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Willamette Valley Road Runners (WVRR)
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HATFIELD-McCOY MARATHON
June 14, 2003
by Ron and Charlotte Hartwig

This marathon is part of the Hatfield-McCoy Reunion Festival. A history-making pact was signed this year by both Hatfields and McCoys calling an end to the generation-old feud. Before we left for West Virginia we bought a book about the feud so were somewhat knowledgeable about the feud. The race takes you past some of the most infamous action sites.

While the marathon begins in one state and ends in another, only one state may be claimed by a 50-stater. We are claiming West Virginia, as there are several other choices for Kentucky.

Organization: The Hatfield-McCoy Marathon is one of five events the Tug Valley Roadrunners Club holds each year. This has got to be a small club and they do an outstanding job. The marathon began in 2000 with 15 finishers. This year there were 200. A half-marathon is also held and you start together so it feels like a bigger race. They may have to get porta-potties at the start next year as they maximized the capacity of the rest rooms at Food City, a primary sponsor where the races start.

As we paid our $70 entry fees for the Denver marathon we were reminded what a bargain we received for $25 in this marathon. Not only do you get the usual finishers medal (it was a good one) and a shirt (also good), you also get a towel and a free pasta feed that was quite good. There were more than twenty water stations on the course. The week before the marathon the club even extended a road to link it with a gold course cart path (more on this later). The food at the finish line was marginal, but with race proceeds going to help school programs its ok to save their money.

Race Course: Lee Fields says his daddy told him, "If West Virginia was smashed flat it would be bigger than Texas." We don’t know if this is true but we saw very few flat places, particularly in the southwest part of the state where the race is held. The race starts in Goody, Kentucky, which is across the river from Williamson, West Virginia where the race ends. You actually get a couple of miles of relatively level ground to start. You turn off the major road where the course takes you through the coal camps of Hardy, Kentucky. One thing we noticed was how close the houses were to the road. There are virtually no front yards. You run past some of the historic sites of the feud as you gradually climb to the base of Blackberry Mountain at mile six. Here is the only long hill on the course. It’s almost a mile up with a steep downhill following. The next few miles are rolling and extremely pretty as you follow a small creek. Ron thought it reminded him of some parts of the coast range. The course crosses a bridge into Matewan, West Virginia, site of the historic Matewan Massacre. Here miners were killed by agents brought in by the coal companies to prevent union organization. Matewan is the finish line for the half-marathon. As a marathoner it is hard in that you run right beside the half-marathon finishing chute. You cross back over the Tug River and turn onto a narrow paved road that becomes gravel and one lane. You go through some country that we bet federal revenuers may never have dared to venture into. Between mile 18 and 19 you have a giant change. You run onto a nice golf course and run on a paved cart path! After a half-mile you cross over a suspension bridge that spans a ravine. It felt really weird on your legs at this point of the race. Other people told us it was stranger if other runners were on the bridge the same time you were. You join a main road that heads for the finish. At mile 20 there is a pretty good hill, which seems to hit you hard at this point. From there it is flat to the finish. There was road construction near the finish, which was a pain. A few 90-degree turns near the finish and you were through. Summary: A beautiful and challenging course.

Weather: The day before we flew to West Virginia a storm hit the Charleston area and caused flash floods by pouring nearly 2 ½ inches of rain in one hour. Thunderstorms were predicted for the day of the race in the Williamson area. Sure enough several times during the race we got absolutely drenched. It was warm so it wasn’t uncomfortable but we don’t like to get our feet wet, as we are then more likely to get blisters. On Monday we were to fly out of Charleston. When we got up it was raining about an inch an hour. After touring the capitol we headed for the airport. Charleston’s Yeager airport is on a hilltop. Unfortunately you have to cross a creek on the main access road. On the way to the airport we encountered a police roadblock. The road was impassable and the only other road to the airport was worse. The locals said it had been 40 years since this creek had flooded. Perhaps you saw the pictures on television. Fed-ex employees were on top of a building with a Fed-ex truck floating in the parking lot.

Charlotte got on the cell phone and talked to the car rental company and the airlines. We ended up driving 170 miles to Lexington Kentucky where we were able to get flights to get us home. On the plane we saw a quiz in a magazine – "Which of these places has the least rainfall: Atlanta, Baltimore, Portland, Seattle." They said the answer was Portland. It must be the amount of rain not the time spent raining. Back east they get some heavy rains in a short time.

