After a quiet start to the 2024 season, Wouter Hoogkamer jammed plenty of ultramarathon racing into June – and it was an investment that paid off.

Hoogkamer, 42, of Pelham, Mass., crammed three ultras into five weekends, starting with the Chesterfield Gorge Ultra on June 1, followed by the Vegan Power 50K on June 22 and the Edge Hill 50K on Saturday, June 29, in Ashfield, Mass. Hoogkamer won the 100K at Chesterfield in a course-record time on the mostly flat-to-rolling jeep road course. He won again at Vegan Power, making quick work of the rolling singletrack trails.

Edge Hill is the newest race in the Beast Coast Trail Running Series, presented by race director Amy Rusiecki. The event took place at the Edge Hill Conservation Area, a former golf course that is being restored to wetlands, shrubland and grassland habitat. Edge Hill offered the most technically challenging of Hoogkamer’s three races, with a mix of singletrack trails, dirt roads, a little bit of pavement, and around 4,000 feet of climbing. Once again, he was up to the challenge.

Hoogkamer led from the start, but Brian Rusiecki, Luke Nugend and Jared Millay all lingered just a few minutes behind for several miles. A little over half way into the race, the course turned onto the trails of the D.A.R. State Forest. Hoogkamer took a tumble on the wet, rooty, technical singletrack, impacting his ability to gain more distance on Rusiecki, who excels on technical trails. It wasn’t until a road section in the final miles where Hoogkamer was able to step on the gas and expand his cushion on Rusiecki once and for all. Ultimately, Hoogkamer closed out the win in 5:09:47. Rusiecki, 45, of South Deerfield, Mass., was second in 5:23:15, and Nugent, 37, of Greenfield, Mass., faded to third in 5:37:18. Millay, 45, of Amherst, Mass., was the final sub-6-hour finisher, completing the course in 5:44:30.

In the women’s race, 13 minutes separated the top two as Jennifer Boshco and Julie Corey vied for the win. Both ultra veterans entered with multiple podium finishes to their credit. In 2023, Boshco won the Pineland Farms 50-miler and placed in the top three at the G.A.C. Fat Ass 50K, Jigger Johnson 100K and Forbidden Forest 30-hour. She was the women’s runner-up again at the 2024 G.A.C. Fat Ass 50K before completing the 50K at the Chesterfield Gorge Ultra on June 1. Corey earned podium finishes at the 2022 Chesterfield Gorge Ultra 50K and Jug End Loop Ultra 6-Hour, as well as the 2023 Free Spirit 50K and Pisgah Mountain 50K, before finishing fifth at Free Spirit this year.

Boshco, 40, of Billerica, Mass., secured her first win of the year at Edge Hill in 7:20:26. Corey, 45, of Holyoke, Mass., followed in 7:33:50. Katherine Moore, 33, of Amherst, Mass., was a close third in 7:37:53.

Of the 34 runners who started the 50K race, 30 ultimately finished within 10 hours. In a testament to the difficulty of the course, only eight runners completed the race in less than 7 hours. In addition to the top four men, Kit Sabo, 38, of Shelburne Falls, Mass., was fifth overall in 6:22:34; Benjamin Young, 42, of Woodstock, Conn., was sixth in 6:28:07; Rob Bayliss, 41, of Hadley, Mass., was seventh in 6:37:08; and Edward Shibley, 45, of West Springfield, Mass., followed in 6:48:04.

The 8K race saw 72 runners finish within 2 hours, and both the men’s and women’s champions outdistanced the competition by a comfortable margin. Jacob Barnett, 39, of Leverett, Mass., ran away from the field and secured the outright win by more than 3 minutes, crossing the finish line in 31:10. A tight battle unfolded for second and third between a pair of men from Greenfield, Mass., with 29-year-old Mark Rabasco finishing as the runner-up in 34:32 and 47-year-old Ben Whitbeck placing third a second behind in 34:33. Four seconds behind Whitbeck was fourth-place finisher John Schatz, 44, of Shelburne Falls, Mass., in 34:37. Leigh Schmitt, 52, of Millbrook, N.Y., rounded out a fast first five in 35:05.

In the women’s field, 30-year-old Hannah Chappel-Dick – the head cross country coach at Amherst College – raced to victory in 43:59. Jen Howard, 37, of Sunderland, Mass., edged 30-year-old Tara Walsh of Boylston, Mass., for second, with Howard finishing in 48:47 and Walsh placing third in 48:52. Ericka Emerson, 53, of Belchertown, Mass., was fourth in 52:58, followed by Kristin Loiko, 43, of South Hadley, Mass., in 53:37, and Laure Van Den Broeck Raffensperger, 47, of Leyden, Mass. in 53:53.

In the nonbinary field, 44-year-old Z Porter of Roslindale, Mass., earned the victory in 57:09, just ahead of 46-year-old Carl Richard Marx of Conway, Mass., in 58:50. Stud Green, 43, of Roslindale, Mass., rounded out the podium in 1:12:39.