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.

Runners wholeheartedly agreed. The inaugural event featured a 25K race and team relay, and runner demand saw the event expand to include a 50K in 2022. That same lineup returned for the third annual event on Saturday, Oct. 21, in Easthampton, Mass.

More than 100 runners assembled at the starting line at Millside Park across the parking lot from New City Brewery where the post-race party would take place that afternoon. Most were there for the 25K solo race or relay, but 16 of them wanted to attempt to tackle two loops for a 50K. For them, 7,000 feet of climbing and a hearty dose of technical, leaf-covered trails within the reservation awaited them.

Thirteen runners ultimately finished the race, all within eight hours, but none hammered the trails harder than Dan Grip. The 44-year-old from Belchertown, Mass., has feasted on race courses throughout the Northeast during the past decade, rarely finishing off the podium and proving extremely difficult to beat since 2018. Grip’s 2023 ultra resume includes four races, all of them victories. He won the TARC To Hale and Back 6-Hour Ultra in March with 38.5 miles, won the Riverlands 100-miler in Maine in May, and then topped the field at the Manitou’s Revenge 53-miler in New York in June. Mt. Tom was Grip’s debut at the event and also his fourth win of the year.

Grip pulled away from the field early and ultimately won by nearly an hour. His closest competition came in the form of 2022 champion Matt Pacheco’s course-record time of 4:42:44, which Grip eclipsed by 62 seconds, winning in 4:41:42.

A regular at the 7 Sisters Trail Race and comfortable with rugged, technical trails, 52-year-old Greg Tew of South Deerfield, Mass., raced to a runner-up finish in 5:39:27. Tew fended off a tough challenge from Bryce Spare. Spare, 40, of Adams, Mass., repeated as the third-place finisher in the 50K, running two minutes faster this year in 5:40:18.

Matthew LePage, 33, of Westfield, Mass., was a distant fourth in 6:13:38, followed by 32-year-old Chris Plankey of Amherst, Mass. (6:20:22) and 28-year-old Ryan Horne of Hadley, Mass. (6:29:05).

In the women’s field, 55-year-old Katy Kelly made her Beast Coast Trail Series debut a good one. The resident of Dorchester, Mass., won the Womp Romp 50K on the same day as Mt. Tom in 2022. She then kicked off the year with a victory at the G.A.C. Fat Ass 50K in January, followed by a fifth-place finish at the Manchester 2 Monadnock 55-miler in May and a win at the Viaduct Trail 100-miler in Pennsylvania in July. Kelly had a strong day on the trails of Mt. Tom and won the women’s race in 7:10:22. Erica Kyzmir-McKeon, 42, of Roslindale, Mass., was the runner-up in her ultra debut, finishing in 7:24:56.

Additional 50K finishers included 39-year-old Tim McKeon of Roslindale, Mass. (7:25:00); 29-year-old Scott Berkley of Sharon, Vt. (7:46:16); 53-year-old Michael Barrett of Southampton, Mass. (7:47:50); 59-year-old Brian Haley of South Deerfield, Mass. (7:53:16); and 39-year-old Matthew Austin of Terryville, Conn. (7:54:48).

Donegan, Atwater Earn Victories in 25K Race

A year ago, Shaun Donegan and Brian Rusiecki went toe-to-toe with New Jersey’s Steven Lange in a tight battle for the 25K win. Just three minutes separated the trio by the end with Lange securing the victory and just 47 seconds separating Donegan and Rusiecki for second and third.

Lange was absent from the field this year, but Donegan and Rusiecki were back and ready to do battle again. The duo raced in close contact for much of the day, starting on the early stretch of pavement and then up and down the rugged climbs and descents of Mt. Tom State Reservation on the 17.4-mile course with its 3,600 feet of climbing. Donegan pulled away during the late miles and the 38-year-old from Malta, N.Y., earned the victory this time in 2:24:10, 44 seconds off of his time from 2022. Third a year ago, Rusiecki was second this year as the 45-year-old from South Deerfield, Mass., finished in 2:34:21. Four more runners joined them in finishing in less than three hours. Salem Mazzawy, 49, of Granby, Mass., was third in 2:49:49; Joshua Villeneuve, 35, of East Granby, Conn., was fourth in 2:50:59; Ben Whitbeck, 46, of Greenfield, Mass., finished fifth in 2:54:42; and Miguel Gothers Reyes, 33, of Pelham, Mass., was sixth in 2:55:24. Just over the 3-hour mark, 55-year-old Keith Schmitt of Durham, N.H., finished seventh in 3:02:38.

In the women’s field, 44-year-old Elizabeth Atwater turned in her latest strong performance this year. After finishing third at the TARC Wapack and Back 21.5-miler in May, fifth at the Chocorua Mountain Race 25K in June, second at the Firebird 50K in Maine in August, and 13th in her 50-mile debut at the Vermont 50 in September, Atwater secured her first victory of the year at Mt. Tom. The 44-year-old from Sudbury, Mass., placed eighth overall and led the female category in 3:02:49. Catherine LiVolsi, 30, of Wakefield, Mass., was second in 3:24:10, and 47-year-old Sarah Nelson of Florence, Mass., rounded out the podium in 3:29:45. It was Nelson’s third podium finish of the year, adding it to her third-place finishes at the Free Spirit 50K in May and the Chesterfield Gorge 25K in June. Phoebe Howe, 29, of Sharon, Vt., and Tifin Calcagni, 45, of Greensboro, Mass., rounded out the women’s top five in 3:36:01 and 3:39:32, respectively.

Eighty-four runners completed the 25K race, most within 6 1/2 hours.