WV Winter Solstice Endurance Run

The winter solstice gets a short shrift among the calendar of holidays: quiet and starry, it is too often skipped over in the hectic rush up to Christmas and New Year's. But it is a day and a night unlike any of the rest in the year: when night is at its longest, the importance of the comforts of home and warmth and friendship is at its biggest, too. With those comforts within reach, the long night itself becomes velvet-inviting, rather than cold and foreboding, no matter what the weather.

Event Details

Please join WVMTR and the HRDO in celebrating the 2025 Winter Solstice with an all-night run in Helvetia, WV. The run and clock will start at sunset on Saturday, 20 December, 5:02pm, and stop at sunrise on Sunday, 21 December, 7:35am. We will run together and alone to complete as many laps of the Helvetia Historic Trail as we can in that time. If you've never run through a night before, this is a great place to figure it out.

This will be a fun run and not a race---but there will be some small recognition of whoever chooses to run the most complete laps and whoever runs the fastest single lap during the night, and we'll keep track of how many laps we complete as a group.

Runners and their crew will have access to the Star Band Hall throughout the night to use as an aid station and gathering place. You are welcome to lay out a sleeping pad and bag to rest during event as you wish, although we will ask you to pack up and head out by 9am Sunday morning.

We will provide some basic hydration and typical ultra aid station fare, but please consider this event as a potluck and bring both useful and less-useful-but-fun things to share with your fellow runners.

You do not need to be a member of WVMTR to join us for this run! All runners must be 18 years of age or older on the day of the run, but family is welcome at the aid station.

Event Size

Helvetia is a small town without much lodging or many facilities, and the Star Band Hall is a small hall, so this event is limited to a small number of runners. That is a hard cap that will not be increased, so do not drag your feet about signing up for too long.

If you're looking for a place to stay, you might try The Swiss Roots Inn or The Beekeeper Inn (both right in town) or a couple of local spots available on Airbnb (about 8 miles away, up on Turkeybone).

Trail Info and Maps

The Helvetia Historic trail is a 2.9 mile loop starting and ending at the Star Band Hall in town. It heads up the first paved then gravel Old Helvetia Road to a hairpin left on to double track farm road. Part of the way up that double track hill, you take a gentle left for the last mile or so back to town on unimproved county road, with just a little bit of pavement again at the very end. In not-quite-three miles, you gain and then lose some 550 ft of elevation. It is marked with red circular metal blazes (shown on the second link below), and will also be blazed with reflective tags for the event.

We will travel the trail in a counter-clockwise direction, which is what is described above. We'll make sure that you know where to go on the first few laps so that you'll be set for the night.

You can find more information about it and a topo map at the links below, but after the first few laps you will know it like the back of your hand.

• https://caltopo.com/m/21A62EQ
• https://www.helvetiawv.com/service-page/helvetia-historic-trail 

Course Records

• Women's most laps run:
  • Set in 2024 by Alisha Moreno at 13 laps.
  • Broken in 2025 by Katherine Pugliese with 19 laps.
• Men's most laps run
  • Set in 2024 by a tie between Drew Joseph and Donald Marsh at 18 laps.
  • Broken in 2025 by Donald Marsh with 21 laps.
• Women's fastest single lap
  • Set in 2024 by Alisha Moreno at 33:28.
  • Broken in 2025 by Sophia Gibby with 24:56.
• Men's fastest single lap
  • Set in 2024 by Lou Butler, 20:10.

Yearly Group Stats

• 2024*
  • Approximate Low Temp: 11F
  • Time: 14:32:00
  • Total Distance: 667 mi
  • Total Laps: 230
  • Starting Runners: 25
  • Runners Running At Least 50 km: 7 (28.0%)
  • Average Laps per Runner: 9.2
  • Average Approximate Distance per Runner: 26.7
• 2025*
  • Approximate Low Temp: 33F
  • Time: 14:33:00
  • Total Distance: 1052.7 mi
  • Total Laps: 363
  • Starting Runners: 35
  • Runners Running At Least 50 km: 19 (54.3%)
  • Average Laps per Runner: 10.4
  • Average Approximate Distance per Runner: 30.1

The starred years above are those years when the run included the day of the true solstice.