Joe Lovell From left, Ayla Huggins, Emma Griffith, Annadra Dudley and Rylea Jennings, reigning West Virginia pageant queens, flank the medals they handed out at the finish line during Sunday’s Tough As Nails Urban Challenge in downtown Wheeling.

WHEELING — Grace met grit on Sunday as reigning West Virginia pageant queens traded the pageant stage for the finish line, presenting medals to exhausted competitors at the Tough As Nails Urban Challenge presented by The Health Plan.

For Ayla Huggins, Emma Griffith, Annadra Dudley and Rylea Jennings, the crowns and sashes of pageant life came with a brief pause from spotlights and rehearsals — and a front-row seat to one of the Ohio Valley’s toughest obstacle-course events.

Huggins is Miss Preteen West Virginia from Wileyville in Wetzel County, Griffith is Miss Ohio Valley from McMechen, Dudley holds the title of Miss Marshall County from Moundsville and Jennings is Miss Kanawha County from Shrewsbury outside Charleston.

Jennings, aside from reigning as Miss Kanawha County, is also employed by the Health Plan. The weekend offered her a chance to connect her two roles.

“Being able to combine my job and the pageants – two things I love – is the coolest thing about being up here this weekend,” she said.

The Tough As Nails Urban Challenge, part of Ogden Newspapers Wellness Weekend presented by WVU Medicine, sends competitors through more than five miles of downtown Wheeling terrain, including steep hills, parking garages and stair climbs like the infamous “Stairway to Heaven.”

For Griffith, the event has become a familiar stop on a busy wellness weekend schedule.

“I was here yesterday and I’ve done it for a couple of years,” Griffith said, noting her second day of the weekend, which also included Saturday’s Ogden Newspapers Half Marathon Classic.

Even from the finish line, she said, the perspective is different than the course itself – or so she’s heard.

“It’s fun to see people come over the finish line, relieved that it’s over,” Griffith said. “I’ve never tried it. I don’t know if I would be brave enough to but it looks cool.”

While pageantry and obstacle racing may seem worlds apart — one built on poise and presentation, the other on endurance and resolve — Sunday brought them together at the finish line in a shared celebration of effort and accomplishment.

For the queens, all competitive in their own right, the role was simple: encouragement, medals and smiles as runners pushed through to the end – crowns and sashes congratulating sweat and sneakers.