New Englanders scattered throughout the country to take on a variety of ultras during the March 8-10 weekend, racing up and down the East Coast, across the South and all the way out West. We’ll catch up on southern and western results in a later edition, but in this edition of the roundup we catch up on results for New Englanders at ultras in the Northeast. Runners took on courses in New Jersey, Virginia, and New York, with New Hampshire’s Sara Tannenbaum bringing home a victory for 50 miles at Squatchapple. Her big effort leads off this edition of the roundup.

Squatchapple

Several New Englanders took part in the fourth annual Squatchapple 50-mile and 50K ultras on Saturday, March 9, in West Orange, N.J., and one of them earned a victory by the time it was done.

The races took place at South Mountain Reservation, starting and finishing at the Tulip Springs Trailhead. In between, runners pieced together mini-loops of 4, 5.5 and 7 miles in length, passing through Tulip Springs each time, on their way to finishing. Those in the 50-mile race amassed nearly 5,800 feet of climbing by the end while 50K runners climbed nearly 4,000 feet.

Chadd Cosse, 29, of New York, N.Y., and Rong Hu, 41, of Tenafly, N.J., were the men’s and women’s 50-mile winners in 7:42:53 and 10:27:37, respectively. Three New England residents joined them among the 36 finishers within 13 1/2 hours. Carey Patrick Wertz, 43, of Waterville, Maine, finished in 11:39:03; Jamie Crandall, 26, of West Brookfield, Mass., finished in 13:03:55; and Alan Macnab, 60, of Hartford, Conn., followed in 13:04:33.

Another 74 runners finished the 50K race, led by Raj Hathiramani, 38, of New York, N.Y., and Sara Tannenbaum, 30, of Nashua, N.H., in 4:47:59 and 5:58:48, respectively. It was the second ultra victory for women’s champion Tannenbaum, with her first coming in June 2022 in her inaugural ultra at the Trail Rail Run in Montana. She is building up to the Old Dominion 100-miler in June.

Tannenbaum was one of four New England residents among the 50K finishers. David Kiersznowski, 56, if Windsor, Conn., was 31st overall in 7:40:05; Meghan Goughan, 52, of Dorchester, Mass., was 39th overall and the ninth-place female in 7:50:17; and Karyn Rimas, 52, of Somersworth, N.H., finished in 8:49:11.

Bel Monte Endurance Races

A pair of New England residents joined the fields for 50 miles or 50K of racing in the George Washington National Forest at the 20th annual Bel Monte Endurance Races on Saturday, March 9, in Lyndhurst, Va. Runners took on a course full of singletrack trails and mountain roads in the Blue Ridge Mountains, amassing either 8,500 feet of gain in the 50-mile race or 5,100 feet of climbing in the 50K.

Twenty-three runners finished the 50-mile race, led by 34-year-old DAnny Mathieson of Charlottesville, Va., in 9:20:5. Isabelle Danforth, 23, of Virginia Beach, Va., was fourth overall and the first-place female in 10:17:20, just two minutes from the overall top three. The lone New England resident in the field – 29-year-old Gillian Kramer of Gorham, Maine – was fifth overall and the women’s runner-up in 10:59:15. It was Kramer’s second ultra (she won the Bold Coast Bash 50K in November in Maine), and a solid tune-up for her 100-mile debut in May at the Riverlands 100.

Another 40 runners finished the 50K race, with Jesse Spangler, 37, of Richmond, Va., and Harmony Fisher, 20, of Cloquet, Minn., topping the men’s and women’s fields in 5:37:00 and 5:45:35, respectively. Seng-Lai Tan, 52, of Sudbury, Mass., was the lone New England resident in the field. He finished in 10:08:39.

USATF National 50K Road Championship

The USATF National 50K Road Championship once again took place on Sunday, March 10, in East Islip, N.Y. Runners competed on a 5K paved loop course through Heckscher State Park that they had to complete 10 times. Twenty runners took part in the championship event, with Rich Power and Helen Huang securing the men’s and women’s victories. Power, 60, of Rochester, Mich., topped the field in 3:36:28 while Huang, 54, of Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., was victorious in 4:18:00. Brian Teason, 63, of Manchester, Vt., was the lone New England resident in the field. He finished 12th overall in 5:12:46. It was at least the 12th time Teason has taken part in the event.

An additional 36 runners took part in a non-championship 50K race with 31 finishing within the 7-hour time limit. None of the participants were New England residents. Brandon Talisesky, 32, of New York, N.Y., won that race in 3:22:06.

*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.