The Black Water Canyon Trail FKT - a totally iconic and aesthetic route along the Blackwater River, surrounded on both sides by steep canyon walls, in the rural hills of WV.
Route: I started touching the Blackwater Canyon Trailhead Sign near Thomas WV ( 39°08'40.0"N 79°30'08.0"W ) . I ran North to South direction on the Black Water Canyon Trail to the southern Trailhead in Hendricks WV and ended by touching the first vehicle gate after you cross Main St. ( 39°04'29.4"N 79°37'51.3"W ).
Style: unsupported. I carried all of my supplies, and was not paced by anyone.
I don't see the 10 miler version of this trail being done "self-supported". but if the trail gets super competitive I could foresee "Supported" style being done, if some elite runners wanted a pacer or maybe someone handing them a water bottle along the way. I could see the out and back 20 miler version being done in unsupported, self-supported, and supported styles.
Weather: 40*F , "Feels like" 31*F, Humidity 68%, Wind sustained 17pmh , gusting above 30mph.
Equipment: a couple gels, 2 500ml flasks , garmin inreach, armsleeves gloves hat buff, space blanket, all carried in a solomon vest. I wore hoka speedgoats, but I think this can be done in road shoes as long as it hasn't rained a lot; there are some spots where it could get muddy.
Notes: This course is basically a gravel single track for 60% of the time and a gravel service/forest road for the other 40%. Completely runnable, no steep or technical sections at all. It's best suited for really fast cross country and 10 miler folks, and because I mainly spend my time mountain running at the 50K distance, I would consider this a pretty "soft" time and I anticipate some much faster times being uploaded for this route.