SPORTS

Lookout to Lookout to Lookout runners work up a thirst

Fred McCormick
Black Mountain News
Lookout Brewing Co. kegs mark the finish line for the 2019 Lookout to Lookout to Lookout 10-mile Race, which brought 180 runners to Black Mountain, Oct. 12.

A 10-mile run from the center of Black Mountain, through Montreat, to the top of Lookout Mountain and back is enough to make anyone thirsty.

Fortunately for the 180 runners in the Oct. 12 Lookout to Lookout to Lookout, the race ended with a cold beer.

A mass of trail runners descended upon Lookout Brewing Co. for the 10:30 a.m. start of the race, which began at the Ridgeway Avenue brewery. The group headed north toward the Flat Creek Greenway before making its way toward the Montreat gate. 

Runners cross State Street and head north on North Ridgeway Avenue to start the 2019 Lookout to Lookout to Lookout 10-mile Race, Oct. 12.

The course took participants to the peak of Lookout Mountain, where runners could take in the views from 3,760 feet, before descending for a return to the brewery.

The annual race, which has increased in popularity every year since its 2016 debut, is produced by Relentless Running Events, founded by Black Mountain trail runner Mike Guyer. 

Mike Guyer, Black Mountain trail runner and founder of Relentless Running Events, gives runners in the 2019 Lookout to Lookout to Lookout 10-mile race final instructions.

Participants, ages 21-and-older, received a free beer from Lookout Brewing Co. after crossing the finish line, which was comprised of a row of kegs. 

Lessye Ashworth stretches with the help of a keg before the start of the 2019 Lookout to Lookout to Lookout 10-mile Race. Ashworth, who was participating in the trail run for the first time, was one of more than 180 people, on Oct. 12, to run from Lookout Brewing Co. to the top of Lookout Mountain and back.

The race attracted a number of trail runners from the region, including winner Nick Horne, of Blountville, Tennessee. Horne, 24, completed the run in 1:19:11, the seventh-best time in the race’s four-year history. Vertical Runner Black Mountain owner, Shaun Pope, finished second with a time of 1:19:58. Juan Tesara, of Charlotte, rounded out the top-three with a time of 1:20:22.

A runner receives a post-race beer from Lookout Brewing Co. bar manager Marley Fischer. More than 180 runners ran the Lookout to Lookout to Lookout 10-mile Race, Oct. 12, which took participants from Lookout Brewing Co. to the top of Lookout Mountain and back.

Tory Grieves, of Asheville, was the top female finisher, at 1:27:56. She was followed by Madison Zimmerman (1:32:29), of Hendersonville and Alli Hustead (1:37:52) of Fletcher. 

A runner in the 2019 Lookout to Lookout to Lookout 10-mile Race makes his way back to Lookout Brewing Co. from the top of Lookout Mountain.
A trail runner celebrates on the final stretch of the Oct. 12 Lookout to Lookout to Lookout 10-mile Race in Black Mountain.