Description:

The year 2020 marks 10 years since the inaugural H9 50-miler. That time began a renewed trail running interest in the Duncan Ridge Trail that led to the establishment of several races (Cruel Jewel, Duncan Ridge 50k, Georgia Death Race, and the H9 insanity) that use all, or part of the Duncan Ridge that is commonly known as the Dragon Spine.
There were earlier events, such as the Georgia Loop runs-races that used the DRT, BMT and AT to create a roughly 60 mile loop in N Georgia. Those activities have partially faded into the mists of yester-year. Richard Schick is probably the most knowledgeable about those events and will happily spin a tale or two if you ask. They pre-date ultrasignup and the inter-webs, which means they never actually happened (smiley face). The DRT at that time was wild and woolly and was not well maintained. The trail maintenance has improved, for many reasons, but suffice to say the interest of the trail running community has played a large role in that improvement. This RD’s first memory of the DRT was of Brad Goodridge wandering out of the wild from the other side of Coosa Bald, machete in hand…surely the lair of a Dragon did lie in that direction. H9 attributes the origin of the term Dragon Spine to Andrew Powell from sometime in the 2000s. He noted that the sharp ups and downs are like climbing the back ridges of a dragon. The Dragon Spine likely had other names – most unprintable, no doubt – but the Dragon seems to have stuck. The Creek Indians who traversed these lands in earlier centuries most certainly would have been astounded by our foolishness to cross the worst part of such awful terrain.