Ultrarunners looking to get a quick start to their 2023 season won’t have to wait long to do so. The legendary Gil’s Athletic Club (GAC) will once again provide an early ultra opportunity when it plays host to the 23rd annual G.A.C. Fat Ass 50K at 9 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 7, at Bradley Palmer State Park in Topsfield.
Continue reading G.A.C. Fat Ass 50K to Open 2023 Ultra Season in MassachusettsDecember is upon us, and with it comes the final few weeks of the 2022 ultramarathon season. Races are becoming fewer across the country, but New England residents are still finding places to compete. Locally, the Trail Animals Running Club played host to its annual Fells Winter Ultra, which was the most popular attraction for regional ultrarunners. A handful headed elsewhere to race on Dec. 3-4, led by Rhode Island’s Ben Quatromoni who competed for a Salomon professional sponsorship in Arizona. A few others traveled to Georgia and Texas to take on new trails. All of those races are featured in this edition of the roundup.
Continue reading MassUltra Roundup: McDowell Mountain Frenzy, Cloudland Canyon, and Brazos BendThe first Saturday of December always ranks among the most drama-filled days in North American ultrarunning thanks to the annual Western States Endurance Run and Hardrock 100-mile lotteries. Selection Saturday was worth the wait for several current and former New England ultrarunners this year as they came up big and were selected for two of the United States’ most hyped and high-profile events.
Continue reading New Englanders Strike it Big in Western States, Hardrock LotteriesThe Trail Animals Running Club played host to its annual running of the Fells Winter Ultra on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022, at the Middlesex Fells Reservation in Stoneham, Mass. Runners tackled either four or five 8-mile loops of the Skyline Trail in 32-mile and 40-mile trail ultramarathons.
Continue reading Results: TARC Fells Winter UltraThanksgiving week was heavy on eating and light on ultramarathon racing throughout the United States. Still, for one Massachusetts man the holiday week included being thankful for finishing his first ultra. Milford’s Alex Kovner finished the Squatchy Leftovers 50K in New Jersey, and he gets this edition of the roundup all to himself.
Continue reading MassUltra Roundup: Squatchy LeftoversAfter months of heavy racing, the Nov. 19-20 weekend was relatively light in anticipation of upcoming Thanksgiving feasts. The most notable ultra in the country was among the few that took place, with 50 New England residents earning finishes at the 60th edition of the JFK 50 in Maryland. Additionally, a handful of runners headed West to Moab to race the Dead Horse Ultras. Both of those races make for some light pre-holiday reading in this edition of the roundup.
Continue reading MassUltra Roundup: JFK 50 and Dead HorseThe third edition of Race Director Amy Rusiecki’s Race for DFL last-person-standing event took place Nov. 19-20, 2022, in Winchendon, Mass. Runners took on a 4.1666-mile loop course, starting a new loop on the hour, every hour, until one runner remained. Seventy-three runners took part in this year’s event, and two runners surpassed the 100-mile mark.
Continue reading Results: Race for DFLFall is finally asserting its grip on New England with overnight temperatures plummeting into the 20s. Even a bit of snow has dusted parts of the region, signaling that the 2022 ultrarunning season is nearing its conclusion. We’re not there yet, however. There are still a handful of ultras remaining here in Massachusetts and throughout the region before we close the book on 2022. There are even more ultras remaining across the country that continue to entice runners from the region. A couple of those regional and national races happened during the Nov. 12-13 weekend, including the Bold Coast Bash 50K in Maine. Additionally, we caught up on RutFest and the Cowboy 200 from a week earlier. Read on to learn more about them in this edition of the roundup.
Continue reading MassUltra Roundup: Bold Coast Bash, Mt. Tam, Tunnel Hill, RutFest, and Cowboy 200The Trail Animals Running Club (TARC) played host to the sixth running of the TARCkey Trot 6-Hour Ultra on Saturday, Nov. 12, at Wright-Locke Farm and Whipple Hill in Winchester, Mass. This year’s event marked the debut of a revised course that expanded the loop distance from 3.1 miles to 3.5 miles including a few additional hills. Runners amassed around 630 feet of elevation gain per loop.
Continue reading Results: TARCkey Trot 6-Hour UltraNew England ultrarunners were so busy racing during the Nov. 4-6 weekend that it merited two roundups this week. We highlighted results from five races outside of New England in Part 1. Though we’re still awaiting the results from RutFest in Vermont, the results from the Hamsterwheel in New Hampshire and 8 Hours at the Farm in Connecticut are in – and they featured some big-time performances. None were bigger than those turned in by Massachusetts residents Cody Cutler and Laura Ricci at the Hamsterwheel. Both Bay Staters smashed course records with their winning performances, and they lead off Part 2 of this week’s roundup.
Continue reading MassUltra Roundup: The Hamsterwheel and 8 Hours at the Farm
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