Running routes in Davidson (Updated 4/21/21)

We're frequently asked about good running routes in Davidson. Here are a few of our favorites.

1. Beginner's Loop. This is a great 2.5-mile run, with one significant hill. This course also previews a portion of the route for many 5K races held in Davidson.

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• Start at the CVS on Main Street in downtown Davidson. Head south (away from the college) on South Street (to the left of the Flatiron Grill). Continue about 0.7 miles, past Davidson Elementary. 
• Turn Left onto a paved greenway just before you get to the covered bridge. 
• At Mile 1.24, Turn Right onto Avinger Lane and head up the hill. This is a good place to take a walk break if you need it. 
• At Mile 1.57, Turn Left onto Pine Road and continue up a gradual hill.
• At Mile 1.85, Turn Left onto Lorimer Road.
• At Mile 2.05, Turn Left on Thompson St but make an immediate Right Turn to stay on Lorimer. Be prepared for some rolling hills.
• At Mile 2.38, Turn Left onto Chairman Blake Lane and sprint up the hill to the finish at Main Street!
• Head across the street to Summit Coffee for a much-deserved refreshment.

2. The Irma Loop. This is the basic route that DARTers take when they want roughly 6 miles or 10k. Actual distance about 6.18 miles, give or take.

• Start at the CVS on Main Street in downtown Davidson. Head south (away from the college) on South Street (to the left of the Flatiron Grill). Continue about 0.6 miles, past Davidson Elementary. 
• Turn Left onto a paved greenway just before you get to the covered bridge. 
• At Mile 1.1, Turn Right onto Avinger Lane and run up the hill. 
• At Mile 1.5, Turn Right onto Pine Road. Continue almost to the end of the road.
• At Mile 1.9, Turn Left onto Patrick Johnston Lane. Continue down a steep hill.
• At Mile 2.1, Turn Left onto Hudson Pl. 
• At Mile 2.2, Turn Right onto a greenway and continue until the greenway terminates at Davidson Concord Road. You will cross two roads in the process.
• At Mile 3.4, Turn Left onto the sidewalk next to Davidson Concord Road.
• At Mile 4.2, you will pass a roundabout and head back into town. Some gradual uphills will give you a workout before your final descent into town.
• At Mile 6.1, Turn Left onto Main Street. Make your final sprint to the CVS! You're finished!
• Head across the street to Summit Coffee for a much-deserved refreshment.

3. The Abbreviated DART loop. If you're not feeling up for the full 6.18-mile Irma loop, try this 4-mile version.

• Start at the CVS on Main Street in downtown Davidson. Head south (away from the college) on South Street (to the left of the Flatiron Grill). Continue about 0.7 miles, past Davidson Elementary. 
• Turn Left onto a paved greenway just before you get to the covered bridge. 
• At Mile 1.24, Turn Right onto Avinger Lane and run up the hill. 
• At Mile 1.57, Turn Right onto Pine Road. Continue almost to the end of the road.
• At Mile 2, Turn Left onto Patrick Johnson Lane. Continue down a steep hill.
• At Mile 2.23, Turn Left onto Hudson Pl.
• At Mile 2.3, Turn Left onto Kimberly Road. Continue up the hill.
• At Mile 2.58, Turn Left onto Concord Road. You'll get a quick breather before a gradual uphill, then descend back into town.
• At Mile 3.95, Turn Left onto Main Street. Make your final sprint to the CVS! You're finished!
• Head across the street to Ben & Jerry's for a much-deserved ice-cream cone.

4. The Davidson College Trails (4.7-mile Wolf Spider route). This is a well-marked, wide trail run used by the Davidson Track and Cross Country teams [Please note as of April 2021 you must use a mask on the Davidson College Campus, and the trails are closed during track and cross country practice (usually 4-6 pm Monday through Friday)]. DART has a regular Thursday evening run called "Wolf Spider" that generally follows the route specified below. Once you find the trail entrance as described, if you carefully follow the 5K signs, you should be led through the route. 

• Start in front of CVS in downtown Davidson. Head north (towards the college)
• At Mile 0.1, turn right onto Concord Road
• At Mile 0.3, turn left onto Faculty Drive. Follow this road around the football stadium and track (to your left)
• At Mile 0.4, turn left onto Baker Drive (do not go into the parking lot for the gym but cross between the gym and the football field along Baker Drive).
• At Mile 0.5, stay right on a path that takes you off of Baker Drive and towards an overflow parking lot behind the gym.  Cross the driveway to the parking lot and head onto a trail on the other side.
• At Mile 0.6, turn right on a gravel path towards the soccer stadium. You will pass the marked start of the 5k Cross Country course. Stay to the right as you pass the stadium and continue on the path onto an embankment around a containment pond.
• At Mile 0.9, turn right away from the pond and into the main part of the trail system. Stay on this main trail as a couple smaller trails feed off to either side of the trail.
• At Mile 1.5, you will reach a "Y" junction. Stay to the right to continue along the 5k course.
• At Mile 2.1, you will reach another "Y" junction. Stay to the right to continue along the 5k course.
• At Mile 2.7, you will reach a trail crossing. Turn right.
• At Mile 3.1, you will see a warehouse on your right and intersect with a gravel road. Turn right and then take an immediate left to stay on the 5k course
• At Mile 3.3 you will reach the "Y" junction where you entered this loop. Stay to the right and continue in the direction you originally came from. 
• At Mile 3.9 you will reach the containment pond. Stay to the right and continue around the pond on the opposite side you ran on before. 
• At Mile 4  Turn right towards campus. You will pass the start / finish line of the 5k.
• At Mile 4.2 you will reach a "Y" junction. Stay left and then take an immediate left towards the overflow parking lot for Baker Gym. Cross the driveway to the lot and continue on the path towards Baker Drive.
• At Mile 4.3 turn right onto Faculty Drive. 
• At Mile 4.5 turn right onto Concord Road.
• At Mile 4.6 turn left onto Main Street and sprint to the finish at CVS.
• Head across the street to Masala Mastee for a delicious Indian meal.

