Hatfield and McCoy Reunion Festival Marathon Official Website

The "Nitty Gritty" Details (User Opinions)

John F.
Taylors, SC

  (07-20-2009)

"The people of this small town are fantastic. So friendly. It's well organized, the aide stations are amazing, and there's 25 of them! This course is really tough with over 6600 feet of uphill elevation change. It's in the mountains.

This was my first marathon, so I have no basis for comparrison. But others said it took more than an hour longer than their pr's. The scenery is beautiful, but it's a hard one.

The town is incredibly dirty, as was the sycamore inn. everything in there is filthy and stained. my wife was completely creeped out the whole trip, but i loved it."

Reviewed by a: First Time Participant for 2009

Hutch D.
Atlanta, GA

  (06-14-2009)

"Don't miss this one!!! We had a blast!!!

You'll want to book your reservations with the Sycamore, Inn in Williamson, Va. (a small and rustic coal mining town) since that's where all of the festivities occur. Check-in and packet pick-up starts around noon on Friday and you'll also be assigned to one of the families - either Hatfield or McCoy. I was pleased to be honored as a Hatfield this year and felt it might be to my advantage considering the Race Director is David Hatfield - a descendant of the original Hatfield clan.

I would then recommend you take a drive down to the "Coal House" - an old building in the center of downtown with an external construction made entirely of coal and serving as the Chamber of Commerce facility.

While you're there pick up a driving tour brochure and go visit the points of interest associated with the world famous feud of 150 years ago. You'll discover that most of the tour includes portions of the race route (watch for mile markers) so you'll get a good feel for the course while you are out and around taking in the rich history of that area.

You'll return to attend an outdoor Pasta dinner that started at 6 PM this year(under a large tent with tables and chairs) and you'll enjoy a great (and very professionally produced) skit depicting the history of the feud.

This year there were 400 runners and it was great to meet people from over 34 states and 4 other countries. The town really puts on a show and provides great support for the race as witnessed by the large number of very nice door prizes provided by various businesses around town.

After a good nights sleep, you can catch one of the shuttles (provided by church vans and drivers from several of the local churches) that begin running at 5:30 AM and deliver you to the starting line. The race begins at 7:00 AM and without much fanfare.

The course is amazingly flat (with one exception) and well marked. The roads are not closed off but were pretty empty at that time of morning in such a small town.

As you get into mile 6 you will hit a very serious hill that just keeps on going on going. According to my odometer you'll run 8/10ths of a mile before you reach the top and, as I said, it has an extremely steep incline. The backside (downside) of the hill is equally steep and seemed even longer. By the time you hit mile 9 you're back on level ground and, for the most part, the average is more down hill than up for the rest of the way.

The course runs alongside a mountain stream which makes the run much more enjoyable. Unfortunately, in early May of this year there had been massive flooding due to the significant rainfall and many homes were damaged and parts of the street where we were running had been literally washed away into the mountain stream. It was not a problem for us and it's sure to be repaired by next year!

The half marathon course ends in the small town of Matewan and the course passes through both Kentucky and West Virginia. Courteous church van drivers will shuttle you back to your hotel where you can shower and prepare to attend a wonderful post-race pulled pork dinner (since the feud involved the stealing of a pig I think... :-)

Between the rich history, the wonderful people, and a just plain fun event, this is a must run!!!

Enjoy! :-)"

Reviewed by a: First Time Participant for 2009