Firing One of Awards Unloaded




Awards: 8-milers, 20-milers, 40-milers and winners

I've been doing awards for the Uwharrie Mountain Run - a challenging, winter single-track trail run of 8, 20, and 40 miles in central North Carolina’s Uwharrie National Forest - for 20 years, and this year the organizers wanted to celebrate the 20th year with something special. So, I decided to fire them in my wood kiln using clay from the region around the Uwharries made at STARworks Ceramics in Star. The clay is called Okeewemee 10.

Dave Elam of Chapel Hill, a runner who is volunteering instead of running this year, brought by a bit of downed wood from the trail, and we added it to the kiln at the end of the firing Sunday. About 500 people sign up for the run. That's a lot of pieces to fit into my 25-cubic-foot kiln. We didn't fit them all in, so I'll be firing again soon.

We fired for about 18 hours, from 5 a.m. until 11 p.m., using pine and oak, and the dogwood from the trail.


A grouping of this year's awards

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