I founded the Dahlgren Trail half-marathon in 2010 and was the race director from 2010 through 2020. Arsenal Events took over race management in 2021, and the Friends of the Dahlgren Trail seem happy with Arsenal’s efforts, looking to keep this event going for many years.
The race is run on the old railbed trail. The Navy built the rail line in 1942 to supply their Dahlgren Base.
There are still trains running from Fredericksburg to the King George County dump.
Jim Lynch, current president of the Friends, comments, “In 2005, David Brickley reached an agreement with Joe Williams, the owner of the railroad right-of-way to operate a rails-to-trails. The Dahlgren Railroad Heritage Trail Association (DRHTA) was established as the legal entity operating the trail in December of that year. The railroad stopped using the eastern part of the Dahlgren Junction line in 1957, and the rails were taken up later. The ties, however, were left in place. The Friends group was organized in 2005 and started work on clearing the trail. While the railroad was idle, trees had grown up on the rail bed and had to be removed. The undergrowth had to be pulled with hand tools. Later, the railroad ties had to be extracted. They were taken to an adjacent farm, ground, and then to the new landfill for mulch.
“The Friends began to operate the trail, issuing no-cost permits to trail users. (A common response was, “Why do we need a permit? Isn’t this a public trail?” The answer was “Not yet, but one day”). The Friends are pretty self-sufficient but do need a small funding stream, so with the assistance of a local race director, trail races were started in 2009. The first 50km race was a small event with about 80 runners. Over the years, other races and a trail run were added. There are now five running events (one of which is a trail run, not a timed race), drawing well over 700 runners. Not only does this provide a needed revenue stream, but more importantly, it introduces 100s of new visitors to the trail every year.
“Other events in the early years include donating vintage rail cars to the Friends. Financial grants and donations from local foundations, businesses, and individuals have made the DRHT what it is today: named one of the top ten Rail-Trails in Virginia.”
In the summer of 2009, I managed the 50km race using the entire available trail. At that time, milepost 0.0 to east of milepost 14.5 was clear. The trail owner worked with Little Ark Baptist Church to determine a route to complete the east end.
Working on the 50km, I used a Garmin to record GPS coordinates for each milepost. As part of the trail work, the Friends installed mileposts on the north side of the trail. The posts are marked every ½ mile.
I provided the Garmin data to King George Fire and Rescue to help them create a trail map with access points to each milepost. If you ever need help while running on the trail, knowing your closest milepost will rescue you fastest.
With the success of the 50km, I decided a February half-marathon using milepost 0.0 to the east of 6.5 may be a success. With the unnoticeable uphill from 0.0 to 4.0, this portion of the trail was the most runnable.
The course we used for the half-marathon has not been measured for USATF certification. My Garmin measurement between milepost 0.0 and 6.5 was close to 6.5 miles. I paced off the extra distance east of milepost 6.5 to complete a half-marathon. At the turnaround, I wrapped numerous streamers around trees and wrapped some more yearly. We’ve used the same course for all 14 editions of the race.
With good parking attendants and carpooling, there is room in the lot at the Route 605 trailhead and Birchwood Creek Road shoulders for 225 runners. Avoiding shuttle buses to remote parking at Sealston Elementary, I limited the field to 225.
The Route 605 trailhead is at the western end of the trail and the location of milepost 0.0 (Key West, King George).
The only usable rails run from west of milepost 0.0 to a switch each of milepost 0.5. The Friends use a hand cart on these rails for some races to shoot video.
With the narrowness of the trail at the west and switch at milepost 0.5, I decided waves of 30 runners would be the safest. Through 2020, I used a seven-wave structure.
Prize money is nice for professional runners. Many local runners wanted to run races for cash but wanted age group awards when failing to finish in the money.
I separated those running for cash into the first wave for this race. Those in this wave could win some money but were ineligible for age group awards. The remaining waves were not eligible for cash awards. There were years when fewer females ran in wave one than available cash prizes.
The remaining waves were organized by sex and age group, first with younger male runners. Even with two minutes between waves, I did not want a large group of males running over the back of the female packs.
Using the waves, we have not had any crowding or injury.
Except during rain and snow storms, the trail drains well and does not puddle. We’ve had years with storms in the days leading to the race with excellent running conditions.
Then, around 2015, Virginia Power ran a heavy truck down the trail near milepost 2.0. This section of the trail was soft dirt covered by pine needles. The vehicle dug deep ruts. Even with fill work, the trail still shows the impact. The Friends needed to lay some boards to cover the continued soggy ground.
The nice part of the race is the lack of turns. If a runner thinks like a train, chances of getting lost are minimized. There are only two major road crossings in each direction. Volunteers man these crossings, which are the water stop locations between milepost 1.0 and 1.5 and at milepost 4.0.
A fifth water stop is at the turnaround, accessed from the Northern Virginia Gun Club less than a quarter mile away.
The Friends are eager fire starters. Before packet pickup begins on race morning, a blaze will be burning near the start. As a warning, the warmth of the fire may suck you in and delay your start.
Post-race, the Friends have cooked soup, usually chicken noodles and a vegetarian option, and provide Krispy Kreme donuts. Some will help you heat a donut over the fire.
In 2020, with the J Brian’s 15 km demise, the race was added to the Coldwell Banker Elite Grand Prix. That year, we retained wave one with cash prizes as the only option. However, we changed the remaining wave composition based on expected finish time, mixing males and females.
Then, there was the memorable 2021 ice year. Arsenal not only had to endure a year of COVID but also had to endure their first race of 2021 on a trail covered in snow and ice.
Those prepared with spikes and yak tracks ran without issue. Others had slippery fun as the top layer of crunchy snow melted, exposing ice below. The crossing of Tomahawk was an adventure.
February 17, 2024, was the 15th running.