Hillsborough Running Club Race Dodges the Weather

RECREATION & LEISURE

By Randy B. Young
Correspondent

Simply put, runners don’t like waiting—not for a race, not for an injury to heal, not even at a busy street corner, where you can often see harriers jogging in place, impatiently revving their engines as they wait for the crosswalk light to change.

So, when back-to-back winter storms hit the local area in January, runners were particularly beset, if only because of the impact of schedule changes. Postponed until this past Sunday, February 22, however, the Hillsborough Running Club’s annual midwinter rite of passage—the Occoneechee 10-mile Run—was worth the wait.

Hillsborough Running Club President Martin Wileman explained that Town had closed a portion of the intended racecourse.

“We had to postpone due to the ice storm,” Wileman said. “It was really the ice storm rather than the snowstorm that followed the week, because that hung around for a long time, and the Town closed the Riverwalk area. Runners would have probably tried it, but the Town closed it. Otherwise, the course is the same as in past years.”

Runners carefully choose their way down the historic steps of the Historic Occoneechee Speedway track to the starting line of Sunday morning’s Occoneechee Mountain Challenge 10-mile trail run. Photo by Randy B. Young

Start your engines

Organized by the Hillsborough Running Club, the start and finish of the Occoneechee 10-miler were both along the same home straightaway of the historic Occoneechee Speedway, just off Elizabeth Brady Road in Hillsborough.

The Hillsborough Running Club is a place to meet fellow runners with the main goals of fun, fitness, and friendship, according to the Club’s Facebook site. Founded in 2013, the club has members of all ages and running / walking abilities. Club members currently gather twice a week: on Sunday mornings at 8 a.m. and on Wednesday evenings at 6 p.m. Group runs begin near the entrance to the Weaver Street Market parking deck, and groups usually run for various distances up to 6 miles, according to the Club’s website.

In 2016, the Hillsborough Running Club first staged its Hillsborough Half Marathon and 5K and was named the “Non-profit of the Year” in 2018, the same year they began kicking off the Hillsborough Christmas Parade with the “Running of the Elves, a festive, fun 1-mile jaunt.
January 2020 marked the first Occoneechee Mountain Challenge 10-miler, which has been held every year since, except 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

By October 2024, the Club had been credited with inspiring over $100,000 in donations.

A matter of course

After starting from the flag stand at the Historic Occoneechee Speedway track, Sunday’s runners then ran on the beautiful Riverwalk (part of the North Carolina Mountains-to-Sea Trail), past the “Occaneechi Indian Village,” and through Hillsborough’s Gold Park.

The middle third of this race took runners to the top of Occoneechee Mountain—the highest point in Orange County—before returning for a 0.9-mile lap around the Speedway track to the finish line and, traditionally, coffee and award-winning beef chili (from Hoof Beat Farm).

Now a part of the Eno River State Park, the speedway is situated at a 44-acre site on the bank of the Eno River across from Ayr Mount and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as one of the first designated locations on the “Moonshine and Motorsports Trail.”

An adjacent 20-acre parcel along the Eno River bend contains early Saponi Nation settlements dating back a thousand years, and archeological digs on the speedway’s infield supported the notion that Civil War troops were camping, though not fighting in that area.

Later used by General Julian Carr to train horses on his oval track, and it was that track that Bill France piloted his plane over the expanse decades later. France built a dirt track there in September 1947, and NASCAR racing began the following year. During two decades of racing, the speedway hosted such notable names as Fireball Roberts, Richard Petty, Ned Jarrett, Louise Smith, and Junior Johnson.

By the late 1960s, however, with fewer crowds, faster cars, and local resistance to Sunday racing from various religious leaders and law enforcement, France shut down the operation.

“Rain, rain went away…”

With torrential rain bands hitting the area within an hour of Sunday’s 9 a.m. start, the morning seemed bleak, but runners had waited long enough. Luckily, the deluge abated just in time, though various portions of the racecourse were left slippery.

The race website describes the course as technical and tricky in winter weather, with 700 feet of elevation gain in its middle third and such trail features as rocks, roots, steps, and mud, which would be treacherous even in perfect weather. Sunday’s runners were undaunted.

“Actually, I think runners thought it was going to be muddier than it actually was,” said Hillsborough Running Club treasurer Lynda Wileman. “The only person I heard of who had a fall was actually on one of the boardwalks, because the boards were actually more slippery (than the trail).”

“I don’t know if it’s more because they’re taking more care on the mountain and watching their feet where their footing is. But once you hit the boardwalks and you’re going faster, maybe you’re not concentrating quite as hard.”

Overall winner Kaleb Martin heads down the final straightaway toward a 1:05.27 finish at the Occoneechee Mountain Challenge 10-mile trail run. Photo by Randy B. Young

No speed limit on the speedway

The Historic Occoneechee Speedway was still speedy, as reflected by impressive times and performances by racers on Sunday despite less-than-ideal conditions.

Taking top honors in the men’s field was Kaleb Martin in 1:05.27, followed by Dave Staples (1:10.33) and Shan Guo (1:13.24). Among females, Emma Astrike-Davis earned gold (1:14.07), with Ashley Peppriell (1:14.39) and Haley Benefield (1:15.26) also earning spots on the medal stand.

Female overall winner Emma Astrike-Davis streaks along the last stretch of the Occoneechee Mountain Challenge 10-mile trail run, finishing in 1:14.07. Photo by Randy B. Young

In the first place, in the masters males category, it was Paul Sapienza (1:16.39); among female masters, it was Abigail Jeck (1:24.47) who took gold. Among male grand masters, Carlos Rojas (1:28.02) finished first; among female grand masters, it was Lisa Hecker (1:27:33) across the finish line.

With 185 registered runners, the number was slightly down in 2026 relative to previous years.

“A few runners signed up today, just today, and a few from our club even signed up last night,” Martin Wileman said. “The numbers are probably a little down because of the postponement.
“We’re a friendly race; we like to offer deferrals or refunds if we change anything. But these days, with dynamic race bib assignment, we can sign people up a minute before the start, which is pretty cool.”

In addition to twice-weekly group runs, the next event staged by the Hillsborough Running Club will be the annual October 4 Hillsborough Half-marathon and 5K, so runners will have to be patient, but should something pop up before that, well, you know how runners just love waiting.

Jubilant runners navigate the final few yards of the Occoneechee Mountain Challenge 10-mile trail run, braving chilly, damp conditions. Photo by Randy B. Young

A Dartmouth College graduate, Randy B. Young first worked as an award-winning advertising copywriter in New Hampshire, then in communications at UNC for over 30 years. He maintained an award-winning newspaper feature covering Recreation and Exercise in the Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Orange County. Retired and living in Chapel Hill, Randy continues to write for regional publications both locally and in New England, and his book, And the Stars Flew With Us, is available through Amazon and at independent bookstores. He coaches track at Chapel Hill High and has a photography business, Pierless (sic) Photography. This reporter can be reached at: Information@TheLocalReporter.press