Tony Taylor
My name is Kate Moga and I have had the honor of sharing many trail miles with our friend, Tony Taylor, who passed away unexpectedly in the overnight hours of October 6-7, 2024. Here is my version of how a few of us in the Fredericksburg area, including Tony, who otherwise had nothing else in common got together and developed a lifelong passion for mountain trail running. Trail running was a big part of Tony’s life; in fact, two days before he left us he spent a full day touring his favorite trail - completing a loop of The Wild Oak Trail (TWOT).
I think most of the OG group came together courtesy of Richard Sisson (aka King Richard) — he had run a few legit ultras, not just those wimpy 50ks, so he was our King. I think it was around 2015, back when an actual print copy of Ultrarunning magazine would arrive monthly and you could see results, scan for cool races, see who was fast.
There were some mountain ultra runners sprouting up in our area like Rob Tidwell, who was probably just starting to form visions of The Wild Oak Trail in his head.
JFK 50 miler in 2016 was Tony’s first ultra and after we finished (in just over 10 hours and 20 minutes), well, now we were true ultra runners. But JFK wasn’t the right challenge for Tony: too flat, too paved, too damn expensive, and way, way too many people.
Richard, by way of Rob, introduced him to the Virginia Happy Trails Running Club, and the VHTRC’s Fatasses became his go-to training runs for The Ring, Reverse Ring, Hot TWOT and TWOT, etc. He said the people who ran those races were some of the nicest, bad-assed, fun people anywhere. He had found his people!
Tony’s first mountain 50 miler was Mountain Masochist. He, Jesse Parker, and King Richard were casually sipping hot broth at the “IN” of Mt Pleasant Loop, mile 29 of the old MMTR course in 2017. Obviously they had not factored into their race pace that if your watch said you were “On pace” and ahead of schedule, it didn’t mean squat in the mountains. I blew by them not stopping and yelled “we’re gonna miss the cut-off!!” They looked at each other, dropped their soup and ran after me. We ran and ran our hearts out, pushed as much as we could for close to 3 hours. Sprinting into Forest Valley AS at 4:58pm only to miss the hard cutoff by a minute. That is the truth. Talk about a hard cutoff. Tony was so pissed - his watch still showed he was on pace - rookie mistake.
Tony was a numbers guy and after that miscalculation he would have spreadsheets detailing pace according to A, B, and C goals, projected finish times and AS arrivals and departures. It certainly helped him finish back-to-back Hot and Cold TWOTs, the MMT 100, Grindstone 100, and the Hellgate 100k in the not-too-distant future.
Tony had a unique training model. “He was never a high volume runner” Jesse said to running partner, Jamie. “Running around the neighborhood meant he was ‘bout ready for Hot TWOT. He knew how to push in ways I will never know. I am glad he got one more loop out there last weekend.”
Tony, Rob Tidwell, Richard and Guy Towler ran the Highland Sky 40 Miler out in the wild and wonderful West Virginia, Tony’s home land. It was a great chill and run weekend with camping, eating at Hellbenders and a little 40 miler tossed in just for the fun of it. We also met Sophorn Choup there and became great running mates with people from Pennsylvania. Sophorn was there to pull us across the finish line — what a day.
Tony also loved an early morning training run up at Buck Hollow in Shenandoah National Park, just outside of Sperryville. A group of us would meet up there: Kate, Rob, sometimes others, and we would run several routes up in the Blue Ridge mountains in SNP. We would usually turn and head back once we reached Mary’s Rock, after taking a moment to enjoy the overlook prior to beginning the descent back to the cars. It was never as easy as that sounds, and we had a few bear encounters along the way. It was never dull and we were laughing most of the time!
Kevin Shepherd, fellow soccer dad, tough as nails Marine who once ran for two days through an exercise program known as the Crucible with a greenstick fracture of his femur wrote: “Monday we lost one of the best friends I will ever have. He pushed me, pulled me and once carried me 112 miles and 28,000 feet along The Wild Oak Trail. I love ya, brother! I know when I make it to the end you will be sitting there, drinking a beer, asking me what took so long.”
We will miss you, Tony. Our lives are so much better with you, because of you, and the times we shared.
A Friend To All - by Guy Towler
I really can’t pinpoint the first time that I met Tony, but I reckon it was around the 2018 timeframe. Weird, because I seriously feel like I have known him my whole life. In just a few short years, he became as close as I have ever had to having a real brother, without the drama and rifts that are usually naturally occurring between blood brothers. I got to know him from The Wild Oak Trail run series. He started coming out there attempting to do four loops for a few years, and we spent a lot of time talking around the campfire. We eventually started gifting each other bottles of bourbon, and he would give me a shout whenever he was up in the Baltimore area for work. The last time he was up my way, around late June, he texted me mid-morning that he was in town and wanted to know if I would like to grab lunch with him and a few of his coworkers. I cleared my calendar immediately and headed out to meet him.
After the first couple of years at Wild Oak, I started to tell Tony that he should look into the VHTRC and some of the runs they put on. He eventually started coming around and fell in love with the club and all of the super cool events they put on. I personally observed him meeting new folks, talking to them, and I noticed that everyone he spoke with almost instantly connected with him. He listened more than he talked, and he was always seeking advice from other runners on how to improve his run game. I loved his passion for adventure. He inspired me greatly, and I deeply regret all the times that he invited me to come out and do a training run, and I had some lame excuse not to.
I remember having a conversation with Tony after one of the participants at TWOT, rented a big van for the weekend, and was using it as a home base to attempt an 8 loop run. Tony was enthralled by this van deal. I could see the spark in his eye instantly. It was only a couple of months later that he went out and bought one.
For a couple of years, he just slept on a cot in the back of his van, but eventually he tricked that thing out big time. The big grey van started to become a common sight at trail runs all over Virginia and Maryland, and the amount of run/race stickers on the back of it started growing FAST! Every time I saw him, he would have a few more stickers on that rig. I was overjoyed to see him finish MMT100 a couple of years ago! He was super proud of all his Lynchburg series runs, and his RING and Reverse RING finishes, and rightfully so.
I’m very appreciative of Tony helping me out with the MMT Training Run that I direct in February. That run requires a heavy logistical lift of shuttling runners approximately 30 miles to the start line very early in the morning. The last couple of years, Tony volunteered to drive and his van was loaded out with runners! Couldn’t have done it without him.
Tony inspired me, not just with his dedication to running, but with his ability to communicate, actively listen, and get to know people. As a natural introvert, I struggle with that sort of thing, but Tony made it look easy. I miss him dearly. I look forward to sharing stories about Tony with other folks in the trail community, who got to know him well.
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