The “Nasty Branch” (aka Town Branch) needed our help. It still does. It takes a lot of trash to make something “nasty”, but this little stream is worthy of maintenance.
Justin Young of RiverLink organized volunteers from Connect Buncombe: Terry Scholl, Stockton Hill, Mark Cobb, Allison Glackin, Bill Miller, Bill Werme, to start the process. Justin brought trash grabbers, trash bags, sharps containers, and some extra gloves in case someone forgot theirs.
We were told to be prepared with the following: clothes and shoes that can get wet and/or dirty, a pair of work gloves, and water to re-hydrate afterwards. Each of us pulled several bags of trash out of the water and steep banks totaling 300 pounds.
It was a good day for picking trash.
The Nasty Branch is easily accessible and runs through a nice neighborhood and recreational area. By summer’s end we should plan to go back for another pass to keep it clean.

RiverLink’s Justin Young with Terry Scholl and Mark Cobb

Connect Buncombe’s Allison Glackin with Justin and Terry compare trash

Allison dives right in with her “wellies” on

The Highland Brewing Night Flight is every runner’s favorite twilight race. Wandering through East Asheville over a tortuous 4.5-mile roller-coaster course the race is a real challenge. Add buckets of rain with booming thunder and you’ve got an epic event ready-made to rumble. A sell-out crowd of 531 runners, the largest field since 2016, started the race at 7:30 in between downpours. Yet, despite the confrontational conditions, (0.5 inches of rain during the event) 404 finished with the top 3 running under 6-minute miles.

All the Overall, Masters, Grandmasters and age group winners (top 3, m/f) received custom Highland bottles; top 3 OA, Masters and Grandmasters plus top finisher in each group received Jus’ Running gift certificates …not to mention beers waiting for all participants at the end of the race.

Connect Buncombe is grateful to Highland Brewing for its donation of all proceeds to them for Greenway development in Asheville and Buncombe County. The event was produced by Glory Hound Events.

Due to the rain as you can see from the photos, the post-race celebrations scheduled for outside on the Meadow were moved inside to the Event Center and a great time was had by all. Thanks again to Highland Brewing.