The summer racing season continued to heat up during the second weekend of July, with ultrarunners from New England scattering throughout the country to take on trail ultras. Results from many of those events have yet to be posted, but we have a few, including the second running of the 50K race at the Angevine Farm Trail Festival in Connecticut, the rugged Bigfoot Ultras in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State, the scenic Mt. Hood 50 in Oregon, and the high-altitude Silver Rush 50-miler from Leadville, Colo. All of that combines for a jam-packed – yet incomplete – roundup.

Angevine Farm Trail Festival 50K

The Angevine Farm Trail Festival returned for its third year on July 10-11 in Warren, Conn., though this year marked the second running of the event’s 50K race.

Twenty-three runners took on the two-loop course through Wyantenock State Forest with most of the mileage coming on singletrack trails and fire roads, with a few farm trails and a brief dash of pavement thrown in.

Daniel Bates, 37, of Newington, Conn., ran away from the field to earn the overall win in 5:28:03. The battle for second among the men was far closer, with 42-year-old Leif Ellison of Collinsville, Conn., edging Michael Diblasi, 34, of Monroe, N.Y., by two minutes. Ellison finished in 5:53:33 and Diblasi in 5:55:53.

Ellen Beth, 38, of West Hartford, Conn., dominated the women’s race and set a new course record while finishing fourth overall in 5:57:19. Laura Becker, 36, of Manchester, Conn. (6:33:09) and Sarah Slater, 43, of Guilford, Conn. (6:41:13) rounded out the women’s podium, followed by 30-year-old Tammy Hsieh of Boston, Mass., in 6:45:39.

Two more Massachusetts residents were among the 23 finishers. Greg Tew, 50, and Grant Ritter, 38, both of South Deerfield, finished 12th and 13th overall in 7:41:25 and 7:42:21, respectively.

Bigfoot Ultras

Chris Haley spent the summer of 2020 hammering out hill repeats at the Blue Hills Reservation and playing in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, all in preparation for the 73-mile race at the Bigfoot Ultras. Unfortunately for him, the race was ultimately canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A year later, Haley finally made the cross-country journey to Marble Mountain Sno-Park to take part in the Bigfoot Ultas on June 10-11 in Cougar, Wash. Haley toed the line of the 73-miler alongside 60 other runners for an adventure in the Cascade Mountains that included mileage around Mt. St. Helens and through the Mount Margaret Backcountry. Ultimately, 40 runners finished the race; Haley was among them. The 65-year-old resident of Medfield, Mass., finished in 23:42:37. Nathan Moody, 45, of Los Alamos, N.M., took home the overall win in 14:27:40.

The event also included a 40-mile race, and 130 runners finished within 18 ½ hours. That included 47-year-old Annette Florczak of Roslindale, Mass., who completed the course in 15:54:40. Jon-Erik Jardine, 31, of Seattle, Wash., led all runners in 7:58:37, while 24-year-old Emma Page Patterson of Taos, N.M., led the women in 8:09:10. For Florczak, the race served as a tune-up run during her build-up to September when she will run the Tahoe 200, a race she previously completed in 2017.

Mt. Hood 50

Four New England residents tackled the scenic trails around Mt. Hood on Saturday, July 10, at the Mt. Hood 50 in Clackamas Falls, Ore. Two of them did so for 50 miles while the other two ran for 50K.

Racing on a forested, singletrack out-and-back course with most of its miles on the Pacific Crest Trail, 130 runners accepted the 50-mile challenge. Ultimately, 115 finished, led by 25-year-old Michael Tappel of Seattle, Wash., in 6:39:24, and Hannah Bright, 26, of Sandy, Ore., in 7:39:05. Both New England runners followed a few hours later, with Bryan Twomey, 39, of Norwich, Conn., finishing in 13:07:22, and Debbie Reppucci, 42, of Wilmington, Mass., finishing in 13:25:23.

A pair of Connecticut women were among the finishers of the 50K race. Colleen Malone-Singer, 49, of Colchester finished in 6:28:42 while 52-year-old Michelle Bosco of Burlington finished in 7:59:20. Nathan Stroh, 49, of Klamath Falls, Ore., finished first in the 50K in 3:51:09, followed by Kyleigh Schumacher, 25, of Mission Viejo, Calif., in 4:14:16.

Leadville Silver Rush 50

High-altitude mileage in the mountains lured a trio of Massachusetts residents to Leadville, Colo., on Saturday, July 10, to take part in the Silver Rush 50-mile run. The trail race in the Rocky Mountains took place on an out-and-back course entirely above 10,000 feet with multiple climbs above 12,000 feet.

Bradley Armour led the Bay State contingent in Leadville. Armour, 33, of Melrose, Mass., finished 222nd overall in 11:35:37. Additionally, 23-year-old Jodie Davis of Dorchester Center finished in 11:45:06, followed by 41-year-old Catherine Sullivan of Scituate in 13:43:06.

Scot Spillman, 35, of Denver, Colo., finished first overall in 6:40:02 while 23-year-old Lindsey Herman of Gunnison, Colo., placed 14th and topped the women’s field in 8:02:15. Of the 471 entrants, 401 finished within 14 hours.

*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.