Fresh off of a busy weekend of ultramarathon racing in the Bay State that saw runners cross the state from north to south at the Midstate Massive Ultra-Trail, the Oct. 17-18 weekend was relatively quiet for ultrarunners in Massachusetts. Two runners headed out-of-state to race, one across the country in Oregon and another in nearby Pennsylvania, and we have them covered in this week’s roundup.

After several weeks with trail ultramarathons in the New England region, the opening weekend of October was relatively quiet as many runners tapered for the upcoming Midstate Massive Ultra-Trail 100-mile, 50-mile and 30-mile races. Still, a few dozen runners gathered in New Hampshire for the second running of Bubba’s Backyard Ultra, and that event gets this week’s roundup all to itself.

A quiet, pandemic-ravaged ultramarathon season continued to come back online with a handful of races in the final weekend of September, and some of them attracted New England residents to the starting lines. Two of them took place in Connecticut, while the biggest local performance happened in Virginia where Somerville resident Lance Doherty turned in another big effort, smashing his winning time from a year ago on the way to a second-place finish at the Yeti 100. His effort leads off this week’s roundup.

Following a dynamite 2019 season in which he won at least four ultramarathons and was the runner-up at three others, Brian Burke kicked off 2020 in strong fashion, placing second at both the G.A.C. Fat Ass 50K and the Wild Florida 120-mile trail race in January. At the time, it seemed another big year was in store for him. What followed was a 7 1/2-month wait for Burke before he returned to another starting line thanks to the COVID-19 global pandemic. That return performance came Saturday, Sept. 19, at the Firebird Trail Race 50K in Maine, and Burke proved he hadn’t lost his speed during the time off from racing. He brought home the victory in course-record time, holding off a fellow Massachusetts resident in the final miles. The race was one of at least three out-of-state ultras for Bay State residents last weekend, and it leads off this week’s roundup alongside the Forgotten Forest 9-Hour Ultra in Connecticut and the Pawling Trail Running Festival in New York.

In a normal year, it’s not unusual to have multiple roundups in a week this time of year as it’s typically the busiest season for ultramarathons. But in a pandemic year? We’ll take it! Four out-of-state ultras – the Pine Creek Challenge, Tunxis, the Boulder Field Ultra, and the Breaks – were highlighted on Tuesday. But there were additional in-person ultras held outside of Massachusetts on Sept. 12-13 that included runners from the Bay State and greater New England. Both the Macedonia 50K in Connecticut and the Megunticook 50K in Maine took place last weekend, so we’ve included them here in Part 2 of this week’s roundup.

The COVID-19 global pandemic hasn’t eased its grip on the United States, but in-person ultramarathons have gradually resumed during the past few months. The Sept. 12-13 weekend marked the busiest for the Roundup since April with four races attracting Massachusetts residents and several other New Englanders to starting lines in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Connecticut. Nobody had a bigger weekend than Cambridge resident Padraig Mullins who secured a hard-earned victory at 100 miles at the Pine Creek Challenge. Several other New England residents tallied top-10 finishes at Pine Creek and the other events. We have them covered in a busier-than-usual pandemic edition of the roundup.