So you like Strava Challenges? We have another for you! If you haven’t already, join the Sir Walter Running Strava club!
The 2025 Tour de Walter is off and running! We’ll announce a new challenge every Monday (or maybe Sunday night), and it will run through the following Saturday at Midnight. All of these are in celebration of the 2025 Sir Walter Miler, which will be held Friday, August 8th at Meredith. We’ll talk about these Strava Challenges of upcoming episodes of the Summer of Miles podcast, so make sure and subscribe!
What exactly is the Tour de Walter? This is the first of a 4 segment Challenge called the Tour de Walter, in honor of the Tour de France. Everyone that competes all 4 segments will get a Tour de Walter koozie, and the Male and Female with the lowest overall time will get VIP seating at the 2025 Sir Walter Miler.
NOTE: These runs are unsupervised, so please run at your own risk (and be careful)!
2025 Tour de Walter – Stage 1: Awesome Possum
What is it? The first segment of the 2025 Tour de Walter is “Awesome Possum,” which is a segment that goes from Possum Track Road to Possum Track Road, and back to Possum Track Road; a Rim to Rim to Rim of sorts. It’s also a tip of the cap to the recent Western States Endurance Run, and a little Raleigh history, as Possum Track Road used to keep going where it currently dead ends, until Falls Lake was constructed. The segment is approximately 5.9 miles total.
Where is it? The segment is on the NC Mountains to Sea Trail, and the trailhead is accross the street from 13601 Possum Track Rd, Raleigh, NC 27614. You can park by the entrance to the trail or at the end of the street.
Where is the start (and where do I run)? Start at the “Foot Traffic Only” sign and follow the White (dot) Blazes of the MST. You’ll run for 2.9 miles before turning around at the “Foot Traffic Only” sign (with 2 white dots on it) on the other side of Possum Track. It’s an out-and-back barn run of about 5.9 miles total.
Where do I finish? At the same place you started. The “Foot Traffic Only” sign at the beginning of the trail.
When should I run? The segment is shady, but it’s been hot lately, so plan accordingly. Don’t run in the middle of the day. Be careful. Take some Tailwind in advance! You have between now and Saturday at midnight.
Where will I see the standings? See below and filter accordingly. And we’ll update the cumulative weekly!
NEW THIS YEAR: After you run the segment, enter your results here!
Update your Privacy Settings! If you want your run to register on the segment standings below, you must go into your run in Strava after it populates and adjust the privacy settings on that run (to not hide the start and finish).
The Official Strava Segment: strava.com/segments/39566295 (Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3377132074193068366)
What do I win? We will have a random drawing for 2 entries to the Raleigh RunDown Downhill Mile on Saturday, August 9th! We will post with next week’s segment.
Have questions? Let us know: SirWalterRunning@gmail.com