A red-hot October came to a close with just a handful of New England ultrarunners traveling to races, either close by at the Tunxis Trail Ultramarathon in Connecticut or bigger national events like the Javelina Jundred in Arizona and the new Canyonlands Ultra in Utah. We also tracked down results from the Oct. 21-22 Survival of the FI.T.test 30-Hour Ultra in Rhode Island where several New Englanders had strong showings – none stronger than Taylor Verville’s 100-mile victory. These races and more make for some light reading in this edition of the roundup.

Tunxis Trail Ultramarathon

Ian Reilly and Madison Van Wylen were victorious in their ultrarunning debuts at the seventh annual Tunxis Trail Ultramarathon on Saturday, Oct. 28, in Stonington, Conn.

Reilly, 26, of Pawcatuck, Conn., and Van Wylen, 30, of Newport, R.I., topped the men’s and women’s fields in the 60K race in 9:22:30 and 10:55:02, respectively.

Eleven runners finished the race. Joining Reilly and Van Wylen among the finishers were Alejandro Velasquez, 28, of Norwalk, Conn. (9:42:10); John Pantin, 26, of Newport Beach, Calif.(10:35:15); Stephen Matoesian, 26, of Chatsworth, Calif., (10:35:16); Dough Schuch, 55, of Durham, Conn. (10:48:10); Myles Cloherty, 26, of Orchard Park, N.Y. (10:54:57); Stephen Burke, 43, of Cumberland, R.I. (11:03:26); Hadrian Gardner, 32, of Newtown, Conn. (11:23:25); Frank Angelillo, 55, of Southington, Conn. (11:44:29); and Alex Angelillo, 27, of Medford, Mass. (11:44:30).

Survival of the F.I.T.test 30-hour

Thirty hours and a 4.2-mile loop course awaited runners at Survival of the F.I.T.test on Oct. 21-22 in Cumberland, R.I. How far runners chose to go was the question to be answered on a rainy, windy weekend. Some of the 30-hour race’s 12 participants had 100-mile dreams, but Taylor Verville was the only runner who achieved triple-digit mileage as she earned the overall victory. Verville, 33, of Kingston, Mass., completed 24 laps for 100.8 miles in 25:10:33. Jim Heumann, 38, of Cumberland, R.I., followed one lap behind with 96.6 miles in 28:43:16.

In addition to Verville and Heumann, four more runners surpassed the 60-mile mark. Tommy Bruneau, 49, of Attleboro, Mass., logged 20 laps and 84 miles in 28:24:52, followed by 44-year-old Jes Parker of Westport, Conn., and 53-year-old Dave Warren of East Greenwich, R.I., with 16 laps and 67.2 miles apiece. Parker completed the distance in 29:14:55 and Warren in 29:38:55. Russell Bragg, 68, of Attleboro, Mass., finished 15 laps for 63 miles in 28:42:58.

The event also offered 12-hour and 8-hour races.

Five runners tackled the 12-hour event and three achieved 12 laps for 50.4 miles. Taylor Miller, 34, of Tilton, N.H., led the way in 10:14:00. Two more runners matched the mileage but did so over the time limit. Reed Woodbury, 39, of Milford, Mass., and Christopher Noe, 55, of Chestnut Hill, Mass., completed the distance in 13:22:57 and 13:29:58, respectively.

Nine runners competed in the 8-hour race and four of them completed eight laps for 33.6 miles. Henning Smith, 48, of Northbridge, Mass., led the way in 6:38:01, followed by Matt Mackiewicz, 42, of Webster, Mass. (7:18:14). Robyn Bratica, 39, of Milford, Mass., also finished 33.6 miles and was first in the women’s field in 7:38:24.

Javelina Jundred

The Arizona desert cooked with hot temperatures and fast running at the 21st edition of the Javelina Jundred 100-mile and 100K ultramarathons on Oct. 28-29 at McDowell Mountain Park in McDowell, Ariz.

Seven hundred and eighty-four runners toed the starting line for the 100-mile race on the five-loop course with rolling hills and speedy singletrack in the Sonoran Desert. The desert heat took its toll on many, and 272 of the starters failed to finish. Another 512 completed the race within 30 hours, including 31-year-old Jonathan REa of Boulder, Colo., who set a new men’s course record in 12:43:10, and 39-year-old Heather Jackson of Bend, Ore., who placed sixth overall, first in the women’s field, and ran the second-best time ever by a woman in 14:24:47.

