Photo Courtesy Heather ‘Anish’ Anderson
New Unsupported Speed Record Set on Appalachian Trail
Back in late September a thru-hiker named Heather ‘Anish’ Anderson somehow managed to fly under the radar of national and many regional media outlets when she set a new unsupported speed record on the Appalachian Trail, hiking the trail in 54 days, 7 hours, and 48 minutes. The record came in the wake of Scott Jurek’s widely publicized supported speed record and during much A.T. fanfare with the release of Robert Redford’s “A Walk in the Woods”. To learn more about Anish’s historic record click here.
First Climbing Gym Open in Boone, NC
Thanks to a locally powered crowd funding program, Boone, North Carolina now has its very own climbing gym. According to Center 45’s website the gym’s mission is to provide an open and energetic bouldering and training environment supporting the advancement of the Appalachian climbing and fitness community. Learn more here.
Interscholastic Cycling Comes to North Carolina
North Carolina has been named as one of only 4 states to be welcomed into the National Interscholastic Cycling Association. North Carolina towns that have shown interest in league involvement include Hendersonville, Brevard, Cornelius, Huntersville, Charlotte, Davidson, Leland, Mayodan, Jacksonville, Carrboro, Raleigh and Wilkesboro.
“Chris McQueen and I are very excited to be working with NICA to bring organized middle and high school mountain bike racing to North Carolina,” Mike Long, co-director of the North Carolina league told BlueRidgeNow.com.”With thousands of miles of trails across North Carolina, mountain biking is tremendously popular in this state, and a lot of students and their families will benefit from the NICA program. North Carolina has ample infrastructure to support an interscholastic mountain biking league and our robust cycling community will certainly make this a success.” Learn more here.
