Danville runners, from left, Doug Sharp, Sarah Ruhe, Christie Sharp, David Anderson, Rhonda Anderson, Jeremy Ellis and Crystal Ellis waiting for the start of Cades Cove Loop Lope.
It’s billed as the only footrace completely inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and notes you could well see bear, turkey, deer and other wildlife during the event.
However, what’s impossible to promote is the scenic beauty of an early morning November run inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as the sun rises over the mountains or you are alone with your thoughts on the 10-mile run.
Or if 10 miles is a bit much for you, there is a 5K (3.1 mile) course that is just as scenic — just shorter — and also helps support work Friends of the Smokies does to support the park system.
The seventh annual Cades Cove Loop Lope was Sunday and I am proud that I was one of only 10 participants 70 and older to finish the 10-mile course that had a total of 418 finishers. The 5K event had 269 finishers.
I’ve been lucky enough to participate in the last five Loop Lope 10-mile events and get to know some of the Friends of the Smokes staff members. Special projects managers Kathryn Hemphill and Lindsay Howell now allow me to help with the packet pickup in Townsend, TN, the day before the race and I cannot tell you much I enjoy helping. This year we also had outreach coordinator Olivia Wright with us and Friends of the Smokies volunteer Kat Barrow helping give out race T-shirts and swag that included two unique stickers.
The race had entries from 27 states and I love meeting and talking to folks as they pick up their packets. One lady told us that her and her husband got married in Cades Cove. Another lady told us why she flew from Texas to participate in the run.
Maine, Arizona, New York and Colorado were some of the states represented. Tennessee had the most participants with 518 followed by Georgia (54) and North Carolina (51). However, guess which state was fourth — Kentucky with 46 entries.
Again, no surprise nearby Knoxville had more entries than any other city with 226 followed by Maryville (34), Sevierville (28), Nashville (22), Chattanooga (16) and Lenoir City (16). All those are cities in Tennessee.
Which out of state city had the most participants? It was my hometown of Danville with 15 and that makes my heart swell with pride because everyone that participated had done so before and came back because this is such a wonderful cause and event.
There are runners of all abilities. Ten-mile winner Jonathan Pahren of Mason, Ohio,finished in 59 minutes, 35 seconds. That’s slightly under a 6-minute mile pace. John Baker of Alston, Mass., was next in 1:01:25 followed by Jordan Webb of Charlotte, N.C., in 1:04:40. The top female finisher was Maria Heathcott of Evansville in 1:11:05.
But get this — 61-year-old Dolly McLean of Asheville won her age division with an amazing time of 1:27:39. That’s less than a 9-minute mile pace.
How did our crew from Danville fare?
Andrew McKinney, 28, was 28th in 1:36.29 followed by Doug Sharp, 58, in 1:37:04 and Dave Anderson, 59, in 1:37:05. Sarah Ruhe, 33, was not far behind in 1:39.28 and just in front of Jeremy Ellis, 45, who hit the finish 1:39:31.
I was a “little” bit behind them in 2:15.47 but that was two seconds faster than 2022 when it was 28 degrees when we started the run compared to 51 this year.
Ella McKinney paced the Danville 5K crew in 33:42 followed by Deb McKinney (37:24), Kaylee McKinney (40:57), Ed McKinney (42:06), Mary Kay Godbey (54:15), Rhonda Anderson (55:06), Christie Sharp (55:06), Crystal Ellis (55:48) and Neal Godbey (1:07.13).
However, time doesn’t matter here. It’s about the uniqueness of this event with the beauty of the mountains and the wildlife. There’s nothing quite like a run where you can see bears — I saw three Sunday — like I have every year.
I really like that once you get to about mile five you sort of settle into running with the same folks the rest of the way. I talked to participants from North Carolina, Illinois, Alabama, Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky the last half of the race.
I also really enjoyed the volunteers in their Santa hats at the last water stop about mile eight.
This event is so popular and unique that it sells out annually. Registration has to be limited because the national park is closed to visitors during the run and shuttle buses are needed to transport runners from the Townsend Visitor Center and back before the park re-opens around 10:30 a.m.
Visit this link for information on how this group assists the National Park Service and to get registration information about the Cades Cove Loop Lope.
I’ve already made my hotel reservation for the November, 2024, and both Hemphill and Howell have assured me I get to keep my job at packet pickup so I hope to see a lot of familiar faces again — and maybe even get a few more Kentucky and Danville so we can move up on those participation lists.
