 At Audiology Associates at Prestonsburg, you can live your life the way you want and find the freedom of better hearing. You'll experience patient care that is specific to you with exceptional follow-up care that ensures your hearing and balance needs are being met. Audiology Associates at 1428 Northlake Drive in Prestonsburg. The CloudSplitter 100 is returning to Norton, Virginia on Saturday, October 15th. I caught up with race director Susan Howell to learn a little more about why she created this event. I'm a trail runner myself and I have several friends who are pretty good at running 100 mile events. And many years ago when I started thinking about this, I thought, well, there's really no 100 mile trail run or race in our area. Howell could have hosted the CloudSplitter in other parts of the region, but she chose Southwest Virginia for a very specific reason. Central Appalachia is an area that has really suffered with the downturn of the coal industry. And so what we're trying to do with the CloudSplitter first over up Pine Mountain and now over in Norton is have a positive economic impact through tourism. The CloudSplitter 100 isn't just a local race. It's also a stepping stone for many extreme trail runners acting as a qualifier for the Mont Blanc ultra marathon. We actually have paid a fee each year through the International Trail Running Association to make the CloudSplitter available for folks who want to pick up the points. And the most points that you can get for 100 mile race anywhere in the world is six. And the CloudSplitter does offer six points and that means that it's up the maximum difficulty. While early registration is closed, runners are still able to file late registrations this Friday at the Expo Center in Norton, Virginia. For more information, visit the CloudSplitter 100's Facebook page. For Mountain Top News, I'm Jameson Killen.