5.  Fleet Feet Out-and-Back.  This is a straightforward 10-mile out-and-back from CVS in downtown Davidson to the Fleet Feet store in Birkdale Village.  It utilizes the new McDowell Creek Greenway Trail which runs north-south between Westmoreland Rd. in Cornelius to Highway 73 in Huntersville.  Although it's not a hard run we'd give it a "B" rating in terms of difficulty, primarily because there are incomplete sidewalks and a short bridge crossing over I-77.

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• Start at the CVS on Main Street in downtown Davidson. Head south (away from the college) on South Street (to the left of the Flatiron Grill). Continue about 0.7 miles, past Davidson Elementary.
• At Mile .79, just after crossing the covered wooden bridge into the Antiquity subdivision, Turn Right onto Old Canal St.
• At Mile 1.25, Old Canal St. turns into E. Catawba Ave.  Continue up to the railroad crossing and Turn Left onto Main St./Hwy 115.  There is a sidewalk on the west side.
• At Mile 1.85, Turn Right onto Washam Potts Rd.
• At Mile 2.94, Turn Right onto Westmoreland Rd.
• At Mile 3.19, cross Statesville Rd./Hwy 21.  There is no crosswalk, so be careful.
• At Mile 3.45, cross over I-77.  There isn't a sidewalk but the sides are wide.  Watch for cars!
• At Mile 3.6, enter the McDowell Creek Greenway by Turning Left just after crossing I-77.
• Take the Greenway south.  Bear left at the two right-hand ramps.
• At Mile 4.94, go under the wooden pedestrian bridge then Turn Right and up the ramp to the Fleet Feet parking lot.
• Drop by Fleet Feet and say howdy.  During store hours they offer cold water; otherwise, you can visit the spigot on the outside of the building.
• Retrace your route for the return to Davidson.  Stop by Summit Coffee for a much-deserved refreshment.

6.  Davidson Lands Conservancy's 10k Route.   This is the route of Davidson Lands Conservancy's annual Run For Green 10k.  (There is also a 5k as well as a half marathon.)  It utilizes much of the greenway, including the seldom-used south spur.

• Head south (away from the college) on South Street (to the left of the Flatiron Grill). Continue about 0.7 miles, past Davidson Elementary. 
• Turn Left onto a paved greenway just before you get to the covered bridge.
• At Mile 1.24, Turn Right onto Avinger Lane and run up the hill. 
• At Mile 1.57, Turn Right onto Pine Road. Continue almost to the end of the road.
• At Mile 2, Turn Left onto Patrick Johnson Lane. Continue down a steep hill and Turn Left onto Hudson Place.
• At Mile 2.15, Turn Right onto the greenway and continue for .75 miles until you reach the next road, which is Robert Walker Dr.  Go across Robert Walker Dr. (watching out for traffic).
• Continue on the greenway until its terminus at Mile 3.4.  There is a yellow metal pole in the middle of the greenway, which ends at Davidson-Concord Rd.
• Turn around and head back on the greenway.  At Mile 3.9 go back across Robert Walker Dr.
• At Mile 4.6, Turn Left onto Hudson Place.
• Quickly Turn Right onto Patrick Johnson Lane and climb up, up, up.
• At Mile 4.9, Turn Right onto Pine Rd.
• Take Pine Rd. past Avinger Lane and toward Davidson-Concord Rd.  Turn Left onto Lorimer Rd. at Mile 5.6
• Continue on Lorimer Rd. all the way to the finish, which is behind the Davidson Public Library.  The finish line is across from the book drop.

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Here is a link to the official route, along with those of the 5k and half marathon.

7.  Abersham.  A running location that's out in the country but still less than four miles from downtown Davidson, Abersham Park is the place to get your hill workouts done.  It's a long story, but Abersham was planned as a development of $1 million+ homes that has fallen into foreclosure.  Fortunately for us runners the roads and greenways were put into place before bad times arose and now it's a town park.

To get to Abersham from downtown Davidson take Davidson-Concord Rd. and turn left onto Grey Rd. Grey turns into Greystone Rd. and veers right, merging with Shearer Rd.  The main entrance is on the right, and there is are two small parking lots inside: One near the entrance, and one at the bottom of the hill (also the bottom of our example map) Be sure to stow and lock all valuables in your car.  There are no facilities at Abersham, so be sure to bring water and foodstuff.  No bathrooms, either.  Finally, bring a friend and/or phone.

Once you get into Abersham you can run either clockwise or counter-clockwise and you will be assured of some long, steep hills.  There is a large map near the parking lot.

Example of a clockwise run.

Although there are no paths or greenways leading to Abersham from Davidson, one can run Grey Rd., but that can be a little tricky, and it's a topic for another entry.