WINCHESTER, Mass. – It’s not unusual to see Mat Ridley ripping through the woods on singletrack trails, dodging rocks and dancing through roots while making it seem easy as the miles pile up. Ridley has been one of the fastest ultra-trail runners in the area for the past two years with multiple victories and several podium finishes to his credit.

Still, what Ridley has pulled off this fall is unusual given the business of his race schedule and the rigorousness of events he has taken on. In August, he earned a top-10 finish at the inaugural Jigger Johnson 100 in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It was Ridley’s 100-mile debut, and it came on one of the hardest 100-mile courses in the United States. He battled for just shy of 52 hours on his way to finishing the race in 10th place overall. Just four weeks later, Ridley was back in New Hampshire, this time a bit further north in the Pliny Range, where he raced to a third-place finish at the Kilkenny Ridge 25-miler. Three weeks after that, Ridley found himself in Vermont at the Endurance Society’s Sky Run where he placed second. Then it was on to November and the TARC Stone Cat Trail Festival. The event offered a 100K distance that measured in at closer to 110K and had a daunting 14-hour time limit. Ridley was once again up to the challenge, finishing first in the men’s field and second overall.

Seven days later, Ridley was back on another starting line; this time it was the Trail Animals Running Club’s seventh annual TARCkey Trot 6-Hour Ultra on Saturday, Nov. 11, at Wright-Locke Farm in Winchester. Runners had six hours to complete as many loops as they could on a 3.5-mile loop course through the grassy farm trail of Wright-Locke Farm and the rocky, rooty, twisty-turny, up-and-down singletrack of neighboring Whipple Hill. Runners received credit only for completed loops, and Ridley’s legs felt surprisingly fresh given all that he’d asked from them during the previous two months. The 33-year-old resident of Quincy, Mass., led the race nearly wire to wire. He spent the first two loops running nearly stride-for-stride with 32-year-old Adam Ribeiro of Lowell, Mass. Ribeiro completed each of the first two loops one second ahead of Ridley, making it a virtual tie. As the third loop unfolded, Ridley moved to the front and gradually pulled ahead. By the end of the third lap and 10.5 miles, Ridley held a 57-second advantage. He continued to increase his lead the rest of the way while Ribeiro ran strong and fended off 38-year-old John Paul Krol of Fryeburg, Maine, for third.

Ridley was the lone runner to complete 10 laps within the 6-hour timeframe, amassing 35 miles in 5:39:54. Three runners completed nine laps and 31.5 miles, led by Ribeiro who was the overall runner-up in 5:28:59. Krol matched the mileage less than two minutes later and finished third in 5:30:13. Jack Murphy, 24, of Arlington, Mass., was a distant fourth with 31.5 miles in 5:51:33.

Ten more runners completed eight laps for 28 miles and ultramarathon finishes. In the men’s field, that included Ben Schersten, 44, of Danvers, Mass. (5:23:25); Patrick Couchot, 29, of Brookline, Mass. (5:23:48); Bryn Clark, 34, of Danvers, Mass. (5:24:24); Victor Pereira, 44, of Foxboro, Mass. (5:26:49); Chris Loftus, 49, of Hudson, Mass. (5:48:35); Joseph Mitchko, 35, of Lexington, Mass. (5:49:55); Israel Agront, 29, of Medford, Mass. (5:51:59); and Jeff Roth, 49, of Belmont, Mass. (5:57:07).

In the women’s field, the top two finishers both achieved the 28-mile mark in a close race. Sarah Aponte, 33, of North Andover, Mass., was the early leader with a 4-minute advantage on Breanna Glasgow during the first few laps. Glasgow soon closed the gap, and the 36-year-old from Chelmsford, Mass., moved to the front during her fifth trip through the course. Glasgow slowly added to her lead during the following laps and ultimately closed out her eighth and final lap first for the win in 5:30:39. Aponte completed her eighth lap later and finished second in 5:41:39.

The next four women finished in close contact for the third through sixth spots, all with seven laps and 24.5 miles. Theodora Textor Murray, 42, of Brookline, Mass., edged 23-year-old Gwenyth Taradash of Dartmouth, Mass., for the final spot on the podium with Murray closing out her last lap in 5:22:45 and Taradash following two minutes later in 5:24:52. Emma Stowe, 25, of Cambridge, Mass., was fifth in 5:29:03, and 58-year-old Renee Demarsh of East Sandwich, Mass., was sixth in 5:30:18.

Up Next In the TARC Trail Series

The 2023 TARC Trail Series will come to a close on Saturday, Dec. 2, with the annual running of the Fells Winter Ultra at the Middlesex Fells Reservation in Stoneham. The Winter Classic will have a somewhat new feel this year. It will still use the same 8-mile Skyline Trail course and runners can still choose which direction to run the loop, but rather than 40-mile and 32-mile ultras like in years past the 2023 edition will include just one ultra option – the 32-miler – alongside a new 8-mile race.