The Wild Oak Trail 100 Mile

 

The Wild Oak Trail Run

"prepare to die" -- TWOT founder, Dennis Herr

Celebrating 30 years in 2018

Established in 1988 by Dennis Herr, Wild Oak celebrates 30 years in 2018. To celebrate all these years of Wild Oak running magic, there are casual training runs planned throughout 2018 as well as a casual training run combined with trail work. It’s a great opportunity to reconnect with your fellow Wild Oak running buddies, welcome fresh faces to the Wild Oak experience, meet the new-coming Unfortunates, share your Wild Oak stories, and celebrate the community that is The Wild Oak Trail!

  • Other than the Midnight Challenge, all start times at 8 AM on the indicated day.
  • No early start options are currently available.
  • All attendees to bring communal aid.
  • Training run dates listed below under Upcoming Events.

Please kindly email thewildoak100@gmail.com for detailed information. For updates online, follow @TWOT100 on Twitter and Insta.

Available Distance Options:
112.8 Mile / 4 Loop, Fri. 8AM
28.2 Mile / 1 Loop, Sat. 8AM

Midnight Challenge
28.2 Mile / 1 Loop, Friday at midnight

Upcoming Events at Wild Oak:

Hot TWOT 2018 --October 19-21, 2018

TWOT 2019 -- February 8-10, 2019

 

TWOT and Hot TWOT Finisher's List - All Time

 

FKT (fastest known time) for one loop held by David Frazier, Virginia -- 4h 14min during Hot TWOT 10/12/13 

Neal Gorman, Virginia, recorded a time of 4:21:19 the month prior, on 09/05/13.

[both recorded before trail reroutes during the summer of 2016]

The Basics

Wild Oak has no fee and limited aid. Runners can do 1, 2, 3 or all 4 loops. Each loop is "25 miles" (probably closer to 28). Runners absolutely need to be able to find their own way, because the course won't be marked. You must be able to navigate the course using just the tree blazes as your guide.  The Wild Oak Trail is blazed white, so if you are running on a trail of a different color, you are off TWOT. There are no aid stations, no volunteers, no audience, no car rides back to the start. The participants are held 100% accountable for their own safety.

*Important: The trail path was altered in the summer of 2016, which added mileage and resulted in the loss of some of the original elevation gain. All course records will be new henceforth. To see previous course records set on the old trail course, please reference the “Past Results” pages.* 

NOTE: TWOT is not a VHTRC sponsored event. The VHTRC does not deserve any credit for this event!

Please note: All events and training runs are unsupported.

Who is Invited

Since this is a semi-invitational, here are some guidelines to help you determine if you are "invited". Actually, most of the following determines who is not invited.

  1. If you are even the least bit worried or concerned about getting lost, don't come.
  2. If you have questions, don't come.
  3. If you need a crew, don't come.
  4. If you need toilet paper, don't come.
  5. If you expect to be pampered in any way shape or form, don't come.
  6. If you're a whiner, don't come.
  7. If you're a freeloader, don't come.
  8. If you're seeking fame and/or fortune, don't come.
  9. If you're thinking about writing a report about your experience at Wild Oak, don't come.
  10. If you crave abuse, if you yearn for abuse, if you are addicted to abuse in any way shape or form (be it physical, mental, sexual, verbal, mathematical, artistic or whatevah) BY ALL MEANS, BE MY GUEST. (This applies to abusees only. Abusers are not welcome. The only abuser allowed is the trail.)

Interested In An Attempt?

In 2016, Dennis Herr passed the TWOT reins onto Antoinette Landragin, who took over as RD. Entry is via email, so if you want to run TWOT or Hot TWOT, please email Antoinette.  

Participants, please include in your email: Name, Race Day Age, Gender, State/Country and Emergency Cell Phone Number.  Please also include your anticipated racing distance and your start date (either Friday at 8 AM or Saturday at 8 AM).  All four-loop hopefuls also include your t-shirt size and physical mailing address.  All participants should plan to bring one gallon/3 liter bottle of water and another drink of choice such as soda or an electrolyte drink, and one food item for use in the common aid for the race. As this is a free event, the aid for this event is FOR the runners BY the runners. The more aid you bring, the more you will have to enjoy!

About the Event

If you don't know about TWOT or Hot TWOT, please learn more about them before you consider participating, both for your safety and the safety of the race. This is not your average trail race. The Wild Oak Trail is a rugged, beautiful loop of roughly 28 miles in the George Washington National Forest southwest of Harrisonburg.  Each loop of the trail has brutal climbs. While much of the trail surface is runnable, there are also rocky, difficult stretches that make smooth running very challenging, even for elite runners.

ALL runners are strongly encouraged to carry a compass.

*available slots are limited. For all events, please kindly register in advance via thewildoak100@gmail.com. If you are unable to attend, send an advance notification to the same email so your spot may be transferred on to another Unfortunate on the waiting list, if one has been created. If you are attending with a group, please send names of all participants for our records.

TWOT Trail Maintenance -- Big Bald

TWOT enthusiasts and trail lovers interested in offering their manual-labor services will be petitioned to come out and help keep the Big Bald section of the TWOT loop clear. To join the email-listing of good hearted folks looking to put in volunteer hours on the trails, please contact Antoinette with your name, telephone number, level of trail work experience (none, moderate, or seasoned), your level of first aid experience, and any tools you may be able to volunteer for the service. Further instructions for interested parties to be sent out via email. Thank you in advance for your willingness to help make the trail clear for all!

Wild Oak Trail Logo

DIRECTIONS TO TRAILHEAD:

I-81 to Exit 240 then Rte 257 West to Bridgewater. Left on Main St. (Rte 42). Right on Rte 727 (right after crossing bridge). Six miles on 727 to Sangerville. Left on Rte 730. Six miles on 730. Right on Rte 718. One mile on 718. Cross cement bridge, do a right-left dogleg onto FDR 95. 0.1 mile on 95 to trailhead parking lot on the right.

Parking: There is limited parking in the small lot right at the trail head.  A secondary parking option is back down FDR 95 at its junction with Tillman Road/Tilghman Road, roughly 100 yards from the parking lot entrance. Do NOT park in front of the entrance to the girl scout camp (Camp May Flather), which you will pass just before the road junction on your way in. And do NOT park in front of any gates! See Antoinette for clarification if you arrive and have questions regarding the parking. PLEASE car pool if possible, as parking can be tight if we get too many vehicles!

WARNING!!  Some navigational aids, such as Garmin, have provided unreliable directions to the start at the TWOT lot. in the past  Google Maps is reliable, and a query of "Wild Oak Trail, Fr 95, West Augusta, VA" will lead you directly to the correct parking area.  To be safe, use the directions and consult a map.

View from Big Bald

 

Wild Oak Trail Information and Prior Results

Group on the first hill
2001 Racers Take Break During Relentless Assault of First Hill

[Note: Runners identified in this photograph include: Chris Scott, Ed Demoney, Anstr Davidson, Harry Smith, Dennis Herr, Bill Wandel and Mike Dobies]

[Note II: This hill is part of the initial climb up Lookout Mountain, and due to a course reroute, it is no longer part of The Wild Oak Trail.]