Severe weather forced the cancellation of the Lover’s Lane Ultra in Vermont, but the running was undeterred in Rhode Island and Massachusetts during the August 9-11 weekend with the annual Anchor Down Ultra and the BURCS Sweltering Summer 8-Hour Ultra. We’ll have Sweltering Summer covered in a separate story, but Anchor Down leads off this edition of the roundup, and we also catch up on runners from the region who had successes at several other ultras across the country.

Anchor Down Ultra

There are a few constants at the Anchor Down Ultra from year to year: heat, humidity, and there’s almost always rain at some point. One more constant is the familiar faces. Newcomers also flock to the popular event, but the biggest ultramarathon event in the Ocean State always welcomes back plenty of repeat runners, especially among the frontrunners. That was once again the case at this year’s 24-hour, 12-hour and 6-hour ultras on Aug. 9-10 at Colt State Park in Bristol, R.I.

Runners once again took on the 2.45-mile loop course, consisting of 1.5 miles of pavement and the remainder trail or grass with a smattering of roots sprinkled in to make the footing interesting.

Ninety-seven runners showed up to tackle the 24-hour event. Forty-one loops were the requirement to achieve 100.45 miles and earn a belt buckle: 12 of them ultimately did so.

Event newcomer Durgesh Mankekar of Medford, Mass., was the first runner to reach 100 miles, but hip pain caused Mankekar to wind down his race early and he ultimately finished second overall with 42 laps and 102.9 miles in 21:56:29. Surpassing Mankekar for the win was Brendan Chambers of Taunton, Mass. Chambers was racing the 24-hour race for the sixth time. He eclipsed the 100-mile mark just once in his previous five tries, finishing 102.9 miles in 2022, but this time the race veteran had his finest performance. Chambers completed the loop 48 times for 117.6 miles in 23:47:23, finishing first overall.

Rounding out the men’s podium was five-time 24-hour champion and six-time finisher Christopher Cappellini of Norton, Mass. He completed 102.90 miles in 23:10:46.

The top 12 overall finishers and top 11 men all completed triple-digit mileage. In addition to the podium finishers, eight men finished 41 laps for 100.45 miles. They were Sean Blythe of Tiverton, R.I.; Justin Hetherington of Providence, R.I.; Murat Koksel of Madison, N.J.; Joel Gartenberg of Bellevue, Wash.; Murat Yaprak of Demarest, N.J.; Ryan Danby of Providence, R.I.; Paul Shepherd of Griffin, Ga.; and Richard Tenaglia of Concord, Mich.

Kathy Jacques of Norton, Mass., was the lone female runner to hit the 100-mile mark in the 24-hour race. She placed seventh overall and first in the women’s field with 41 laps and 100.45 miles in 23:15:55. Jacques successfully defended her title after setting a women’s course record with 105.35 miles in 2023. She was joined on the podium by Kuan Yu Hsieh of Danbury, Conn., with 37 laps for 90.65 miles, and Jessica Racusin of Middlebury, Vt., with 32 laps for 78.4 miles.

Forty-six runners took part in the 12-hour race, and 11 of them completed at least 20 laps for 49.0 miles. The men’s and women’s champions ran away from the field, with Carter Mikkelsen of Holliston, Mass., and Holly Goodman of Madison, N.J., leading all runners with 26 laps apiece for 63.7 miles. Mikkelsen finished first overall in 11:25:14, and Goodman followed nine minutes later in 11:34:39. Goodman tied Diane Keenan’s women’s course record from 2018 with her effort. Joining Mikkelsen on the men’s podium were Billy Martin of West Islip, N.Y. (24 laps, 58.8 miles) and Jeffrey Wohlen of Lakeville, Mass. (20 laps, 49.0 miles). Goodman was joined by Jacqueline Francisco of East Freetown, Mass., and Kathleen Shoda of Satellite Beach, Fla., with 51.45 miles apiece. Fourth-place woman Athena Ojeda of Montclair, N.J., matched them in mileage.

In the 6-hour race, 61 runners took part and 14 completed 11 or more laps to surpass the marathon distance. In addition to his 12-hour win, Mikkelsen pulled off a double as he and David Desnoyers of Nantucket, Mass., led the way in a close battle for the 6-hour win. Both completed 15 laps for 36.75 miles, but Mikkelsen reached the finish line 31 seconds faster, completing his run in 5:38:27 to Desnoyers’ 5:38:58. Steven Decastro of Pawcatuck, Conn., was third overall with 36.75 miles in 5:46:27. The fourth- and fifth-place finishers – Josh Baranoff of North Kingstown, R.I., and Kevin Brennan of Barrington, R.I. – each completed 13 laps for 31.85 miles. Kathryn Mendes of Providence, R.I., was sixth overall and the first-place female with 12 laps for 29.4 miles in 5:32:53. She was joined on the women’s podium by Kathleen Kearnan of West Roxbury, Mass., and Ericka Coutts of Gilford, N.H., who completed 11 laps apiece for 26.95 miles. Kearnan finished in 5:34:23, four seconds ahead of Coutts.

