The holiday season is upon us, winter is closing in and the 2023 ultrarunning season is quickly nearing its conclusion. Only a handful of events remain, but a few New England residents made their way to starting lines during the Dec. 16-17 weekend. Beyond Seth’s Fat Ass 50K in Springfield, Mass. (separate recap), runners from the region tackled events in Arizona, Pennsylvania, California and New Jersey. Among that group, none had a bigger weekend than Woburn native Scott Traer whose “Run Fastah” mission was on full display as he scorched the track at Desert Solstice in Arizona. His big victory leads off this edition of the roundup.

Desert Solstice

Two weeks after cutting his run short at the IAU 24-Hour World Championship in Taiwan after 84 miles, Scott Traer threw down a dominant performance at the 14^th annual Desert Solstice 24-Hour Track Race on Dec. 16-17 in Phoenix, Ariz.

A native of Woburn, Mass., Traer threw down one of the biggest performances in the history of the event as the 42-year-old cranked out 161.498 miles, 48 miles more than any other runner this year and the third-best tally all-time at Desert Solstice. Only Nick Coury (173.01 miles in 2021) and Pete Kostelnick (163.68 miles in 2015) have done better.

Traer’s big day puts him in strong position to qualify for another spot on the USA 24-Hour National Team and race again at the world championships.

Given the quick turnaround from the world championships to Desert Solstice, this year’s event had a much smaller field. Only seven runners started the invitation-only event on the 400-meter track at Central High School in Phoenix. Five of the starters completed 100 or more miles. Following Traer, 30-year-old Mimmie Strahorn of Camp Verde, Ariz., finished 113.338 miles; top female Megan Alvarado, 35, of Springfield, Va., completed 106.858 miles; Garrett Nelson, 30, of Madison, Wisc., finished 101.159 miles; and Sierra Degroff, 33, of Las Vegas, Nev., ran 100.165 miles. Additionally, 52-year-old Darce Smith of Bend, Ore., completed 47.224 miles and 37-year-old Zach Bitter of Austin, Tex., ran 32.808 miles.

This was Traer’s fourth time running Desert Solstice. In 2019, he placed second overall in the 100-miler in 13:56:24 and seventh in the 24-hour with 102.15 miles. In 2020, he was seventh overall in the 100-miler in 14:57:14 and 16^th in the 24-hour race with 100.16 miles. In 2021, he finished sixth in the 100-mile race in 14:15:04 and third in the 24-hour event with 152.36 miles.

Naked Nick

Trevor Meinke never ran an ultramarathon prior to 2023. As the year nears its end, Meinke is a seasoned veteran. The 40-year-old from Derby, Conn., completed his seventh ultra of the year at the Naked Nick 50K on Sunday, Dec. 17, in Leesport, Pa.

The sixth annual event used a lollipop loop course on the shores of Blue Mark Lake consisting of mostly singletrack trail and around 3,000 feet of climbing.

Meinke placed 67^th overall in 6:00:09. There were 150 finishers of the race within the 9-hour time limit.

Meinke wasn’t the only first-year ultrarunner from New England among the finishers. Claire Glover, 26, of Andover, Mass., ran her first 50K in May at the Pineland Farms 50K in Maine. She earned her second ultra finish at the Naked Nick 50K in 6:44:07.

Noah Dusseau, 24, of Seattle, Wash., took the overall win and men’s victory in 3:38:10, smashing the previous course record by 20 minutes and leading a pack of six runners who finished in less than four hours. Dusseau placed fifth at the Black Canyon 100K in February.

Colleen Moffatt, 42, of Philadelphia, Pa., won the women’s race and placed 22^nd overall in 4:58:42. Moffatt has also had a big year with her top performances all coming in Pennsylvania. She placed sixth at the Hyner 50K in April, fourth at the Worlds End 100K in June, was the runner-up at the Eastern States 100-miler in August and third at the Black Forest 100K in October.

Paramount Ranch Trail Run

Five years ago, Will Demott made his ultra debut at the White River 50-miler in Washington State. Five years later, he finished his second ultra with an eighth-place performance at the Flagstaff Extreme Big Pine 53K in Arizona earlier this year. On Saturday, Dec. 16, he earned another ultra finish, this time at the 11^th edition of the Paramount Ranch Trail Run 50K in Agoura Hills, Calif.

The race took place on a classic Hollywood western film set in the Santa Monica Mountains on an easy-running 5K loop course with 3,665 feet of gain by the time runners completed all 10 laps.

Thirty-six runners completed the race within 12 hours, including Demott. The 25-year-old from Old Lyme, Conn., had a big day and finished third overall and second in the men’s field in 5:35:39. Sonia Ahuja, 48, of Thousand Oaks, Calif., was the lone sub-5-hour finisher as the women’s champion won in 4:52:04. Men’s champion and overall runner-up Kevin Russ, 40, of Portland, Ore., edged Demott by 90 seconds in 5:34:09.

The event also included a 12-hour ultra, though no New England residents competed in that race.

Frosty Looper

Tilghman Moyer turned in a strong ultramarathon debut at the fourth edition of the Frosty Looper 8-Hour Ultra on Sunday, Dec. 17, in Pennsauken, N.J. Moyer was one of 120 runners who took part in the time-based event on a 3.75-mile paved loop course along the river at Cooper River Park. Eighty-four runners achieved at least 30 miles during within the time limit, and Moyer finished 31^st overall with 41.25 miles.

Evan Reinhardt, 32, and Lara Miller, 32, both of Philadelphia, Pa., finished 1-2 overall and topped the men’s and women’s fields with 56.25 miles and 52.5 miles, respectively. Reinhardt tied the men’s course record while Miller set a new women’s course record. Third-place overall finisher and women’s runner-up Gypsy Cooper, 26, of Delanco, N.J., also broke the previous course record with her 52.5-mile effort, but she finished five minutes after Miller. Men’s runner-up Nathan Lietwiler, 35, of Wilmington, Del., also ran 52.5 miles.

*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.