Fifteen New England residents were also among the finishers, including five who completed the race in less than 24 hours. Mark Blakeley, 59, of Norton, Mass., led the way by placing 83rd overall in 21:32:52, not far off from his 21:05:34 performance at the 2022 race. Colin Smith, 37, of Swampscott, Mass., also landed in the top 100, placing 92nd in 21:49:44 for his first 100-mile finish. Michael Medeiros, 38, of West Hartford, Conn., improved on his 22:54:51 finish a year ago by placing 130th this year in 22:41:37. Also finishing sub-24 were Chris Rosol, 49, of Somerville, Mass. (143rd, 22:58:25), and Sam Farnsworth, 63, of Stow, Mass. (155th, 23:08:46).

Other New England residents among the finishers were Eliza Duddy, 35, of Sudbury, Mass. (224th, 24:38:23); Kristin Lundy, 53, of Charlotte, Vt. (259th, 25:29:26); Dima Feinhaus, 60, of Waban, Mass. (272nd, 25:45:17); Charles Morris, 29, of Deery, N.H. (289th, 26:05:30); Christopher Monahan, 43, of Old Orchard Beach, Maine (348th, 27:05:31); Drake Meurant, 27, of Boston, Mass. (350th, 27:07:01); Jenn Hoadley, 45, of Scituate, Mass. (361st, 27:24:35); Dan Balestrieri, 44, of Billerica, Mass. (375th, 27:47:13); Nicole Julow, 48, of Essex Junction, Vt. (411th, 28:16:13); and Rob Gallagher, 43, of Scituate, Mass. (456th, 28:51:14).

Another 370 runners took on the 100K distance and 301 ultimately finished within 30 hours. William Godsman was the lone New England resident among the finishers at that distance. Godsman, 54, of Cambridge, Mass., placed 129th overall in 16:05:53. Rajpaul Pannu, 32, of Denver, Colo., and Anna Kacius, 30, of San Francisco, Calif., finished 1-2 and set new men’s and women’s course records in 7:15:53 and 8:13:07, respectively. Pannu broke the previous record that was set by Woburn, Mass., native Scott Traer in 2022 (7:31:46).

Canyonlands Ultra

The inaugural Canyonlands Ultra gave runners an opportunity to tackle 100-mile, 125K and 50-mile ultramarathons near the Behind the Rocks Wilderness Study Area on Oct. 28-29 in Moab, Utah.

No New England residents took part in the 100-mile and 125K races, but three were finishers of the 50-miler. The trio of runners from the region were Greg Merritt, 34, of Falmouth, Maine; Neil Preston, 47, of Richmond, Vt.; and Ed Siegal, 64, of Dartmouth, Mass. Merritt – an ultra veteran whose credits include a finish at the 2021 Rim to River 100-miler – led the way with a 29th-place finish in 11:46:58. He is building up to the Riverlands 100-miler in 2024. Both Preston and Siegal earned their first ultramarathon finishes, Preston in 14:00:17 and Siegal in 15:05:36.

Zach McPherson, 28, of Boulder, Colo. ,and Julia Conley, 27, of Durango, Colo., finished 1-2 overall in 9:07:30 and 9:18:56, respectively to lead the men’s and women’s fields. There were 100 finishers, nearly all within 17 hours.

Fonta Flora 50K

Michael Pereiro has had a jam-packed year of ultramarathon racing. On Saturday, Oct. 28, the 28-year-old from Shelton, Conn., took on his seventh ultra of the year at the seventh annual Fonta Flora 50K in Nebo, N.C. Pereiro and his fellow runners took on a course consisting almost entirely of singletrack trails with 2,400 feet of gain, and he ultimately finished 23rd overall out of 134 runners within the 9 1/2 hour time limit. Gavin Mouat, 23, of Raleigh, N.C., earned the victory in 4:27:16. Pereiro finished in 6:09:50.

Pereiro’s performance came just three weeks after he completed the 48-mile unsupported Black Mountain Ultra Traverse, also in North Carolina. He opened the year with a victory at the Southern Freeze 50/50 on January 21 in Georgia and followed it up a week later with a runner-up finish at the Cheehaw Challenge 50-miler, also in Georgia. In May, Pereiro placed 10th overall at the Mass Extinction Elimination Endurance Challenge 12-hour race in South Carolina. Then in June he finished seventh at the Windsor Castle 10-hour in Virginia before running the Landsford Canal 50K in August in South Carolina where he placed 11th.

*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.