The May 6-8 weekend was jam-packed in Massachusetts with the return of Wapack and Back and the inaugural Needham Backyard Ultra, but those local events weren’t the only attractions to lure New England ultrarunners. Some headed north to New Hampshire, including Harvard’s Roy Van Cleef who followed up his shared victory at the 2021 Manchester 2 Monadnock 55-miler by setting a course record this year. Meanwhile, Stow’s Sophia Farnsworth secured her first 100-mile finish at the grueling Hellbender 100 in North Carolina. Others headed to Pennsylvania for the Dirty German Endurance Festival, to Colorado for the Quad Rock 50, and Tennessee for the legendary Strolling Jim 40-miler. All of those events are featured in this edition of the roundup.

It was a record-setting weekend for ultrarunners in New Hampshire as five of the six course records fell at the fourth edition of the White Lake Ultras. In addition to that increasingly popular event, a few runners from the region traveled elsewhere to race. That included a few 100-mile finishers on the C&O Canal, as well as Winchester resident Tom Flummerfelt’s first foray into Backyard Ultra racing in Wisconsin. Those events are featured in this edition of the roundup.

The return of the Trail Animals Running Club’s TARC Spring Classic meant more than 200 trail- and ultra-runners flocked to Weston, Mass., during the April 23-24 weekend to race, but several runners ventured to other places to race, too. That included two popular Connecticut races – the Enchanted Forest Ultra and the Jack Bristol Lake Waramaug Ultras. Those regional races highlight this edition of the roundup.

In this week’s roundup we take a look back a few weeks to April 3 when Padraig Mullins of Norton, Mass., represented his local ultrarunning community and his native Ireland proudly with a personal-best day at the Sri Chinmoy 100K in the United Kingdom. Additionally, we highlight the always-tough Traprock 50K in Connecticut, ultrarunning debuts at the Orcas Island 50-miler in Washington and Desert Rats 50K in Colorado, as well as a local runner’s return to the Rattler Trail Race in Colorado Springs.

April is off to a strong start for New England ultrarunners. The impressive month includes multiple victories and podium finishes for runners from the region during the April 8-10 weekend, as well as hard-earned finishes at some tough races around the country. Quincy resident Brain Malger and North Haven’s Jamie Miller made sure the men’s and women’s victories at the Squatchapple 50-miler in New Jersey were earned by runners from the region. Meanwhile, Lexington’s Seth Cutler put an exclamation point on his ultra debut with a runner-up finish at the Eagleton Trail Challenge in Pennsylvania. Additionally, several runners from the region took on various distances at the Zion Ultras, including Lakeville’s Shaun Daylor who pushed hard on the fully exposed course and raced to a seventh-place overall finish in the 100-miler. Those performances and more are highlighted in this edition of the roundup.