There is never an “easy time” to run the trails of Mt. Tom State Reservation. They’re steep, rocky and rough every month of the year. When Race Director Amy Rusiecki added an October race at Mt. Tom to her Beast Coast Trail Running Race Series in 2021, the accomplished trail- and ultrarunner decided those always-tough trails would be even more fun to run while covered in leaves.
Continue reading Grip Clips Course Record with Victory at Mt. Tom Trail RaceMonthly Archives: October 2023
Womp Romp Champ Tidd Savors Victory at “Special Place”
HINGHAM, Mass. – Andrew Tidd squinted as he rounded the final turn and the finish line came into view. A steady rain blurred his vision, but through the drops he could see the race clock, the red arch and Race Directors Robert Jeffers and Matt Hoadley cheering him on.
Continue reading Womp Romp Champ Tidd Savors Victory at “Special Place”MassUltra Roundup: Bimblers Bluff, Farm to Farm, No Business, Gate2Gate, Patapsco Valley, Pumpkin Holler, Lake Sonoma, and Moab 240
New England ultrarunners took to the trails in both eastern and western Massachusetts during the Oct. 21-22 weekend for the Mt. Tom Trail Race 50K in Easthampton and the Womp Romp 50K in Hingham, but those popular events weren’t the only racing destination for runners from the region. A few took on a road ultra in Maine at Farm to Farm, and others toed the starting line at Bimblers Bluff in Connecticut. Several more tackled up to 30 hours at Survival of the F.I.T.test in Rhode Island, though official results of that event aren’t yet available. Many more ventured beyond the region to places as far south as Florida and as far west as California, and places in between, to take on tough courses. Several races have yet to post their results, but we’ve caught up with as many as we can in this edition of the roundup.
Continue reading MassUltra Roundup: Bimblers Bluff, Farm to Farm, No Business, Gate2Gate, Patapsco Valley, Pumpkin Holler, Lake Sonoma, and Moab 240
Photos: Mt. Tom Trail Race
Beast Coast Trail Running played host to the third annual Mt. Tom Trail Race and second edition of its 50K offering on Saturday, Oct. 21, in Easthampton, Mass. The race started and finished at Millside Park in Easthampton. In between, runners took on one or two loops of a course on the trails on and around Mt. Tom. Photographer Jonathan Loyche was on the scene to capture images of the day, and he shared them with MassUltra. The following are just a sample of Loyche’s photos; a full gallery can be viewed here.
Continue reading Photos: Mt. Tom Trail Race
Results: Mt. Tom Trail Race
Beast Coast Trail Running played host to the third annual Mt. Tom Trail Race and second edition of its 50K offering on Saturday, Oct. 21, in Easthampton, Mass. The race started and finished at Millside Park in Easthampton. In between, runners took on one or two loops of a course on the trails on and around Mt. Tom. Runners in the 25K race amassed around 3,600 feet of climbing while 50K runners gained around 7,000 feet of elevation.
Continue reading Results: Mt. Tom Trail Race
Photos: 2023 Womp Romp
The third annual Womp Romp 10-miler and second edition of the 50K took place on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023, at Wompatuck State Park in Hingham, Mass. Runners took on a 10.5-mile loop either one or three times, doing so this year in drizzly to rainy conditions. The following are a small sample of photos taken by MassUltra Editor Chris Wristen at this year’s event. A full photo gallery of 257 photos can be viewed on the MassUltra Facebook page.
Continue reading Photos: 2023 Womp Romp
Results: Womp Romp
The third annual Womp Romp 10-miler and second edition of the 50K took place on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023, at Wompatuck State Park in Hingham, Mass. Runners took on a 10.5-mile loop course on a mixture of surfaces – singletrack trails, doubletrack, fire roads, cross country grass, and pavement – either one or three times depending on the distance. Temperatures in the upper 50s made for comfortable running despite a light drizzle falling for the first four hours that eventually transitioned to a steady rain.
Continue reading Results: Womp Romp
Results: Ghost Train Trail Race
The 14th edition of the Ghost Train Trail Race took place Oct. 14-15 on the Granite Town Rail Trail between Brookline and Milford, N.H. In addition to the event’s traditional 30-hour and 15-mile ultras, the 2023 event also included the inaugural running of the Haunted 30-Mile Night Race.
Continue reading Results: Ghost Train Trail RaceMassUltra Roundup: Kodiak, Rogue Gorge, Canyon De Chelly, and My First 50
More than 850 trail- and ultrarunners took on races in New England during the Oct. 14-15 weekend, from Ghost Train in New Hampshire (will have separate recap), to the Forbidden Forest 30-Hour Ultra in Connecticut, Devil’s Den in Vermont, and the Rhode Island Trail Classic, all of which were featured in a previous roundup. In this edition of the roundup we catch up on how New Englanders did at races beyond the region. First we head to California where two Boston residents earned top-five finishes in the 50K at the Kodiak Ultras. Then we travel north to Oregon where Sudbury resident Shelley Liu had a strong showing at the Rogue Gorge 50K. From there we head to Arizona where a few New Englanders explored the Navajo Reservation on foot at the Canyon De Chelly 55K. Finally, we close out the roundup in Virginia where a few ultrarunners – first-timers and veterans alike – raced at My First 50.
Continue reading MassUltra Roundup: Kodiak, Rogue Gorge, Canyon De Chelly, and My First 50MassUltra Roundup: Forbidden Forest, Devil’s Den, and Rhode Island Trail Classic
More than 600 runners gathered in Brookline, N.H., for the wildly popular Ghost Train Trail Race. Still, Ghost Train wasn’t the only ultra event in New England during the Oct. 14-15 weekend. Runners from the region also gathered at starting lines in Connecticut, Vermont and Rhode Island and tackled the trails for runs between 11 and 30 hours. Ghost Train will have a standalone recap, and a second roundup will include results for New England ultrarunners at ultras beyond the region, but in this edition we keep it close to home.
Continue reading MassUltra Roundup: Forbidden Forest, Devil’s Den, and Rhode Island Trail Classic
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