Around 150 hearty New England trail- and ultrarunners gathered at Hale Reservation in Westwood, Mass., for the fifth edition of the Trail Animals Running Club’s TARCtic Frozen Yeti 30-Hour Ultra and 15-mile night race during the Feb. 3-4 weekend, but a handful of others branched beyond New England to race during the first weekend of February. From a soggy, splashy Rocky Raccoon in Texas, to the warmer confines of the Elephant Mountain Trail Race in Arizona and the Mt. Umunhum Trail Conquest in California, New Englanders made their presence felt at starting lines around the country. We have their results captured in this edition of the roundup.

Rocky Raccoon 100

The muddiest and wettest Rocky Raccoon 100 in event history took place on Feb. 3-4 at Huntsville State Park in Huntsville, Texas, and two New England residents were among the 166 runners who overcame the challenging conditions to finish the race within the 32-hour time limit.

Both Suriyun Sukduang, 44, of Guilford, Conn., and Drew Bernhisel, 31, of Hamden, Conn., overcame the adverse environment to finish. The event typically has its share of mud, but runners also usually enjoy plenty of pine needle-covered singletrack on the rolling trails through the forest around the lake during their five 20-mile loops. This time, runners encountered extensive standing water.

Still, Sukduang had one of the top performances, placing 21st overall in 22:14:37, while Bernhisel placed 51st overall in 23:39:05. The top 52 finishers completed the race in less than 24 hours. Terry Palmer, 43, of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Lindsey Dwyer, 32, of Austin, Texas, were the men’s and women’s winners in 16:57:28 and 18:55:31, respectively.

Another 88 runners completed the event’s 100K race; none were from New England.

Elephant Mountain

Sean O’Connor’s ultramarathon debut saw him turn in a strong performance at the 12th annual Elephant Mountain Trail Races on Saturday, Feb. 3, in Cave Creek, Ariz.

Racing in the 50K race on singletrack trails through Cave Creek Regional Park and the surrounding area, O’Connor, 53, of Boston, Mass., pushed hard and finished 14th overall in 6:46:31. He was 11th in the men’s field and less than a minute outside of the men’s top 10. O’Connor was one of two New England residents in the field. Ultra veteran Holly Durstin, 55, of Norfolk, Conn., also was among the finishers as she completed the course in 8:33:05.

Fifty-seven runners finished the 50K within 12 hours.Joe Corcione, 28, of Phoenix, Ariz., and Kelly Cockrell, 44, of Peoria, Ariz., topped the men’s and women’s fields in 4:36:44 and 5:46:38, respectively. Another 38 runners completed the event’s 50-mile race within 16 hours. No New England residents took part in that race.

Mt. Umunhum Trail Conquest

Noland Priester moved cross-country to Massachusetts in 2023, but the 39-year-old resident of Burlington, Mass., headed back to California and his trail-running roots to take part in the third running of the Mt. Umunhum Trail Conquest 50K on Saturday, Feb. 3, in San Jose, Calif. In addition to the 50K, the event also offered several sub-ultra distance races, including a marathon, 30K, half marathon, 7-mile, 5K, mile and kids run.

Priester was one of 13 runners who successfully completed the 50K race that took them on the trails of Almaden Quicksilver Park and the Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve, as well as up event namesake Mt. Umunhum itself. Priester finished in 8:03:10. Bryan Stevens, 45, of San Mateo, Calif., won the race in 5:14:31, missing the course record by four minutes.

*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.