FKT: Jesse Spangler, Mark Lattanzi - Catawba Triple Crown (VA) - 2020-09-05

Route variation
Standard Loop
Multi-sport
No
Gender category
Male
Style
Unsupported
Start date
Finish date
Total time
8h 43m 18s
Photos
Report

Mark Lattanzi and I (Jesse Spangler) parked at the Devil's Tooth trailhead and ran the triple crown in a counter clockwise direction. This was an unsupported attempt, and we had quite large packs with extra safety gear, first aid kits, and even brought headlamps in case the day ended up going too long. We refilled water twice on the route. First, we refilled at a shelter a mile or two west of McAfee's knob. Our second water stop was at the bottom of the Tinker Cliffs descent, before starting up North Mountain. We carried all of our food with us for the run, stopping to eat and enjoy the scenery a few times. There were plenty of other hikers out there, and a few runners going the opposite direction, but we didn't run with anybody else and did not have any sort of pacer. I was not ready for the hill up to North Mountain. I ate some heavy foods while refilling water and then pushed it a little too hard up North Mountain. This led to some GI issues and bonking, which slowed us down quite a bit as I worked through it.  It was a beautiful day with sunny weather and a high of around 80 degrees. Many of the smaller creeks were dry on the run, so we carried about 2-3 L of water at the start and after each water stop.