Virginia Wine Country Half Marathon

The course for the race follows a meandering, loop-shaped point-to-point route that starts at Doukenie Winery, located a couple of miles east of the village of Mechanicsville off Mountain Road.From this 500-acre winery and farm nestled at the base of Short Hill Mountain along the Virginia-West Virginia border, runners head out onto Mountain Road (State Route 690) and head north, along a gradual uphill slope for the first couple of miles.Rolling hills along paved country roads greet runners as they head out along the course’s first few miles, with barns, horses and long farm fencing along the sides of the roads as they pass through the miles in the early going.Runners keep heading north along Mountain Road for the first five and a half miles of the race until they reach the right turn onto Axline Road, which also coincides with a welcome downhill just after passing the mile 5 marker.Farm fields, houses and trees dot the landscape as runners keep heading southeast along Axline toward the halfway point of the race, past Hiddencroft Vineyards on the way to the next right turn, this time onto Picnic Woods Road.There’s an uphill stretch as runners make their way through miles 6 and 7, and as they head south along Picnic Woods, the route features rolling hills as it passes by farm fields and through tree-lined stretches and ponds on the way to Morrisonville Road.The last three miles of the race take runners west along Morrisonville Road — where they’ll run past the horse farms at at Hunt Valley Equestrian Center — and then back to Mountain Road, where they turn left and head south along the stretch they ran earlier in the race.After heading down Mountain Road, runners then turn off the highway for the final quarter-mile stretch into Dounkenie Winery, where runners will get the chance to sample the varietals and enjoy the finish line festivities.