Cades Cove Loop Lope Sold Out in Just Over 12 Hours

The Cades Cove Loop Lope is so special and unique that 750 runners register on the first day registration opened. (Lindsay Howell Photo)

The annual 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. It’s a scenic, challenging run that attracts participants from across the country but is limited to 750 runners/walkers combined on the 10-mile and 5K courses because of park restrictions.

The Loop Lope always reaches the maximum number of entries but last year it was mid-July before the race was full — about six weeks after entries opened. This year entries opened at 10 a.m. Monday and by around midnight race capacity had been reached for the Nov. 9 Cades Cove Loop Lope. The 100 special parking passes sold were gone in 15 minutes (transportation is provided for those without parking passes).

This event is a major fundraiser for Friends of the Smokies to help provide financial support for various projects in the Great Smoky Mountains — support that is needed even more at the Great Smoky Mountains as well as other national parks due to federal cuts in budgets for national parks.

Amy Marshall, special events manager for Friends of the Smokies, had a waiting list of about 100 by 6 p.m. Tuesday and had heard from many runners who were shocked when they tried to register and the race was already full.

“This is crazy. Last year on day one we had 450 (entries), which is a ton,” said Marshall. “I’m not sure what happened this year. We posted information on more running websites but we never expected this kind of response on the first day.”

My friend, David Anderson of Danville, is one of those who found out Tuesday morning that the race was already filled. Anderson did the Cades Cove 10-miler for the first time in 2019 and has done it ever since except for 2020 when COVID cancelled the race. He comes with his wife and five other friends. He’s already said he will “100 percent” in for 2026.

“For me, Cades Cove is a priority and I think once you do the run once, you just keep wanting to come back. There’s no other race quite like this,” he told me last summer before the 2024 race.

Marshall understands the loyalty so many runners have had to this event but this year there are 491 first-time Cades Cove Loop Lope runners entered. Once again, 27 states are represented on the entry list with about 60 percent of the entries being women. Marshall said again there is a wide diversity of ages.

While there are always more entries for the 10-mile event — the run I will try to complete once again and hope I see bears either at the starting line or on the course — this year there is even a bigger disparity between entries in the 10-mile run compared to the shorter 5K (3.1 miles).

“For some reason we have significantly more 10-mile runners this year,” Marshall said.

Marshall says Friends of the Smokies staff members were as stunned by the quick sellout as those who did not get into the race.

“Friends of Smokies raises funds for the park and we are thrilled and can’t wait for this year’s Loop Lope,” Marshall said. “But we also want to think about a way going forward to reward loyalty and don’t want to lose runners who have been with us many years. We are already talking through some ideas for next year.

“Because it is such a good cause, we want it to be full but I hate that people who love this race did not get in this year but none of us ever dreamed of selling out on the first day.”