The Sept. 6-8 weekend was jam-packed with ultramarathon racing in New England – and that goes far beyond the 500-plus runners who raced a variety of distances at the TARC Fall Classic in Massachusetts. Five additional ultra events took place in the region, with two in Maine, one in Vermont, and two in Connecticut. We’ll catch up with the TARC Fall Classic in a separate article, but we start this edition of the roundup in Maine with the Cherry Hill Farm 50K, then sweep through Vermont for the Groton Forest Trail Run 26.5-miler, and then drop down to Connecticut for the Cross-Connecticut Run for Mental Health Awareness 56-miler and the Macedonia 50K. Results from Maine’s Megunticook Trail Festival were unavailable at the time of publication, but there’s still plenty to read in this edition of the roundup.

Cherry Hill Farm Ultra 50K – ME

The second annual Cherry Hill Farm Ultra 50K featured a close race to the finish on Saturday, Sept. 7, in Gorham, Maine. Runners took on a fast, nontechnical 2.6-mile loop course through Cherry Hill Farm that 50K competitors had to complete 12 times. The loop setting was ideal for a competitive race, and the top men’s and women’s runners raced in close contact throughout the day in a battle for the overall victory.

Ultimately, Benjamin Pratt, 35, of New York, N.Y., prevailed first in 4:40:00. Top female Tatiana Ciccone, 35, of Kennebunk, Maine, was a close second in 4:43:00. Also breaking the 5-hour mark was men’s runner-up and third overall finisher Brent Vanni, 50, of Yarmouth, Maine, who crossed the finish line in 4:52. Marc Cole, 47, of Westbrooke, Maine, rounded out the men’s podium in 5:06:00. Heidi Mendoza, 49, of Watertown, Mass., and Erica Simpson, 39, of Limington, Maine, were the second- and third-place women in 5:57:00 and 5:59:00, respectively.

Twenty-one runners finished this year’s race, up from 16 at the inaugural event in 2023.

Groton Forest Trail Run

It’s an ultramarathon … but just barely. The Groton Forest Trail Run measures 26.5 miles – slightly beyond the marathon distance – and it treated runners to the trails of Boulder Beach State Park for the fifth edition of the event on Saturday, Sept. 7, in Groton, Vt.

Twenty-eight runners finished the race, led by 33-year-old Colin Pope of Topsham, Vt., who cruised to the win by 15 minutes and crossed the line in 3:47:44, just 3 minutes shy of Mead Binhammer’s course record. Caleb Clark, 35, of Danville, Vt., was the runner-up in 4:02:24, followed by 28-year-old Christopher Welker of Thetford, Vt., in 4:05:29. Derek Taylor, 34, of Bolton Valley, Vt., and Brian Rusiecki, 45, of South Deerfield, Mass., rounded out a speedy first five in 4:17:55 and 4:27:30, respectively. 

Alayne Tetor, 38, of Craftsbury, Vt., finished seventh overall and first in the female field in 4:42:20, followed by Victoria Constantine, 29, of Plainfield, N.H., and Amy Rusiecki, 45, of South Deerfield, Mass., who joined Tetor on the podium in 5:04:11 and 5:11:48, respectively. Kaitlyn Miller, 33, of Williston, Vt., placed 10th overall and first in the nonbinary category in 4:48:23.

Cross-Connecticut Run for Mental Health Awareness

Fifteen runners successfully completed the fifth running of the Cross-Connecticut Run for Mental Health Awareness on Saturday, Sept. 7. Runners made the 56-mile north-south journey across Connecticut on the flat and scenic Farmington Canal Heritage Trail, starting in West Suffield and concluding in New Haven.

Jen Higgins, 44, of Old Saybrook, Conn., earned the overall win in 9:45:15 and posted the third-fastest time by a woman in event history. Top male finisher Alex Brown, 29, of Vernon, Conn., was second overall in 10:32:00, followed 10 minutes later by men’s and women’s runner-ups Michael Lo Presti, 53, of Norfolk, Conn., and Caitlin Rossi, 41, of Torrington, Conn., who finished together in 10:42:00. Angela Scarinci, 42, of North Haven, Conn., and Lauren Edelman, 44, of Bridgeport, Conn., were the next two finishers and third- and fourth-place women in 11:07:51 and 11:11:00, respectively. Joseph Laskey, 60, of Southington, Conn., was the third-place male in 11:23:17.

Macedonia Trail Race

It was a record-setting day for Jessica Crandall at the sixth annual Macedonia Trail Race 50K on Sunday, Sept. 8, in Kent, Conn.

Crandall, 45, of Berlin, Conn., has been running local and regional trail races since at least 2015, and she had a massive 2023 that included a victory at the Connecticut Ultra-Traverse (CUT) 112-miler and runner-up finishes at the local Traprock 50K and Twisted Branch 100K in nearby New York before placing sixth this year at the gnarly Manitou’s Revenge 53-miler in New York. Crandall made her debut appearance at Macedonia, and her experience with technical trails paid off in a big way as she handled the singletrack trails of Macedonia Brook State Park just fine. Racing on a three-loop course with more than 7,000 feet of climbing and three ascents of Cobble Mountain, Crandall raced to a first-place finish in the women’s field and a new women’s course record of 7:07:34. Crandall’s performance clipped two minutes off the previous course record set by Kimberly Battipaglia in 2019. Crandall also was sixth overall out of 21 finishers within 10 1/2 hours.

Mary Waterfield, 33, of Cornwall, N.Y., and Amanda Jett, 34, of Burlington, Conn., finished in 7:25:38 and 7:31:25, respectively, and joined Crandall on the women’s podium. In the men’s field, 31-year-old Christopher Lamanga of West Islip, N.Y., edged 37-year-old Yurij Lojko of Cornwall, N.Y., by 52 seconds, with Lamagna finishing in 6:22:22 and Lojko in 6:23:14. Robert Wheeler, 35, of Marshfield, Mass., was third in 6:32:57.

*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.