November has been busy for ultras in Massachusetts, starting with the Stone Cat 50K and followed by both the Race for DFL and TARCkey Trot 6-Hour Ultras on Nov. 13-14. While those events attracted many runners from Massachusetts and greater New England, a handful of runners from the region still raced beyond the Bay State, including the inaugural offering of a 50K distance at the Bold Coast Bash in Maine. That race and more are featured in this week’s roundup.
After a one-year hiatus, Race Director Amy Rusiecki revived the Race for DFL last-person-standing event at a new location at Chesterfield Gorge Reservation in West Chesterfield, Mass. Runners tackled a 4.1667-mile loop, with a new race starting on the hour, every hour, until one runner remained.
The fifth running of the Trail Animals Running Club’s TARCkey Trot 6-Hour Ultra took place Saturday, Nov. 13, at Wright-Locke Farm and Whipple Hill in Winchester, Mass. Eighty-seven runners took part in the race on the 3.1-mile loop course. Only loops completed during the time limit counted.
When Rachel Bainbridge attended the 2019 Stone Cat 50K to cheer on some friends, she knew then and there that she wanted to run the race. A classic New England ultra, Stone Cat began in 2001 as a 50-miler and marathon, but organizers consolidated the distances into a 50K in 2019 to streamline race management and breathe new life into the early-fall race.
November opened with a bang for New England ultrarunners. In addition to the classic Stone Cat Trail Race in Ipswich, Mass., it seemed ultras were taking place throughout the region as well as all across the country. That included a record year at the White Lake Ultras in New Hampshire and the inaugural RUTFest in Vermont, which were popular draws. Additionally, numerous runners from New England took part in a variety of time-based races at the Hamsterwheel Ultras in New Hampshire. Results from that event are not yet posted, but we will include them in a future roundup when available.
October finished with a flurry of strong performances by ultrarunners from New England, but none had a bigger weekend than Tyler Andrews. The resident of Concord, Mass., took on a massive, speedy field at the high-profile Javelina Jundred – though he raced the 100K rather than the 100-miler – and Andrews brought a victory back to the Bay State. His performance leads off a busy roundup that also includes the Mountain Masochist 50 in Virginia, Tussey Mountainback 50 in Pennsylvania, the Chicago Lakefront 50 in the Midwest, and a belated recap of the popular Bimbler’s Bluff 50K in Connecticut.
The 20th edition of the Stone Cat Trail Race and second edition of the event as a 50K took place on Saturday, Oct. 6, 2021, at Willowdale State Forest in Ipswich, Mass. Devin Jones of Beverly, Mass., topped the men’s field while Rachel Bainbridge set a women’s course record by 13 minutes.
A week after hundreds of New England ultrarunners took on the Ghost Train Rail Trail Race, the Oct. 22-24 racing weekend was mostly quiet for ultrarunners in the region — but not entirely. The Joe English Twilight Challenge welcomed runners for an evening of running in New Hampshire, and it leads off this edition of the roundup.
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.
MassUltra 