After a 25-year run as the G.A.C. Fat Ass 50K, Gil’s Athletic Club handed off the reins for the classic New England ultrarunning kickoff event to the Trail Animals Running Club. The first offering of the annual fun run under its new name of the TARC Yeti Trail Trot took place on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, at Bradley Palmer State Park in Hamilton, Mass. Around 150 runners showed up on a cold morning to run or walk between one and five loops of snowy and icy trails. Thirty-one runners completed five loops and earned ultramarathon finishes, while another 11 runners completed four loops and an extra out-and-back for a marathon finish.
Jason Kaplan closed out the 2025 New England ultrarunning season with a winning effort at the West Rock Winter Fat Ass Extravaganza in Connecticut, and Cole Crosby ringed in the new year with a sizzling 200+-mile effort over 48 hours at Across the Years in Arizona. These are just a few of the highlights for New England ultrarunners from the final days of 2025 and first moments of 2026 that we have featured in this edition of the roundup.
The second-to-last New England ultramarathon of 2025 took place on Saturday with the annual running of Seth’s Fat Ass 50K in Springfield, Mass. We’ll have that covered in a separate story, but here in this week’s roundup we catch up on how runners from the region fared at other ultras throughout the United States during the Dec. 20-22 weekend. Only a handful of runners traveled for pre-holiday ultras, but they turned in some strong performances. None were better than Vermont’s Eric LiPuma and Joanna Fortier who earned victories at the Cave Creek Thriller in Arizona. Their winning efforts lead off this edition of the roundup.
The 15th edition of Seth’s Fat Ass 50K took place on Sunday, Dec. 20, 2025, in Springfield, Mass. Runners took on a 5K paved loop course in Forest Park that had to be completed 10 times within seven hours. Seventy runners took part in the event, and 40 completed the 50K.
The final weeks of 2025 are upon us, and New Englanders are squeezing in a few final ultramarathons to close out the year. During the Dec. 13-14 weekend, that included a pair of events in the region, with the inaugural Left Nut 50 in Rhode Island and the eighth annual Jingle My Frosty Balls 8-Hour in New Hampshire. Results of the latter were unavailable, though dozens of runners took part and the event raised $320 for local charities. Beyond New England, runners from the region stayed in the east, venturing to Florida and Pennsylvania, as well as North Carolina – where Connecticut’s David Stawski closed out a dozen 100-milers in a dozen months at Beast of the East. We have it all covered in this edition of the roundup.
The 2025 ultrarunning season is rapidly coming to a close. Here in New England, the Dec. 6-7 weekend saw a few final events play out, including in Massachusetts with the final race of the 2025 TARC Trail Series with the TARC Winter Classic at the Middlesex Fells, as well as in Connecticut at the Tower Tag Challenge 8-Hour and up north in New Hampshire at the Krampuslauf 9-Hour. We’ll have the TARC Winter Classic covered in a separate recap, but here in this week’s roundup we catch up on Krampuslauf and Tower Tag, as well as other ultras throughout the United States where New Englanders secured late-season finishes.
The 15th season of the TARC Trail Series concluded with the annual TARC Winter Classic on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, at the Middlesex Fells Reservation in Stoneham, Mass. It was the 16th running of the event overall, 14th edition under the TARC umbrella, and third year with the new Winter Classic format that offered an 8-mile single-loop race on the Skyline Trail alongside a 32-mile, four-loop race. Additionally, after two years without it, the event’s other traditional ultra distance – the five-loop 40-miler – returned to the lineup.
It was a slow start to lottery day for New Englanders hopeful of having their names selected on Saturday, Dec. 6, for spots in the 2026 Western States Endurance Run or Hardrock 100, but by the time the drawings were done several runners from the region secured spots in two of ultrarunning’s most exclusive events.
New England ultrarunners did plenty of pre- and post-Thanksgiving feasting on trails in the region and across the country. Some did so at the historic JFK 50, while Conor Brown and Bill Tidd turned in historic performances at the Mount Ascutney Vertical Backyard Ultra in Vermont. We have those races and more included in this holiday edition of the roundup.
After 25 years of kicking off the ultrarunning new year in New England, the Gil’s Athletic Club is hanging up its sneakers, so to speak. In a post to the club’s website, Race Director Roger Martell announced that the GAC Fat Ass 50K will not return in 2026.
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