As the sun set over the Kenty Farm and headlamps clicked on to help fend off the darkness, 23 runners stood in the starting corral at the Race for DFL.

Beast Coast Trail Running race director Amy Rusiecki gave the final countdown and sent the runners on their way. It was the beginning of hour number 10 at the last person standing race on Saturday, Nov. 9, in Winchendon, Mass. The event began with 64 competitors at 8 a.m. That number gradually dwindled with each passing hour during the daylight as runners completed the 4.17-mile loop course and then decided whether to return to the corral to begin another lap at the top of the hour or accept elimination.

It was the fifth year for the event, and the third straight at the Kenty Farm – a property owned by ultrarunner Jenny Kenty and her husband, George Kenty. Though the venue was unchanged from the previous two years, the course was modified a bit from the prior editions. Some of the wooded trails remained, as did the out-and-back on a nearby rail trail, but a second out-and-back was added on a hilly, rocky farm road, which allowed runners to see each other more frequently while on the course.

Several of the early starters withdrew after a few laps, many of them simply trying out the backyard ultra format that has exploded in popularity in recent years. Others had their sights set on a mileage goal. Nine runners stopped after hour No. 7, having achieved ultramarathon mileage with 29.2 miles on their legs. Six more departed after hour No. 8, their 33.3 miles giving them a “heavy” 50K result. Kyle Hakes of Cambridge, Mass., went one lap further, taking advantage of the final rays of sunlight before stopping after nine hours and 37.5 miles.

Though 23 runners headed into the darkness, most would not last through the night. Despite enjoying sunny skies and temperatures in the mid-40s during the day, they’d been battered by the wind for much of that time. Though the wind eased at nighttime, the temperature fell into the 30s shortly after sunset and plummeted into the mid-20s overnight.

The carnage came quickly after sunset. Four runners – Chris DeFalco of Brimfield, Mass.; Jake Dissinger of Leeds, Mass.; Stephen Fleck of Mendon, Mass.; and Tejas Ramdas of Somerville, Mass. – completed the 10th hour and withdrew after 41.7 miles. Sean Kane of Shrewsbury, Mass.; David Champoux of Florence, Mass.; and Matt Gerber of Durham, Conn., joined them on the sideline an hour later after 45.8 miles. Another half-dozen runners – Sarah Nelson of Florence, Mass.; Alex Holman of Cambridge, Mass; Thomas Burns of Attleboro, Mass.; Troy Milli of Merrimack, N.H.; Max Taylor of Amherst, Mass.; and Jason Bjur of Chelmsford, Mass. – completed the 12th hour of running and pulled the plug with 50 miles of running to their credit.

Just 10 runners ventured beyond a half-day’s worth of running, but most didn’t make it much longer. Four runners – Robert Lynch of Sharon, Mass.; Steve Maloney of Boston, Mass.; Matthew Marsh of Tyringham, Mass.; and Bryce Spare of McCall, Idaho – all completed hour No. 13 before stopping after 54.2 miles. That dropped the field of contenders to just six who began hour No. 14.

Lukas Sisco, Russ Grant, Jason Kaplan, Hank Xi, Luke Elliott and Matt Pacheco were the half-dozen runners who huddled in the starting corral as Rusiecki counted down the final seconds before the 10 p.m. lap began. They could see their breaths in the beams from their headlamps. Many had layered up, though Pacheco was still in shorts. It was way too early for them to start dreaming of sunrise, and most of them wouldn’t make it through the 13 hours of darkness to see it. Hour No. 14 came and went without much drama, as did hours 15 and 16.

Though six runners were still in it at 1 a.m. when hour No. 17 began, the many hours of darkness, fatigue and soul-sucking cold had gradually taken a toll on each of them. All six runners finished the lap, but 17 hours and 70.8 miles were the stopping point for both Grant and Sisco. For Grant – a backyard ultra veteran with two prior attempts at Bubba’s Backyard Ultra in New Hampshire – the performance was a personal-best for mileage for the resident of Mansfield, Mass. For Sisco, of North Easton, Mass., it was also a distance PR and just his second ultramarathon effort. He made his ultra debut in June at the Chesterfield Gorge Ultra 50K, where he finished 10th overall.

Two hours after Grant and Sisco retired, Jason Kaplan did the same. A last person standing event veteran with a victory at the 2023 MetroWest Backyard Ultra and an assist this year, the Boston, Mass., resident ended his DFL attempt after 19 hours and 79.2 miles of running. An hour later, Hank Xi of Malden, Mass., was done, as well. It was Xi’s first attempt at a backyard-style event, and his 20-hour, 83.3-mile effort capped off a year where he completed two 100-mile races – the TARCtic Frozen Yeti 30-hour in February and the Vermont 100 in July.

Both Elliott and Pacheco made it to sunrise. A few hours later, both made it to 24 hours and 100 miles. Both men then returned to the starting corral, and Rusiecki sent them out again, and then once more. Hour No. 26 was the final lap for Pacheco. The resident of South Hadley, Mass., previously lasted for 24 hours and 100.8 miles at the 2023 Last Man Standing Ultramarathon in New Gloucester, Maine, so this was new distance territory for him. All of the miles and the pain they inflicted on his body had added up, and after 26 hours and 108.3 miles of running, Pacheco had enough. He was willing to take the assist, as long as Elliott could complete one more loop.

Elliott was the lone runner in the starting corral for hour No. 27, and the resident of Rigaud, Quebec, ultimately completed it for 112.5 miles. He was the Dead Freaking Last runner standing and the winner.