Catawba Triple Crown (VA)

Virginia, US

Distance

54 km

Vertical Gain

2,700 m

The Catawba Triple Crown is a 35 mile loop in SW Virginia that goes around the small town of Catawba using the AT on Catawba/Tinker mountains and the North Mountain trail on North Mountain. It goes past the highly photographed McAfee Knob, the iconic Dragon's Tooth rock formation, and Tinker Cliffs. There is a Strava segment for the effort (just happens to be CCW and starting at the Dragon's Tooth parking):

https://www.strava.com/segments/10348624?filter=overall

(EDITOR NOTE: This was previously listed on this website as the "Catawba Runaround", which is very similar but a slightly shorter version that misses Dragon's Tooth. The image below of a map is for the Runaround).

- Clarified by Mark Lattanzi, 5/22/2020.

The duathlon from Blacksburg has been called the "Blacksburg Brunch", described by Kristoffer von Ow as follows:

"This tour consists of biking, hiking and trail running. The start/finish line is in the heart of Blacksburg downtown, which we chose to be the door to "The Cellar" downstairs! From there you bike essentially to Dragons Tooth trailhead via Catawba Rd.. Once at the trailhead you embark upon the hiking/trail running portion of the tour, the "Catawba Run-around", which is essentially the triple crown but created into a loop via the North Mountain Trail which connects back to the Dragons Tooth trailhead. Dragons Tooth is the only outback portion of the the entire run-around, and we chose to go in the direction of Dragons Tooth and Macafees rather than starting on the North Mountain Portion. Once you complete the Run-around you get back on your bikes and return via the same way, Catawba Rd., and rejoice at the finish line! Oh and don't forget to grab a beer at the Cellar! In total the tour amounts to around 48 miles of biking, 35 miles of hiking/trail running, and around 9400' of vert."

GPS Track

Catawba Triple Crown.gpx1.09 MB

Catawba Triple Crown Dualthlon.gpx1.08 MB

FKTs

Male

Supported
Butch Slabach	5h 32m 31s	2023-06-10
Max Tiemann	5h 53m 7s	2020-10-17
Brian Schmidt	7h 14m 42s	2016-03-05

Unsupported
Joshua Goad	6h 50m 42s	2023-10-21
DJ Moniak	6h 54m 5s	2021-05-08
Joshua Goad	7h 22m 22s	2020-09-23
Danny Mathieson	7h 54m 5s	2020-09-12
Jesse Spangler, Mark Lattanzi	8h 43m 18s	2020-09-05

Female

Unsupported
Kim Monge Fera, Kimberly Arena	8h 48m 14s	2024-04-13
Emily Flynn	9h 45m 9s	2023-01-07
Natalie Daniel	10h 48m 19s	2021-12-31
Justine Bello	11h 50m 54s	2021-07-13
Kim Manturuk	13h 50m 23s	2020-10-26

Supported
Jana Fridrichova			9h 21m 56s	2024-03-09
Simonne Guenette, Eliza Stowe			10h 22m 34s	2021-09-11

Self-supported
Davida “Boogie” Rimm-Kaufman			12h 1m 21s	2020-10-24

Male

Unsupported
Danny Mathieson	Multi-sport		11h 44m 25s	2020-09-12

Self-supported
Kristoffer von Ow, Jonathan Hamilton, Nathan Eggleston, John O'Connell, Parker Reed	Multi-sport		21h 24m 0s	2019-11-02

This route on the old FKT site

http://fastestknowntime.proboards.com/thread/618/virginias-triple-crown-va

Comments

This blog post describes several people getting around the loop in 6:47:46: http://mountainmovinandgroovin.blogspot.com/2011/03/catawba-run-around…

It would be good to know if there is a faster time.

Thinking about giving this loop a unsupported FKT attempt in the next couple weeks. I'll shoot to beet the 6:47:46 time mentioned by prejoyful. Hopefully it'll spark some more interest in the route.

Looking at doing the Blacksburg Brunch sometime late spring next year. Love the idea, much like the Jackson Picnic. Is there a Strava or other GPS of the full route including the bike?

You can find the above map of both the 31 mile Catawba Runaround and the longer 34 mile Catawba Triple Crown at www.tanZnavigation.org/store/.

ExploreMark and I are planning an unsupported FKT for the full triple crown this Saturday, Sept 5th, 2020.

I will be doing an unsupported Blacksburg Brunch on Saturday September 12th, 2020 (Danny Mathieson).

I (Josh Goad) plan to attempt an unsupported FKT for the full triple crown on Wednesday, Sept 23, 2020.

I am planning on an unsupported FKT attempt for the full triple crown on this Saturday, October 3, starting at Dragon's Tooth trailhead.

I will be attempting the supported FKT this Saturday, October 17, starting at Dragon’s Tooth Trailhead and running counter clockwise.

I'll be attempting this route on Monday, Oct. 26th. I'm currently planning on unsupported, but I have a friend considering coming with me who might want to join me for half the route. If that pans out, I'll be supported. I'm planning to start at Dragon's Tooth trailhead and running it clockwise.

I ended up doing it clockwise starting at McAfee Knob instead. I went unsupported.

Giving this a solid go tomorrow morning (11-9-20) starting at Dragon's Tooth Parking lot and heading up that to do the course CCW. Looks to be a lovely day! Planning unsupported or bust.

I'll be back in a few months. This was a stunningly difficult route. Love it, but legs are too fatigued from my other FKT the other week despite being on pace to finish under the time needed. Leaves made pace sluggish and just not worthwhile this late in the season.

I'm going to attempt the unsupported FKT tomorrow Aug 23rd. Don't know the trails really well so going to start at Dragon's Tooth and head CCW like some of the other FKTers. Hoping the heat holds off as long as it can!

Route: Catawba Triple Crown (VA)

FKTs

Comments