Annual Cades Cove Loop Lope 10-Miler and 5K will be Nov. 9

Despite some cutbacks at national parks across the country everything is still in place for the annual Cades Cove Loop Lope 10-miler and 5K on Nov. 9 in the Great Smoky Mountains.

“We will still have 750 runners and we are promoting the run now,” said Kathryn Hemphill of Friends of the Smokies chief development officer.

This event is a major fundraiser for Friends of the Smokies to help provide financial support for various projects in the Great Smoky Mountains.

“We’ve committed $4 million to support Great Smoky Mountains National Park this year and  that commitment will not change. The park really needs us to stay behind them now more than ever, and we’re committed to that support,” Hemphill said.

Cades Cove Loop Lope is one of very few running events totally inside a national park and the only one in the Great Smoky Mountains. Entries are limited to 750 to not overwhelm the park — which closes on Nov. 9 until after the event ends.  Runners will still be able to take a shuttle from the Townsend Visitor Center to Cades Cove and back after the run (125 parking passes for the park are for sale when registration opens in June).

“We want to always make sure everyone can get the shuttle to the park for the start of the race and then have rolling shuttles for runners as they finish either the 10-mile course or the 5K (3.1 miles),” Hemphill said.

Organizers pushed the start time back for the 5K until 15 minutes after the 10-miler starts to avoid congestion on the course.

“Having more time between the starts for the two runs helped a lot last year,” Hemphill said.

Some national parks have had to close or limit restroom facilities in recent months but Hemphill said that is not a problem.

“We bring the restrooms to the park, and actually we’ve talked about redistributing some of those restrooms to different spots this year just to make sure everybody has something to use right before the start of the race if needed,” she said. “We try to make our runners happy and do all we can to make it easier.”

There’s no price increase this year even though donations will again be accepted.

“Our needs list gets approved in November of the prior year so we’ve already made our commitment for this year,” Hemphill said. “In some special cases, the park might come back with an extra request from us mid-year or outside of that normal process. We’ve not had any extra requests yet this year but it is always possible and we are committed to keeping that support going. We just want to make sure that we’re there, keeping that commitment going, and supporting the park as much as we can.”

Registration will open June 2 at 10 a.m. at this link and the race normally reaches capacity within a few weeks of registration opening.

All funds raised benefit park projects and programs such as historic preservation, wildlife conservation, native plant and grassland restoration, and much more.