Following a one-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the TARC Ghost Train Rail Trail Race returned for its 12th running on Oct. 16-17 on the Milford and Brookline Rail Trail in Brookline, N.H. The event offered its traditional 30-hour ultra, as well as a Sunday 15-mile race. This year’s race threw a little bit of everything at the runners, from an unseasonably warm Saturday where the temperature climbed into the upper-70s, to heavy rain overnight.
The Ghost Train Rail Trail Race was the main draw for New England ultrarunners during the Oct. 15-17 weekend, but a handful of runners from the region opted to race elsewhere. The second-biggest draw in the region for the weekend was the popular Runamuck 50K in Vermont, which offered races on both Saturday and Sunday, giving runners scheduling flexibility as well as a bit of extra space as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. A few others tackled a new vertical challenge event in Vermont, while one Massachusetts man made his ultra debut out West on the Pony Express Trail. Ghost Train will have its own separate writeup, but everything else is captured in this edition of the roundup.
The weekend before the Ghost Train Rail Trail Race is typically pretty quiet in New England as hundreds of ultrarunners rest and make final preparations for the 30-hour event. A handful always race, however, and that was certainly the case this year as runners scattered to multiple races during the Oct. 8-10 weekend. Some headed north to Maine for the popular Big Brad Ultras, while others ventured to nearby New York and Pennsylvania for the CanLake Ultras and the Green Monster Challenge. Additionally, a dozen runners from the region successfully finished the most grueling race of all in North America that weekend — the Moab 240 in Utah — and that leads off this edition of the roundup.
The most spellbinding race of the Oct. 1-3 weekend was the duel between Brian Burke and Ed Clifford at Bubba’s Backyard Ultra, but it was far from the only race that attracted ultrarunners from New England. Bubba’s and three other ultras were featured in Part 1 of the Oct. 1-3 roundup, but there was so much racing that weekend that it merited a second. Here in Part 2, we feature the New England classic: the NipMuck Trail Marathon, which extends ever so slightly into ultra territory, and we also highlight the Flagstaff Sky Peaks 50K, Yeti Snakebite Ultra, and the Blues Cruise 50K. The late-summer race schedule was jam-packed, and now the fall is off to a hectic start. Read on.
October opened with a bang for New England ultrarunners. With cooler temperatures starting to settle in and a still jam-packed race calendar, the Oct. 1-3 weekend had to be broken into two roundups to capture everything. This first one starts with the eye-popping battle between Ed Clifford and Brian Burke at Bubba’s Backyard Ultra as the duo raced for nearly 48 hours before only one was left standing.
The third annual Midstate Massive Ultra-Trail 100-mile, 50-mile and 30-mile trail ultramarathons took place Oct. 9-10 on the Midstate Trail traversing the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from north to south, beginning at the Windblown Cross Country Ski Area in New Ipswich, N.H., and concluding at Douglas State Forest in Douglas, Mass.
In hopes of bringing back the Notchview Ultra for in-person racing amid the COVID-19 pandemic after being forced to cancel the 2020 event, the Berkshire Ultra Running Community for Service (BURCS) offered a scaled-down lineup of time and distance offerings for 2021.
In yet another sign that some semblance of normalcy is returning to New England – and the ultrarunning community more specifically, September came to a close with the running of the Vermont 50. Yes, the 2020 race was canceled due to the pandemic, but the popular event and New England classic returned on Sept. 26. More than 250 runners finished either the 50-mile or 50K distance, with winners and podium finishers coming from some of the local runners, so the Vermont 50 leads off this edition of the roundup.
A jam-packed final weekend of summer racing took place in New England during the Sept. 17-19 weekend. While a few runners headed out of the region to race the Grindstone 100 in Virginia and Run Rabbit Run 100 in Colorado (see separate roundup), many stayed closer to home and took on ultras in New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Maine. All of those races are included in this edition of the roundup.
