The 2023 ultrarunning season is quickly nearing its conclusion. Ultras are fewer to find throughout the United States, and especially in New England. Just a handful of runners from the region raced during the Dec. 9-10 weekend, but we have them covered. One runner you can always count on to be racing in early December is Jerry Turk. The Connecticut resident was back at the Hellgate 100K for the 21st straight year, and his consistent effort landed him in the lead-off position for this edition of the roundup.

Hellgate 100K

Few runners know the Hellgate 100K course better than Jerry Turk. He hasn’t missed a year since the event started in 2003.

That first year, Turk closed out his first year of ultrarunning by finishing seventh overall at Hellgate in 14:40:27. He was 45 years old. Turk returned to the race every single year after, notching five top-10 finishes including as high as fourth in 2005 in 13:38:52 and as fast as 13:18:25 in 2012, good for 20th place.

On Saturday, Dec. 9, Turk returned to Fincastle, Va., for the 21st straight year and toed the starting line at midnight. Now 65, the resident of Guilford, Conn., once again successfully navigated the 66.6-mile course through the Blue Ridge Mountains, this time finishing 70th overall out of 120 finishers in 15:30:28. It was a 20-minute improvement over his 2022 performance.

Turk wasn’t the lone New England resident to complete the race. Dan Broom, 49, of Branford, Conn., earned his eighth Hellgate finish in 16:51:17. Broom first ran the race in 2007. Brian Culmo, 31, of Salt Lake City, Utah., and Shannon Howell, 45, of Simpsonville, S.C., topped the men’s and women’s fields in 10:10:38 and 13:02:22, respectively, in a year where course conditions were particularly good and the weather was mild.

Beast of the East

David Stawski has had a big year of 100-mile racing since making his debut at the distance in 2022. Stawski earned his fourth 100-mile finish of the year at the Beast of the East 100 on Dec. 9-10 in Kings Mountain, N.C. The event also offered a 50-mile ultra.

Stawski opened the year by finishing the Winter Beast of Burden 100 in New York in January, followed by the Summer Beast of Burden in August. In October, he completed 118.11 miles at the Forbidden Forest 30-Hour Ultra in Connecticut, and then headed to North Carolina to close out his year.

Racing at the sixth annual event on the Crowders Mountain Trail System, Stawski handled the 19,000+ feet of climbing just fine and finished 13th overall in 30:31:33. Of the 60 runners who started the race, 35 finished within the 34-hour time limit. Raymond Stolzfus, 32, of Quarryville, Pa., led all runners in 21:13:22. Michelle Gray, 54, of Johnson City, Tenn., finished fifth overall and first in the women’s field with a new women’s course-record time of 26:57:31.

Runners had 18 hours to complete the 50-mile course and its 9,500+ feet of climbing. Seventy-one runners successfully finished, including 30-year-old Walter Fuchs of Seymour, Conn., who placed 17th overall in his first 50-mile race. Avery Matthews, 34, of Leland, N.C. was the overall winner with a new women’s course-record time of 9:32:20. Michael Hofmann, 49, of Harpers Ferry, W.V., was second overall and first in the men’s field in 10:13:52.

*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.