There was plenty of frozen, snowy fun on the trails in New England during the Feb. 6-8 weekend. Nowhere was it busier than Westwood, Mass., where the Trail Animals Running Club played host to the TARCtic Frozen Yeti. We will have that event covered in a separate recap, and we will have other East Coast ultras from the weekend included in a second roundup. Here in Part I of this week’s roundup we head west where New Englanders earned ultra finishes in Texas, California, and Arizona. Nobody had a better weekend than Massachusetts resident Crystal Ross who earned a 100-mile PR and a podium finish at the Rocky Raccoon 100, so she leads off this edition of the roundup.
The Trail Animals Running Club (TARC) played host to the seventh running of the TARCtic Frozen Yeti 30-Hour Ultra and 15-mile night race on Feb. 7-8, 2026, at Hale Education in Westwood, Mass. Runners encountered challenging conditions with excessive snow that fell prior to, and during, the race, as well as temperatures well below freezing and wind chills as low as -15F.
While snow continues to blanket all of New England, runners from the region ventured beyond to take on trail ultramarathons during the Jan. 31-Feb. 1 weekend. Most ventured west to Arizona, Nevada and Utah, while one went south to Florida and another opted to run in the snow in nearby New York. Several New Englanders had strong showings, with a few making speedy ultra debuts, while Maine’s Tara Allen highlighted the weekend with a podium finish at the Forgotten Florida 50-miler. We have it all covered in this edition of the roundup.
A massive snowstorm struck New England during the Jan. 24-25 weekend, but that didn’t stop a handful of runners from the region from escaping to warmer climates to earn early-season ultramarathon finishes in Arizona and Florida. Nobody had a better weekend than Connecticut resident Sarah Connor who raced to victory at the Pemberton Trail 50K, and her strong performance leads off this edition of the roundup.
Several ultrarunners left frigid New England in search of major miles in warmer climates during the Jan. 17-18 weekend. They ran hard and secured hard-earned early-season ultra finishes in Florida, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Arizona. Lila Gaudrault sizzled with a second-place finish at the Long Haul 100, and Yong-Son Basta was victorious at the St. Croix Scenic 50K, highlighting this edition of the roundup.
The new year of ultramarathon racing started strong for a current New England resident and a former one during the Jan. 10-11 weekend. Connecticut’s Lena Wirth raced to victory in her ultra debut at the No Hands Trail Run 50K in California, while former Boston resident Molly Seidel won the Bandera 50K in Texas outright in her inaugural ultra. We have both covered in this edition of the roundup.
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.
MassUltra 