How We Did: Ron likes smaller races and hopes to place so he runs as hard as he can. Charlotte is trying to stay healthy and said she would back off on this race. Ron: The first part was easy and then came the big hill. He was thankful for the hill training and ran it fine. The first really big downpour came partway up the hill, which didn’t help. The run to the half-marathon was uneventful. Near the half-marathon finish we briefly ran in what looked like an alley. The time for mile 13 was about a minute and a half faster than our other miles so something was wrong. It was very quiet after turning into the road, which became gravel. With the rain we tried to run without hitting the deep puddles. At one point we went past a man who apparently lived in a very small travel-trailer painted in American flag colors. He was mumbling about being proud to be an American and something about how his daddy had been a world champion in something. Ron hoped Charlotte would not be running by herself as she passed by the guy. As it got more remote Ron said afterwards that if he had heard the "Dueling Banjos" song from the movie Deliverance, he would have really picked up the pace. The pace for mile 19 was four minutes longer than previous miles so this more than made up for the short mile 13 (the new course is probably a quarter mile long). At mile 20 Ron caught up to three other runners and ran with them for the next five miles. At mile 24 Ron looked back and saw someone who appeared to be catching slowly up to them. At mile 25 a runner passed. Ron said the man was balding and looked very old so he was probably in Ron’s age group. Sure enough he was and he beat out Ron for third place in the age group. Much whining occurred when Ron found out that if he had been six months older he would have won his new age group by 21 minutes. Ron finished 4^th of 22 in his age group and 33^rd out of 200 finishers overall so it was a good marathon. Charlotte: She ran smart and easy. At the big hill she power walked it and said no one passed her. She ran down the hill one minute faster than Ron. WVRR West Virginia hillbilly Lee Fields trained her to run downhill and it paid off. The weird man posed no problem and she encountered no difficulties. Finishing fifth woman overall and first female master, she placed first of six in her age group and 48^th runner overall. She won her age group by 50 minutes.

Tourist Stuff: There wasn’t a lot to see in the immediate area of Williamson. There is the "Coal House Building" where the Chamber of Commerce is housed. This is a building constructed of coal – 65 tons of it. We went to Matewan and bought a few trinkets at the shops there. Of interest is "The Great Wall." Because the town flooded so often, a floodwall was constructed which is 2,350 long and varies in height from 6 to 29 feet above grade. The wall is textured and depicts the history of the area. Doors in the wall can be closed shut and the opening over the bridge road may be blocked. We like to visit wineries in other states and went to one that was noted to be one of their best. Oregon has nothing to worry about. We also went to the State Capitol building in Charleston. Each capitol building we have visited has something quite attractive or unique. From the 10-foot tall bronze statue and other things in the building you have thought that Senator Robert Byrd was dead and made a saint. There is a cultural center next door that was ok.

Comments: Ron has a cousin who told him that the part of the state we were running was one of the poorest in the state. The marathon headquarters town of Williamson has a population of less than 4,000 down from over 10,000. Shops in town don’t appear to be stocked with a lot of goods. There are signs everywhere that read "We Support Coal." Apparently there is a desire to open up more land to strip mining, which of course these days is controversial. This may be a bit like things in small logging towns in Oregon. As we walked around the town of Williamson and during the race we saw a number of people sitting on their porches. They would always wave to us. We saw some incredibly decrepit trailers and shacks that appeared to have people living in them. This really saddened us. We are not used to seeing such poverty. Yet in the midst of this very depressed area is a vibrant running club. The marathon has a modern website. The chairman of the marathon is David Hatfield. He is intelligent, witty and has a great down-home sense of humor. He reminded Ron of a younger, better-looking Lee Fields. Actually it felt somewhat strange to be in a place where everyone, even young boys, sound like Lee Fields.

If you are going to be in the area and want to run in a most interesting marathon, give this one a try. As we have suggested before, if you are coming to this race get your room reservation asap. There is only one motel in the town. It is the Sycamore Inn and is the location of all race related activities. The next closest place to stay is Pikeville, Kentucky, which is 35 minutes away.