Bigfoot 200

It’s not often that Vernon Palm races ultramarathons, but he goes big when he does. Palm last raced an ultra in 2022 when he finished 16th overall at the Moab 240. On Friday, Aug. 9, he returned to the starting line for the ninth edition of the Moab 240 in Washington state.

The event challenged Palm and his fellow runners with 207.9 miles of point-to-point running, starting at the base of Mt. St. Helens and traversing the Cascade Mountains on the way to the finish line in Randle, Wash., amassing more than 45,000 feet of climbing along the way. Runners had 107 hours to complete the race. Of the 220 who started the race, just 134 ultimately finished. Palm did so the fastest – by a long shot.

Palm, 29, of Albion, Maine, was simply dominant, outdistancing the field by more than 5 hours and smashing the course record with a victory in 44:57:16. The second-, third- and fourth-place men – Logan Ziegenmeyer, 30, of Chico, Calif. (50:27:17), Harvey Lewis, 48, of Cincinnati, Ohio (50:32:58), and Haroldas Subertas, 32, of Haines, Alaska (50:34:15) – all finished within an 8-minute window and also dipped below the previous course record. Jessica Schiller, 41, of Park City, Utah, finished seventh overall and first-place female in a new women’s course-record time of 56:34:52.

Four more New England residents joined Palm in finishing the race. Maarten Oosterbaan, 35, of Beverly, Mass., finished 68th overall in 79:42:16; Matthew Betten, 33, of West Lebanon, N.H., was 75th in 81:21:16; Andrew Mayne, 43, of Nashua, N.H., placed 104th in 88:48:09; and Sarah Normand, 43, of Contoocook, N.H., was the 116th finisher in 96:35:55.

Wyoming Range 100

Peter Troast completed the second leg of his Rocky Mountain Slam attempt at the fourth annual

Aug. 9-11 in Horback, Wyo. Troast, 65, of Freeport, Maine, is one of seven runners attempting the Rocky Mountain Slam this year. He kicked off his Rocky Mountain Slam effort in June when he finished the Scout Mountain 100 in Idaho before heading to Wyoming.

The Wyoming Range 100 challenged runners with a rugged point-to-point course along the 70-mile Wyoming Range National Recreation Trail as well as into the Salt River Range, tallying around 105 miles and 24,000 feet of climbing by the time runners reached the finish line. High altitude was an obstacle at all times, with a low point of 6,200 feet above sea level and a maximum elevation of nearly 11,400 feet at the summit of Wyoming Peak.

Fifty-six runners started the race, and 36 ultimately finished within 51 hours. Troast was among the top half of the field, placing 15th overall in 40:17:21. Fellow New Englander Luke Robins, 44, of Jericho, Vt., finished 36th in 50:43:49. Robins entered the race with at least a dozen finishes of races 100 miles are farther under his belt prior to the Wyoming Range, including the Vermont 100 in July and the 2023 Bigfoot 200.

Zachary Cohen, 31, of Bozeman, Mont., was the first overall finisher and men’s champion in 27:05:29. Andrea Purtzer, 36, of Bend, Ore., was sixth overall and the first-place female in 36:31:04.

Troast will close out his Rocky Mountain Slam attempt in September with a pair of races: the Wasatch 100 and the Bear 100, both in Utah.

In the Heat of the Night

Summertime heat and humidity were paired with nighttime miles at the third annual In the Heat of the Night 100K and 50K ultras on Saturday, Aug. 10, in Anniston, Ala., and one New Englander joined in on the fun for his ultramarathon debut.

Tanyon Turner, 19, of Shrewsbury, Mass., competed in the 50K race and had to complete the loop course twice, amassing nearly 4,000 feet of climbing along the way while running on Talladega Forest roads. Turner was up to the test, placing 18th overall in 5:51:09. Seventy-seven runners finished within the 10-hour time limit.

Gatlin Holland, 29, of Birmingham, Ala., dominated the race in a course-record tie of 3:47:58. His closest competitor, 42-year-old Dan Riefenberg of Huntsville, Ala., followed 48 minutes later in 4:35:36 and clocked the second-fastest time in course history. Defending women’s champion Jewly Hight, 43, of Nashville, Tenn., placed eighth overall and first in the women’s field in 5:23:05 in a successful title defense.

The event also included a four-loop 100K race. None of the 24 finishers of that distance were New Englanders.

*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.