Bond, Nephew, Rusiecki Battle Near Front at Cayuga Trails
The always-tough, always-competitive Cayuga Trails 50 featured a trio of Massachusetts ultrarunners near the front of the pack on Saturday, June 4, in Ithaca, N.Y.
Robert Bond of Brighton, Mass.; Ben Nephew of Mansfield, Mass.; and Brian Rusiecki of South Deerfield, Mass., all found themselves among the frontrunners throughout the day, and the trio never were too far apart from each other on the out-and-back course with more than 9,000 feet of vertical gain on the trails Lower Robert H. Treman State Park.
Ultimately, top honors went to 30-year-old Tyler Sigl of Seymour, Wis., who was the overall champion on the 50.4-mile course, winning in a course-record time of 6:43:41. He comfortably outdistanced runner-up Jared Burdick, 29, of Fayetteville, N.Y., who finished in 6:55:50. They were the only runners to dip below seven hours out of the field of 248 starters.
Bond, 27, finished fifth overall in 7:22:35. Meanwhile, the 40-year-old Nephew and 37-year-old Rusiecki, who have long battled each other near the front of the pack in races throughout the region, finished side-by-side in a tie for sixth place in 7:40:45.
Kehr Davis, 39, of North Egremont, Mass., was the top local female finisher. She placed 33rd overall and was the sixth-place female, finishing in 9:15:58. Corrine Malcolm, 26, of Bellingham, Wash., was 14th overall and the women’s champion in 8:18:58.
Amy Rusiecki, 36, of South Deerfield, Mass., finished 46th in 9:56:28; and Kelsey Allen, 32, of Wendell, Mass., placed 65th in 10:24:35.
Other Bay-Staters who finished the race were Diana Van Leeuwen, 28, of Boston, in 13:29:06; Ryan Trott, 28, of Waltham, in 13:50:09; Heather Wiatrowski, 40, of Auburn, in 14:19:13; and Seng-Lai Tan, 44, of Sudbury, in 14:47:05.
OSS/CIA 50-Mile Night Run
Overnight miles during ultramarathons usually are reserved for runners covering 100K, 100 miles, or more. Christopher Lay, of Somerville, Mass., got that experience with a shorter – albeit long – ultra on Saturday, June 11, in Triangle, Va.
By design, the OSS/CIA 50-Mile Night run, mostly took place under the dark of night. The race began at 7:30 p.m., and included a 14-hour time limit.
Lay, 36, placed fourth overall out of 29 finishers, completing the course in 11:21:17.
Bryce Wilk, 30, of Chesterfield, Va., was the overall champion in 9:31:15.
Holcomb Valley 33-Mile Trail Run
Of the 72 finishers of the Holcomb Valley 33-Mile Trail Run on Sunday, June 12, in Big Bear Lake, Calif., only four hailed from outside the Golden State. One of them, Thomas Worthington, was among the race’s top finishers.
Worthington, of West Falmouth, Mass., was the top out-of-stater with his sixth-place overall finish.
Worthington, 29, completed the course in 5:16:40. The top three runners dipped below five hours, led by overall champion Tony Torre, 46, of Cedar Glen, Calif., who posted a winning time of 4:18:00.
Goat Butt 50M
Nicole Ponte, a 17-year-old from Dartmouth, Mass., was the second-place female finisher at the Goat Butt 50-Mile race on Sunday, June 12, in Mendham, N.J. Ponte’s time of 12:16 was good enough to place sixth overall out of 11 finishers, and she was 23 minutes behind female champion Gabriela, Stephens, 36, of West Chester, Pa.
Mirek Baranowski, 36, of Brodheadsville, Pa., and Wayne Pacconi, 48, of Summit, N.J., were the fastest finishers, both crossing the finish line in 9:12.
Rodeo Valley 50K
Brittany Ames, of West Bridgewater, Mass., was the lone Bay State representative at the Rodeo Valley 50K on Saturday, June 11, in Sausalito, Calif. Ames, 23, finished in 7:19:30, good for 31st overall out of 47 finishers.
Ethan Linck, 25, of Seattle, Wash., was the overall champion in 4:27:55. Daniela Porri, 40, of Los Gatos, Calif., was the top female finisher in 5:37:40, good for 11th overall.
*Editor’s Note: Results are found on a variety of sites, including ultrasignup.com, UltraRunning Magazine, and official race websites. We do the best we can to find as many results as possible to report on and recognize the local ultrarunning community.
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