2024 Louisville's Lovin' The Hills 50k/15m/6m Registration

Registration for the 20th running of Louisville's Lovin' The Hills, to be held at 8:00 a.m. EST on Saturday, February 3, 2024, is open on UltraSignup at  https://ultrasignup.com/register.aspx?did=106886.  Online registration will close on Wed, January 31, 2024 at 11:59 pm EST.

There will be a few course changes in 2024 as Jefferson Memorial Forest (JMF) continues their program to remove steep sections and also the technical trail sections in the Forest. The most notable course changes will be at Scott's Gap in the 50k.  A new course map will be forthcoming for the 50k.  Also, the Tom Wallace Recreation Area of JMF is currently being revamped with new parking lots, sidewalk & landscaping affecting the Purple Heart section of both the 15m & 50k courses.  This construction is presently active and it appears the course will cross work areas in at least 3 locations. Since nobody at JMF is able to provide any information about the construction, it appears the conditions will just have to be dealt with the day of the race. There should be only minor diversions from the original course thru these areas and at worst, the course will be diverted to the park road for a short segment.

The 2024 FAQs have been posted.  Information about training runs can be found there.

 

UPDATE:

Unfortunately, there's another disruption to this year's LLTH.  Jefferson County has recently decided to close Holsclaw Hill Road between Mitchell Hill Rd & the Horine entrance to LLTH starting Monday, January 29 for culvert construction.  Access to LLTH will be blocked if you're coming from Fairdale on Mitchell Hill Rd to the north end of Holsclaw Hill Road.  The only way to the race start will now be from the south end of Holsclaw Hill Rd which starts in BROOKS.   Google map directions HERE.  Be aware this end of Holsclaw Hill Rd is quite narrow in a few places and the road also has a couple very sharp/blind curves.

 

 

Google Map directions to the Start from the Brooks Road Interchange on I-65 can be found  HERE. 

1-29-24 UPDATE:

Confirmed this evening that Holsclaw Hill Road has officially been closed to thru traffic.  Local access is available from both ends of Holsclaw Hill Rd  -- up to the actual construction site on the north end (Fairdale) and up to the Horine (LLTH) entrance on the south end (Brooks).

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2023 LLTH Results and Race Recap

 Preliminary results have been posted:

 https://headfirstperformance.com/Results/23%20LLTH.pdf

If you note any errors or have any missing information, notify Headfirst Performance.  Results will be on Ultrasignup at a later date once the results have been finalized and HeadFirst Performance gets them uploaded to that site.

 

Recap:

The 19th running of LLTH is now history.  This year there were over 400 entrants.

start video:

The weather and/or trail conditions usually add to the challenge of LLTH.  The weather though, was fairly typical for this time of year with low 20's & light winds at the start with upper 40's & moderate winds in the afternoon.  As for trail conditions, many of the trails resembled ice rinks on Wednesday, but warm temps on Thursday & the sunny day on Friday pretty much removed all the ice except for some isolated spots & 3 or so short sections :  on the gravel road just after the start, the 2nd downhill on the Red Trail and the downhill approaching the sidewalk on the Siltstone Trail.  For the most part, the trails were hard & frozen for the 1st few hours & then were increasingly muddy as the day wore on.

2023 winners:

50k:  Benjamin Shirrell     4:47:13            Piper Gray           5:55:12

15m:  Evan Heitz              2:02:00            Melissa Pitts        2:20:08

6m:   Seth Snider-Hayes      41:59            Sally Thompson      50:08

 

Other notes:

Like last year, the free pasta dinner had several hundred attendees -- Quest Outdoors has been a great sponsor & has done an incredible job putting on this dinner.    Thanks Quest!-

As usual, tasty homemade soups & other assorted food was available at the post race meal --  Thank you Cynthia from all of us!

As noted previously, in collaboration with Land Between the Lakes (LBL), a special award will be given to those who complete both LLTH (50k, 15m or 6m) and LBL (50m, 60k, marathon or 23k).  Information on LBL can be found here:  https://runsignup.com/Race/KY/GrandRivers/LandBetweentheLakestrailruns.
 

An award is issued to runners when reaching 10 finishes at LLTH.  4 runners reached that milestone this year:  Jonathon Amlung, Ryan Miller, Jeanette Schmidt and Gerard Weiter -- Congratulations!

If anyone has any photos/videos/race reports that they wish to share on this blog, send them or the link to me.  Thanks!

This video is shared by "Late-Runners" on YouTube:     https://youtu.be/H_ZeTRe-OSs

Swag:

 

 

 

 

Congrats & Thanks to all for making LLTH once again a success this year!

 

 

 

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Feb-1-2023 LLTH last minute notes

Online registration thru UltraSignup ends tonight (Feb 1) at 11:59 pm EST.

Early packet pickup is at QUEST OUTDOORS at 4600 Shelbyville Road in the Shelbyville Road Plaza in Louisville on Friday from 4 to 7 pm EST.  QUEST OUTDOORS will also be having their FREE pre-race pasta dinner again this year at their store location -- everyone is welcome.

You can also register and/or pick up your race packet at the Horine Center at the Start/Finish area on race morning starting around 7 am EST.  It's recommended to pick up your packet on Friday to avoid the rush & lines on race day.

Flagging will be pink this year.  Trail junctions will be marked with several flags & major junctions will also have signs or a volunteer on site.  Intermediate flagging is spaced approx. 200 to 300 feet along the entire course.

Out on the course flagging trails today, there’s a layer of ice at many locations on the trails from the sleet and freezing rain yesterday with a very light dusting of snow on top.  At times it was difficult to even hike. Forecasters say it will warm to the low 40's tomorrow (Thursday) & will do a lot of melting but I would not count on all of it melting & what does melt will probably refreeze Friday & early Saturday, so be prepared for ice.

At Mitchell Hill Lake mile 6.2 this morning:  

All main roads in Louisville are clear, although the 1st half mile of the race is on a gravel road that holds water in one area & it was a sheet of ice today, as were all the wood trail bridges.

Current local weather from the National Weather Service can be found here:   NWS Fairdale, KY

The course layout is unchanged from last year — not even minor changes, which is rare.  However, there are changes in the works.  One is a re-route on the Scott’s Gap trail (unaltered for 20+ years) that will bypass a steep incline and 2 deep ditches next year. You may see some wired flags in the ground veering off the trail -- ignore them & just follow the pink flagging on the well worn trail to stay on course.

50k runners will notice that one hillside on the Siltstone Trail was burned due to a small brush fire during the drought last Fall.  It looks like the trail worked as a small firebreak and also allowed quick access for firefighters.

As in previous years, in collaboration with the Land Between the Lakes (LBL) trail running event in western KY, a special award will be given to those who complete both LLTH (50k, 15m or 6m) and LBL (50m, 60k, marathon or 23k).  Information on LBL can be found here:  https://runsignup.com/Race/KY/GrandRivers/LandBetweentheLakestrailruns.

Good Luck & Be Careful!

 

 

update 4 pm Thursday, Feb 2 2023 :

With warmer temps today, most all of the course is no longer ice covered.  There are exceptions.  The ice in the photo above is now all gone.

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