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Club Profile: Virginia Happy Trails Running Club
By Dickson Mercer
By September/October 2011
In a recent blog post titled “Branded,” Alan Gowen, president of the Virginia Happy Trails Running Club (VHTRC) and a finisher of nearly 100 ultras, put it like this: “Did you ever notice,” he wrote, “that for the most part what the VHTRC is all about boils down to nothing more than a bunch of folks getting together and going for a trail run? That’s it. Let’s meet somewhere and run.”
Informal runs in the woods have been this group’s modus operandi since 1993, when a group of early running boomers turned ultra freaks needed to create some sort of legal entity in order to put on its Bull Run Run 50 Miler, founding member Anstr Davidson said.
Since then, Davidson, 66, of Arlington, VA has observed the group’s membership count grow from a few dozen to about 400, though growth has never been this nonprofit’s goal.
The goal, rather, is to “stay small,” said Davidson. To that end, VHTRC has never recruited members or provided any special perks to its members that just so happen to win races from time to time.
The club’s membership does in fact include accomplished ultra and trail runners. Gowen, though, when asked to name some, said, “I’d rather not get into that. That’s not really what we’re about.”
What the group is really about is getting together to run on dirt. No-fee races and runs often draw upwards of 100 participants. Meanwhile, pockets of VHTRC members who live in the same area--say, the “Leesburg Mafia”--will often get together to run on a more regular basis.
Has the group changed much since 1993? “I think the most obvious difference is the percentage of women. Back in the old days, there were women, certainly, but not a lot of them,” Davidson said.
In “Branded,” which was posted on VHTRC’s Web site (www.vhtrc.org), Gowen, 61, of Keymar, MD goes on to explain the club’s preference for going it alone. The club, for example, prefers to put on its three annual races, April’s Bull Run Run 50 Miler, May’s Massanutten Mountain Trails 100 Miler, and September’s Women’s Trail Half Marathon, without the backing of or being beholden to corporate sponsors.
“Zany. Madcap. Quirky. Screwball. The VHTRC had the amazing good fortune to be founded by a group of guys who were all of the above and more,” Gowen wrote.
Lucky for those who would come later, the group’s founding fathers were also organized enough to put on a race or three, but not so organized so as to ruin the party.
The club is known for its low entry fees, yes, but also for its well-marked courses and bountiful aid stations. It helps, as it turns out, that the club’s resource chest includes portable shelters, a sound system, a timing clock, lights, generators, close to 20 water coolers and plenty of pitchers, which volunteers use to fill up hydration packs. The featured races have a limit of between 200 and 350 runners, and rarely have any empty slots. The club will also provide refunds.
Although VHTRC is officially based in northern Virginia, its members live throughout Virginia, Maryland, and in Washington, DC. They range in age from early 20s to late 70s; ability levels vary, too. The main requirement for membership? That would be forking over the $15 annual dues.
Interestingly enough, it was VHTRC’s Web site that drew Gowen to the club six years ago. He liked the philosophy. More than solid training partners, Gowen was looking for solid company.
“Most of our runs end with a cookout,” he said. “A lot of people run just to come to the party. You get out on the mountain all day and you get tired; maybe you run 25 or 30 miles. When it’s done it’s nice to kick back with a bunch of people, have something to eat, have something to drink, and relax.”
Dickson Mercer is a staff writer for the Southern Maryland newspapers. A member of the Georgetown Running Company team, he has a marathon PR of 2:29:06. He is a regular contributor to Washington Running Report.