Western States week is upon us and several New England residents are preparing to take on the sport’s original 100-mile race through the mountains in California. But before the WSER hype hits its fever pitch, let’s look back at the June 16-18 weekend when several New England residents took on trail adventures throughout the country. A handful of runners from the region overcame the big climbs of Wyoming to complete the Bighorn 100, including Massachusetts resident Jason Baker and Vermont’s Felix Lawson who earned top-10 finishes. In New York, New Englanders’ swept the top three spots at the Mountain Lakes Backyard Ultra, and in Washington State a pair of Massachusetts women tackled their first ultra while others from New England completed the tough 46K mini-ultra at the Broken Arrow Skyrace. All of those are included in this edition of the roundup.

Bighorn 100

Ever since tackling his first ultra – the Ragged 50K in New Hampshire – in 2021, Jason Baker has sought out tough courses with plenty of climbing – the Kilkenny Ridge 50-miler in New Hampshire and Quad Rock 50 in Colorado are among his credits, so far. For his 100-mile debut, Baker found another burly course to test his legs and the 24-year-old from Carver, Mass., was up to the challenge. He tackled the rugged out-and-back course on June 16-17 in Dayton, Wyo., overcame its 20,000 feet of climbing, and finished eighth overall in 22:56:10. Runners had 35 hours to finish the course and 178 did so.

Jeff Browning, 51, of Flagstaff, Ariz., topped the field in 19:47:04, followed by 41-year-old David Ayala of Bozeman, Mont., in 19:52:39. Baker was joined in the top 10 by 23-year-old Felix Lawson of Burlington, Vt., who placed 10th overall in 23:08:27.

Amanda Sullivan, 37, of Jackson, Wyo., led the women’s field in 26:01:02.

Three other New England residents were among the 100-mile finishers. Eric Collins, 28, of Mystic, Conn., finished 67th in 29:30:04; Andrew Wiewel, 44, of North Brookfield, Mass., was 127th in 32:18:39; and 31-year-old Jodie Davis of Boston, Mass., beat the cutoff in 34:44:13, finishing 173rd overall.

Bighorn also included 52-mile and 32-mile ultras.

In the 52-mile race, 123 runners finished within 15 hours. Justin Johns, 50, of Boston, Mass., was among the finishers in 13:36:39. Annie Hughes, 25, of Leadville, Colo., was the overall winner in 8:27:38 and 32-year-old Sam Foster of Bozeman, Mont., led the men’s field and finished second overall in 8:35:19.

An additional 242 runners completed the 32-mile race, with men’s and women’s champions Adam Behrendt, 36, of Bozeman, Mont., and Sarah Clark, 35, of Missoula, Mont., finishing in 4:17:42 and 4:57:21, respectively. No New England residents were among the finishers at that distance.

Mountain Lakes Backyard Ultra

New England residents dominated the field at the fourth edition of the Mountain Lakes Backyard Ultra on June 16-17 in North Salem, N.Y., a qualifying event for Big Dog’s Backyard Ultra. 

Fifty-seven runners took on the event where runners race a 4.16667-mile loop course with a new loop starting on the hour, every hour, until one runner remains. The top 20 runners completed 50 miles or more, and seven of the top 11 runners were New England residents. That included the top two performers who both surpassed the 100-mile mark.

William Drew, 35, of Newtown, Conn., took home the win with 104.25 miles, edging 37-year-old David Nejdl of Redding, Conn., by one loop. Nejdl finished 100.08 miles. Keith Hoffman, 32, of Newtown, Conn, was third with 87.57 miles. Mariel Feigen, 35, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was the top female performer and tied for fourth overall with 79.23 miles. Fellow New Yorker Colton Reitzes, 30, of Salisbury Mills matched her mileage. Tom Flummerfelt, 49, of Winchester, Mass., was sixth with 62.55 miles.

Wild Woman Trail Marathon

A pair of Massachusetts women made their inaugural ultramarathon a West Coast adventure when they took part in the women’s only Wild Woman Trail Marathon event on Saturday, June 16, in Trout Lake, Wash. The 10th annual event offered marathon, marathon relay and half marathon distances, as well as a 50K ultra on a loop course through the trails of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.

Twenty-five runners finished the race within nine hours, led by 39-year-old Sarah Paxson of Bellingham, Wash., in a course-record time of 4:17:10. Ashley Gramolini, 35, of Cambridge, Mass., built upon her marathon finish at the event last year by placing 11th overall in her ultra debut in 6:36:26. Julie Travers, 31, of Beverly, Mass., also earned her first ultra finish with her 15th-place finish in 6:49:17.

Broken Arrow Sky Race

The Broken Arrow Sky Race returned for its sixth edition on June 16-18 in Lake Tahoe, Calif., and offered eight distance and terrain challenges: a 46K mini-ultramarathon, a 23K, a Vertical K, 11K, three multi-distance challenges, and a kids’ race. Runners in the grueling ultra had to overcome 10,000+ feet of climbing and battle to hard-earned finishes.

Both the men’s and women’s 46K records fell as 30-year-old Michelino Sunseri of Driggs, Idaho, and 26-year-old Helen Mino Faukner of Truckee, Calif., took the wins in 3:58:02 and 4:50:19, respectively.

Four New England residents were among the 527 finishers within the 12-hour time limit.

Dan Pfistner, 32, of Bethel, Maine, led the runners from the region by finishing 80th overall in 5:45:13. Other finishers included Justin Massoud, 34, of Providence, R.I., in 7:07:55; Sergio Anibal Meza, 49, of Mexico, Maine, in 8:00:33; and Stephen Born, 43, of Belmont, Mass., in 8:48:00.

*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.