ran this race with a water bottle and carried some packs of Liquid IV that I filled at every water station. I had no issues and ate a mini Clif Bar every hour on the hour. I am no one to provide coaching advice, but water and nutrition, including the bananas at the water station, are the only things between me and a DNF, and we don’t DNF in this program. Ever.

Festival

As previously mentioned, over the weekend they had over 9,000 racers, including spectators and Kids Race participants. The Beast had 2,200 participants. There was a Spartan Plus tent, no Athlete Services (Rocco was at Deka Fit), and the festival area seemed sparse to me. There were a few food trucks, but I mostly hung out at the Spartan Plus tent debriefing with friends and talking with some OCR Kings subscribers, including David Best. I think the real reason for the light festival area is that most spectators were congregated around the final gauntlet cheering on their friends and family. Very cool but probably not a good idea. The festival area and the final gauntlet should be more connected so that vendors get the most out of their investment. It’s just good for business.

Finish Line

There was a fantastic addition to the finish line at this race. The finish line announcer was monitoring the chip on his computer and could tell which specific racers were finishing. As a result, during the last obstacle, he called out racers’ names, congratulating them and highlighting them personally. I have seen this at trail and road races, and it’s a very nice touch for Spartan to incorporate. Kudos.

Summary

West Virginia is a classic Spartan race setup. It’s a tough race but accessible to all fitness levels. The venue is a departure from the farms, ranches, ski resorts, and ATV parks that have dominated the schedule over the past few years. Bechtel Reserve is a rugged, wild nature preserve that brings wildlife, tough terrain, and unique opportunities for changing up the obstacles. I think it should be on every Spartan racer’s schedule.

BREAKING NEWS

Spartan announced that the 2025 end of the season will not be held in Sparta, Greece. Instead, it will be held in West Virginia the first week of September (earlier than usual this year). So, if you shied away from Greece due to cost, West Virginia is a far cheaper and more accessible option.