09/27/2023
Here it is, your course map for the UCI Marathon World Cup! 🚴🚴♀️🚴
⚠Registration ends tomorrow so if you haven't already head over to the link in the comments to secure your spot on the roster! 👇
The racecourse will span 100km (60+ miles) through some of the most remote terrain in the state, featuring a selection of West Virginia’s most storied singletrack as well as several brand-new sections of trail connecting the Mower Basin trail system to Snowshoe.
Needless to say, this race will provide the ultimate test of skill, mental and physical strength, and endurance.
Racers will start at the Snowshoe Village and head towards the Cheat Ridge Trail where they will then descend to Shavers Lake before climbing back up the Snowshoe Basin and heading into the dark, loamy section of Spruce Forest known locally as “The Fingers”. From there, the course will take competitors through the Silver Creek area via some of Snowshoe’s signature XC trails like Beaver Dam and Enchanted Forest, before descending again down the new and improved “Pole Axe” trail towards the abandoned logging town of Spruce. Here the course shifts largely onto brand new singletrack, aptly named “Marathon”, following the Shavers Fork of the Cheat River through the Monongahela National Forest all the way to the Mower Tract, a former strip mining site that has undergone massive restoration efforts in recent years courtesy of the Nature Conservancy and the National Forest Service. At Mower, racers will find incredibly scenic vistas in addition to some long climbs between fun, flowy singletrack including yet another brand new section of trail. After that, racers will turn south back towards Snowshoe, skirting Bald K**b before winding their way back to the Snowshoe Village and the finish line.
