2026 Report

The first of this year’s MMT Training Academy runs saw 38 runners take off from the start on Moreland Gap Road behind the Caroline Furnace Lutheran Camp at 6:37 am on Saturday, January 17th. There was a light snowfall during the pre-dawn start, with temps just below freezing, making for rather reasonable running (and volunteering!) weather for a winter’s day in the Massanuttens. Unlike last year, when icy roads forced me to postpone the run until early February, the weather cooperated: the snow let up within an hour, temperatures rose into the 40s, and we even got a little sunshine over much of the day, before clouds came back in, but fortunately with no additional precipitation.

Runners traversed roughly the first third of the MMT 100-mile race course: up Moreland Gap Road to the Massanutten Trail; up and across Short Mountain to the first aid station at Edinburg Gap; up Waonaze Peak and along the western ridge that forms Powell Mountain to the second aid station at Woodstock Gap; and then continuing north along Three Top Mountain, down to Powell’s Fort Camp, around the Strasburg Reservoir, up the Bear Wallow Trail and over Green Mountain and down to the finish at the Signal Knob parking lot. The longer I direct this run, and with each time I run the race in May, the more I learn about the geography, geology, ecology, and community that make the Massanutten Range and Fort Valley so unique and special.

As in every year, volunteers rose to the occasion and made my job easy: arriving at 5:30 am in the cold and dark to shuttle runners to the start; feeding and hydrating the runners at the aid stations and finish line; and transporting runners who decided to stop early back to their vehicles safely. Volunteering is a wonderful endeavor, and I believe we should volunteer in ways that utilize our talents and bring us joy, and this was on display at this and, indeed, at every VHTRC event.

I’d like to thank this year’s event volunteers, who are all listed in a chart below the runner details that can be seen in the grid at the bottom of this report.

And now for some numbers: Almost half of this year’s field are entered in MMT and almost half of those will be running their first MMT, or are returning to make good on a previous DNF and cross that finish line this year. And five of our runners will make MMT their first 100 miler! I can’t think of a better way to get your first buckle. Good luck to all the runners as they move down the trail this year.

And of course all of the 34 finishers are now in the running to receive the treasured Massanutten Training Academy shirt premium. Runners who complete all four of the training academy runs will be presented with a shirt to mark their accomplishment at the MMT 100 pre-race briefing in May.

Entry is still open for the second Massanutten Training Academy run, scheduled to be held on Saturday, February 17th, which will cover the middle third of the MMT race course, from Signal Knob to Camp Roosevelt. Such a fun section of the MMT 100 course, this is a Must Do! Again this year the Training Academy #2 is being hosted by the inimitable Guy Towler.

I hope to see you next year at 5:30 am at the Signal Knob parking lot on the Saturday of MLK weekend (January 16th, 2027). Until then, Happy Trails!

Photos and Videos from the day, submitted by Larry Huffman and Tori Lev.

Photos

Results

Time of day entered into splits
Total running time noted in “Time” column
Aid was provided at the following locations:
Aid 1, Edinburg Gap - 12 miles
Aid 2, Woodstock Tower - 19 miles
Finish, Signal Knob - 32 miles

And here is our usual admonition regarding the “results” below… Bear in mind: this is not a competitive event. No one treated this as a competitive event. These should not be considered “competitive event results.” The times are provided for informational purposes only. This can help others who pull the route from the event site and run the course self-supported, so that those runners can approximate times. It can assist those considering this training run in future years to estimate their own run times. And it is helpful for volunteers to see the range of times that runners take to cover certain sections.

Volunteers