Wetzel Finishes Sub-24 at Mountain Lakes 100
Fast times were aplenty at the third running of the Mountain Lakes 100, and Lori Wetzel was right in the middle of it.
Wetzel, 43, of Danvers, Mass., was one of 37 runners to log a sub-24-hour finish at the 100-mile trail race Sept. 24-25 in Olallie Lake, Ore. The course – which winds along 25 mountain lakes and includes about 10,800 feet of vertical gain – included around 60 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail.
Of the 145 runners who started the race, 108 finished within the 30-hour time limit.
The overall race champion was 38-year-old Colin Miller of Lions Bay, British Columbia. He logged the fourth-fastest time by a male in course history with a mark of 16:32:40.
Ann Ciaverella, 45, of McMinnville, Ore., was the top female finisher and 10th overall with a time of 21:11:13. Her time was the fourth-fastest in course history by a female.
The second-place female, 47-year-old Laura Richard of San Anselmo, Calif., finished 16th overall in 22:18:25, and the third-place female, 33-year-old Megan Lacey of Vancouver, Wash., placed 18th overall in 22:33:14.
Wetzel earned fourth-place female honors and finished 21st overall in 22:50:05.
Mountain Lakes is just the latest in a long line of strong showings for Wetzel at 100-mile races. She is a 10-time finisher of the Vermont 100, three-time finisher of Western States, has completed the Leadville 100 twice, and also has Wasatch Front, Arkansas Traveler and TARC 100 finishes to her credit. Mountain Lakes was her 12thsub-24-hour 100-mile finish.
D’Alessio, Bustard Endure The Bear 100
Endless hours of rain and snow and more than 22,000 feet of climbing in the mountains weren’t enough to deter Joseph D’Alessio and Chris Bustard. D’Alessio, of Boston, Mass., and Bustard, of Cambridge, Mass., endured a relentless barrage of inclement weather Sept. 23-24 at The Bear 100 as they made their way from Logan, Utah, to Fish Haven, Idaho on a course that resides entirely above 4,800 feet.
D’Alessio, 40, battled to a 22nd-place finish in 24:21:35.
Bustard, 28, persevered for a 126th-place finish in 33:54:08.
Mick Jurynec, 38, of Salt Lake City, Utah, finished side-by-side with Ryan Weibel, 43, of South Lake Tahoe, Calif., as the pair shared the victory in 19:33:30.
On the women’s side, reigning Western States champion Kaci Lickteig steamrolled to victory as she finished fifth overall in 20:27:57. In doing so, she smashed Anna Frost’s course record by more than 31 minutes. Lickteig was so dominant that the second-place female finished more than six hours later.
A total of 170 runners finished within the 36-hour time limit.
Soutiea Wins Run Around the World 24-Hour Endurance Run
The goal of the Run Around the World Endurance Run was to have runners collectively log 24,901 miles – the Earth’s circumference at the equator. No runner did more than Greg Soutiea to try to achieve that goal Sept. 24-25 in Lebanon, Tenn.
Soutiea, 32, of Quincy, Mass., logged 130 miles in 24 hours to earn first-place honors. Five total runners surpassed the century mark, but second-place logged a distant 110 miles.
Soutiea is no stranger to timed events. In August, he earned a first-place finish at the Sweltering Summer 8-Hour Run in Pittsfield, Mass., when he logged 59.703 miles. He won the same event in 2015 with 55.794 miles.
In addition to the 24-hour race at the Run Around the World, the event also included 12-hour, 6-hour, 100K, 50-mile, and 50K ultra races.
Guza, Calkins Complete Stagecoach 100
Two Massachusetts residents got a taste of the Arizona altitude Sept. 24-25 as they took on the Flagstaff to Grand Canyon Stagecoach Line 100-Mile race.
Peter Guza and Celeste Calkins both completed the course, which begins in Flagstaff, Ariz., and heads out to the Grand Canyon along a historic stagecoach line on a mixture of singletrack, doubletrack, and forest roads. The entire course resides between 6,500 and 8,500 feet above sea level.
Guza, 35, of North Andover, Mass., finished in 28:36:38. Calkins, 36, of Boston, Mass., completed the course in 30:10:59.
Sion Lupowitz, 36, of Tucson, Ariz., was the fastest of the 28 finishers in 17:42:17 – the third-fastest time in race history and five minutes off of the course record. He had more than a three-hour cushion on the second-place finisher.
Gravina Third at Bear Chase Trail Races
The rolling hills of the Bear Chase Trail Races offer runners a chance to log fast times at the doorstep to the Rocky Mountains, and Kevin Gravina did just that Saturday, Sept. 24, at Bear Creek Lake Park in Lakewood, Colo.
With the mountains of the Front Range rising in the distance, Gravina, 37, of Cambridge, Mass., blazed around the smooth singletrack in the 50K race and battled to a third-place overall finish in 4:04:54. His performance also earned him second-place male honors.
Stephen Clark, 26, of Boulder, Colo., was the overall champion in 3:55:12. He squeaked out the victory over runner-up and female champion Malia Crouse, 32, of Denver, Colo., who crossed the finish line in 3:56:32.
Of the 89 runners who started the race, 85 finished.
The event also included 100K and 50-mile ultra distances.
Stephenson Earns Podium Finish at Not Yo Momma’s
Mike Stephenson’s trip to Ohio proved fruitful as the 42-year-old from Beverly, Mass., earned a podium finish in the 50-mile race at the Not Yo Momma’s running festival Saturday, Sept. 24, at Great Seal State Park in Chillicothe, Ohio.
The event – which takes place on a more than 16-mile loop of rocky, rooty singletrack trail with about 2,600 feet of gain per loop – also included 100-mile, 100K, and 50K ultra distances.
Stephenson was the fourth-place overall finisher and third-place male with a time of 12:53:56 – a little more than 10 minutes behind the top male finisher. Men’s champion Matthew Fleischmann, 23, of Cincinnati, Ohio, finished second overall in 12:43:17. The race champion was Ohio native Shannon Kilbane, 19, who posted a winning time of 11:54:25. Twenty runners started the 50-mile race, and 13 finished.
*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.
MassUltra 