Harry Mattison earned a sub-24-hour 100-mile belt buckle at the Rocky Raccoon 100, Patrick Upchurch turned in a strong showing at the Uwharrie Mountain Run, and Vanessa Desota rocked the San Diego 50. Read all about it in this week’s roundup.

Rocky Raccoon 100

The Rocky Raccoon 100-mile trail race serves as the USATF 100-Mile Trail National Championship, however the national champion at this year’s event Feb. 4-5 at Huntsville State Park in Huntsville, Texas, wasn’t the overall champion.

Ronnie Delzer, 35, of The Woodlands, Texas, earned the national title with his second-place finish in 13:44:28. The overall victory was secured by a runner from the United Kingdom as James Stewart, 40, of Glasgow, Scotland, won in 13:39:13. They were the lone runners in the field of 334 starters and 210 finishers to complete all five loops of the course in less than 14 hours. Sabrina Little, 30, of Robinson, Texas, was the top female and seventh overall in 16:50:01.

A trio of runners from Massachusetts also made the trip to Texas, but only one successfully navigated the 20-mile loop all five times. Harry Mattison, 43, of Allston, Mass., earned a sub-24-hour belt buckle for his strong finish in 22:30:58. Mattison’s performance was fast enough to take 53^rd place overall. Mattison put together a steady first three loops and eclipsed the 60-mile mark in less than 12 hours. His fourth loop took just under five hours, and then Mattison battled through a tough final 20 miles in 5:38:43 to reach the finish line.

A total of 93 runners finished in less than 24 hours. The race had a 30-hour time limit.

While Mattison was able to finish the race, two other runners from the Bay State were unable to reach the finish line. Tom Dmukauskas, 41, of Somerville, Mass., dropped from the race after completing 80 miles in 15:42:27, and 56-year-old Carl Gustafson of Hatchville, Mass., dropped after covering 60 miles in 14:28:31.

Uwharrie Mountain Run

Patrick Upchurch has his eyes on the heralded Lake Sonoma 50-miler in mid-April in California, and his first big gauge of fitness for that race came Saturday, Feb. 4, with an early-season romp through the Uwharrie National Forest in Ophir, N.C., at the Uwharrie Mountain Run.

Upchurch, 33, of Jamaica Plain, Mass., took on the 40-mile out-and-back course through hilly, technical terrain and held his own just fine in the field of 94 runners. Upchurch spent the entire day running in the top 10 overall, and he ultimately finished sixth in 7:20:08. Alan Talhelm, 35, of Durham, N.C., was the overall winner in 6:03:03, and was one of four runners to finish in less than seven hours.

A total of 90 runners finished within the 12 1/2-hour time limit.

San Diego 50

Vanessa Desota threw down a fast first 50-miler of 2017 on Saturday, Feb. 4, and almost earned a spot on the podium at the San Diego 50 in Escondido, Calif.

Racing on an out-and-back course with more than 5,500 feet of vertical gain, the 38-year-old resident of Worcester, Mass., finished 18^th overall and secured fourth-place female honors with a time of 8:50:09.

Of the 90 runners who started the race, 83 completed the course within 14 hours.

Travis Dietrich, 35, of San Marcos, Calif., was the overall winner in 6:48:03, and he was the lone runner to finish in less than seven hours. The top female finisher, 37-year-old Bree Thorpe of Las Vegas, Nev., finished third overall in 7:36:00.

*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.