Dollywood Butterfly Challenge Review – Great Concept, Execution Needs Work

Nicole Charlton-Nauroth(HF7645) – Half 169 Dollywood Butterfly Challenge
This was their first year so I’ve had a lot of people ask me to let them know how it went. Short answer: it was fine. Would I do it again? Probably not. Nothing catastrophic went wrong but they have a lot to work on. It was also SUPER hilly. I wouldn’t recommend it for new runners who would be concerned they may not make the cut offs. It’s going to seem like I’m listing a lot of negatives but remember that everything else went right.
We did the Butterfly Challenge which was the 5K, 10K, and Half Marathon. The expo was OK, nothing spectacular. They gave us three different bibs and one cotton t-shirt. I guess I’m spoiled by other races but, if I’m running three races, I expect at least 3 t-shirts and cotton is a no go. Merch wasn’t that interesting so we didn’t buy anything.
The 5K and 10K were both Saturday morning. This is similar to Flying Pig but that race puts the 10K first, which I feel works better physically. They had sent out a 31-page race guide in advance with multiple helpful tips but failed to mention that we would have to gear check our 10K bib. Many didn’t find this out until race morning. There were 4 porta potties at the 5K start for about 1,800 runners. The corrals were self-select. There were a few character/attraction stops and the lines were short. The finish line was uphill, which was a bummer, especially as we were finishing there three times.
Once we finished the 5K, we had about an hour or so until the 10K. We got in the LONG gear check line to get our 10K bibs. 15 minutes later…..it had not moved but it had gotten even longer. Eventually, we got our bag, as it seemed multiple runners jumped in to help out and get the line moving. The 10K was fine but the medal was exactly the same as the 5K, just with a different ribbon.
We had parked at the 5K starting line so the car was over a mile away from the finish line. There were trams but the line for the tram was so long that we just ended up walking to the car in the rain.
The half marathon started at 5:30 and it was pretty dark and foggy. The start line was better since they did a staggered start between corrals. However, it was still pretty bunched up for at least half of the race. Many of the roads were very dark and a headlamp would have helped. The guide indicated 8 water stops but the first one wasn’t until after mile 3. There were only two volunteers working and they had a very hard time keeping up with demand. They were literally pouring each one as we walked up as they did not have time to set any out. This seems like a staffing issue, not an issue with these ladies. The half marathon medal was the same as the 5K and 10K, just a little larger. The Challenge medal is pretty cool and picking it up was easy.
Dollywood seemed to base a lot of their policies on Disney. The logo looks like RunDisney, they had a 16-minute per mile limit, “Butterfly Balloon Ladies” were the sweeper pacers, they encouraged costumes, they had a few character stops, and we rode two roller coasters during the Half. However, we felt like they were lacking the fun of Disney. Most of a Disney half marathon is filled with characters and fun parts of the parks to see. The 5K had this fun but the Half was mostly on hills on dark highways. I wouldn’t say it was fun. The swag also has a long way to go to match that of Disney. The price was much lower but I would pay more for premium medals and shirts.