November opened with a flurry of ultramarathon activity, highlighted by the massive Stone Cat Trail Festival in Massachusetts, along with three more New England ultra: RutFest in Vermont, the Hamsterwheel in New Hampshire, and 8 Hours at the Farm in Connecticut. Stone Cat will be featured in a separate recap, and the other New England races will have their own separate roundup, but here in this edition we catch up on ultras outside of the Northeast. New Englanders collected hard-earned finishes at the Pinhoti 100 in Alabama, the Rio Del Lago 100 in California, the Mountain Masochist 50-miler in Virginia and the Antelope Island 50K in Utah. We have them all covered in this edition of the roundup.

Pinhoti 100

After battling through injuries this year, Cole Crosby is finishing 2024 strong. He set a course record at the Cowboy 200 in Nebraska, followed by a course record-setting performance in the Haunted 30-Mile Night Race at Ghost Train in mid-October. The 36-year-old from Cranston, R.I., added to his resume with one more big late-season performance at the 17th annual Pinhoti 100 on Nov. 2-3 in Alabama.

More than 250 runners started the race, which journeyed on a point-to-point course through the Talladega National Forest from Heflin to Sylacauga. Crosby was the only New Englander among the 154 finishers within the 32-hour time limit. He raced near the front early and then battled through a tough second half but held on for a top-10 finish. Crosby placed 10th overall and ninth in the men’s field in 21:38:53.

Drew Antonisse, 29, of Telluride, Colo., led all runners in 17:01:04. Julija Soryte, 40, of Portland, Ore., was seventh overall and the first female finisher in 21:15:11.

Rio Del Lago 100

Classic West Coast trails and a Western States qualifier lured two Massachusetts women to race the 23rd annual Rio Del Lago 100-miler on Nov. 2-3 in Granite Bay, Calif. The popular event featured a variety of trails from some West Coast staples, including the American River 50, Way Too Cool 50K, and Western States Endurance Run, along with around 14,000 feet of climbing, and both Amy Rusiecki and Kristin Loiko-Pelletier were up to the challenge.

Rusiecki, 45, of South Deerfield, Mass., and Loiko-Pelletier, 43, of South Hadley, Mass., ran the race together and finished 75th and 76th overall in 24:58:44 and 24:59:04, respectively. Tyler Andree, 28, of San Luis Obispo, Calif., and Nichole Abma, 33, of Alberta, Canada, went 1-2 overall and set new men’s and women’s course records in 14:54:18 and 16:26:42, respectively.

Mountain Masochist

Chad Macdonald has a history of racing ultras in Virginia. Each of his previous four trips to the state to run ended with Macdonald being handed a finisher’s buckle at the Grindstone 100.

Macdonald returned to Virginia on Saturday, Nov. 2, to race the historic Mountain Masochist 50-miler in Montebello. The event dates back to 1983 and celebrated its 41st edition, while also playing host to its inaugural 100K and fourth running of a 50K on trails of the classic Massanutten 100 course, including plenty of singletrack and a mix of dirt and gravel roads in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

An accomplished mountain runner, Macdonald had a strong day of racing. The 38-year-old from New Boston, N.H., placed 18th out of 112 finishers in 9:45:46. In a close battle for first, 24-year-old Spencer Kirsteatter of Kewaunee, Wisc., edged 34-year-old Mark Rebholz of Charlotte, N.C., with Kirsteatter finishing in 7:54:43 and Rebholz in 7:57:49. Jessie Wingo, 32, of Charlottesville, Va., topped the women’s field in 8:44:50.

Macdonald wasn’t the only New Englander to complete the race. A trio from Massachusetts – 51-year-old Anthony Tieuli and 45-year-old Jason Gray, both of Northbridge, and 64-year-old Alex Wirth-Cauchon of South Hadley – also were among the finishers. Tieuli and Gray ran together and Tieuli placed 39th in 10:56:19 while Gray was 40th in 10:56:20; Wirth-Cauchon finished 59th in 11:38:31.

No New Englanders were among the 108 finishers of the 50K or the six finishers of the 100K.

Antelope Island 50K

The New England presence was small but mighty at the 14th edition of the Antelope Island 50K on Friday, Nov. 1, in Syracuse, Utah. Runners took on a single-loop course through Antelope Island State Park with rolling trails and just shy of 4,000 feet of climbing. A crowd of 179 runners completed the race within 10 hours, and the three New Englanders in the field were among the fastest runners.

Matthew Lane and Samuel Sturim of Boston, Mass., and Philip Curll of Hope, Maine, all placed in the top 30. Lane, 25, finished 15th overall in 5:03:33, while Sturim, 23, placed 18th in 5:12:10. Curll, 35, was 30th in 5:31:33.

Mike McMonagle, 34, of Salt Lake City, Utah, and Lauren Kersjes, 32, of Murray, Utah, were the men’s and women’s winners in 4:02:39 and 4:34:17, respectively.

*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.