The 2025 ultrarunning season kicked off in New England with the 25th edition of the G.A.C. Fat Ass 50K in Topsfield, Mass. We will have that covered in a separate recap, but a handful of runners from the region also welcomed in the new year with big performances at ultras out West. Nobody went bigger than Rhode Island’s Cole Crosby who eclipsed the U.S. National 24-Hour Running Team’s qualifying standard with his course record-setting 24-hour victory at Across the Years in Arizona, while Massachusetts resident Shae Regan earned a podium finish in her ultra debut at California’s San Tan Scramble. We have them both covered in this happy new year edition of the roundup.

Across the Years

Cole Crosby kicked off the 2025 ultrarunning season with a massive throwdown in the desert. Crosby, 36, of Cranston, R.I., was one of several New Englanders who took part in the 40th edition of Across the Years, a multi-day event that offered a variety of fixed-time and fixed-distance events as well as a last-person-standing race from Dec. 28, 2024-Jan. 3, 2025, in Peoria, Ariz. The event was held at a new venue, the Peoria Sports Complex, which is home to the spring training facilities for Major League Baseball’s San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners. Runners took on a 1.42-mile loop course that snaked around the practice fields and main stadium while competing in 6-day, 72-hour, 48-hour, 24-hour, 12-hour and 6-hour ultras, as well as 200-mile, 100-mile, 100K and last-person-standing races in addition to several days of marathons.

Among the event’s notable feats included Ed Ettinghausen completing 100 miles or more in a race for the 51st time in a calendar year when he completed his 100-mile race on the morning of Dec. 29, setting a new world record by doing so. Ettinghausen earned one of his 51 finishes in July at the Notchview Ultra in Windsor, Mass.

But it was Crosby who delivered the biggest highlight for the New England contingent. He toed the starting line for the 24-hour race with his sights set on achieving a US National 24-Hour Running Team qualifying standard of 145 miles. Crosby did that and then some, hammering out a whopping 152.134 miles within the time limit. Crosby won the race, set a new course record by nearly 7 miles, and easily achieved the qualifying standard.

Crosby’s closest competitor was former Massachusetts resident and Boston College track and cross country standout Joe McConaughy. Now 33 and living in Seattle, Wash., McConaughy finished second overall with 131.004 miles despite stopping after 21 hours due to an aggravated hip flexor and calf. The top female finisher, 37-year-old Janelle Stark of Enumclaw, Wash., placed fourth overall with 122.552 miles. Two more New England residents joined Crosby among the 126 finishers. Patricia Hebert, 64, of Framingham, Mass., placed 49th with 52.12 miles while Evan Boudreau, 30, of Lamoine, Maine, was 78th with 40.851 miles.

Crosby wasn’t the lone New England resident to secure a podium finish at Across the Years. Steve Maloney did so, too, in the 12-hour race. Maloney, 35, of Boston, Mass., built upon his top-10 finish at the Ragged 50K in August by hammering the loop course for his entire half-day run. Maloney ultimately finished second in the field of 45 runners with 64.798 miles. Only Avinoam Maier ran farther. Maier, 33, of Scottsdale, Ariz., won with 77.476 miles. Top female Carmen Aguirre, 38, of Peoria, Ariz., was fourth overall with 60.572 miles. Maloney was joined in the field by fellow Massachusetts resident Eli Abbott. The 26-year-old from Newburyport finished 14th with 47.894 miles.

Though just off the podium, Michael Lo Presti threw down the biggest mileage effort of any New Englander at Across the Years. Lo Presti, 53, of Norfolk, Conn., was one of 77 runners in the 6-day race and he was among the strongest in the field. Just four runners eclipsed the 400-mile mark, including top male and female finishers Marc Sanderson, 53, of Pleasant Grove, Utah (457.811 miles) and Carol Northrup, 48, of Prescott, Ariz., (404.282 miles). Twenty runners eclipsed the 300 mile mark, including Lo Presti who finished sixth overall and fourth in the men’s field with 377.518 miles.

While not quite in the podium hunt, a few more New Englanders earned 100-mile finishes in the 48-hour and 72-hour races. Three runners from the region all finished 100.014 miles in the 48-hour race, tied for 30th place overall. They were Aleks Kozlowski, 20, of Mansfield, Mass.; Joe O’Brien, 51, of Hudson, Mass.; and Claire Gladstone, 57, of Ridgefield, Conn. Andrew Radinger, 41, of Fort Worth, Texas, was the top overall 48-hour runner with 218.341 miles while runner-up Rachel Entrekin, 33, of Los Angeles, Calif., was the top female for the third straight year and tied her own course record with 212.706 miles. Forty of the 65 runners who took part in the event completed 100 miles or more. Another 67 runners took part in the 72-hour race, with 40 completing 100 miles or more. Maude Gorman, 30, of Hingham, Mass., was among that group. Gorman tied for 32nd with 104.24 miles. Brian Papay, 44, of Valley City, Ohio, won the race with 239.47 miles while female champion Dennene Huntley, 47, of Mount Pearl, Newfoundland, finished third overall with 225.384 miles. The top eight runners surpassed the 200-mile mark.

In addition to the ultramarathons, Across the Years offered daily marathon races from Dec. 28-Jan. 2. One New Englander took part in three of those days. John Medina, 55, of Groton, Conn., finished 22nd out of 32 runners in the Dec. 28 marathon in 7:36:03. A day later, he placed third out of 13 runners in 6:42:33. Medina logged his final marathon on Jan. 1, placing 10th out of 12 runners in 7:45:36.

No New England residents were among the 56 participants in the 6-hour race, the 16 finishers of the 200-mile race, the 100 finishers of the 100-mile race, the eight finishers of the 100K, or the 26 competitors of the Last Person Standing race.

San Tan Scramble 50K

Shae Regan kicked off 2025 with an impressive ultramarathon debut performance at the 15th annual San Tan Scramble 50K on Saturday, Jan. 4, in Queen Creek, Ariz. Regan, 20, of Littleton, Mass., recently made her trail-running debut at the Busa Bushwhack 10-miler in October and placed second. The Northeastern University student then turned her eyes to an Arizona ultra.

The San Tan Scramble features plenty of rolling singletrack trails in San Tan Mountain Regional Park, with a few steep 400-foot climbs and around 3,600 feet total of climbing to keep things interesting. The female field saw a tight battle for the win go down to the final mile. Ultimately, 20-year-old Sydney Park of Gilbert, Ariz., edged 24-year-old Ana Wilson of Valleyford, Wash., by less than 2 minutes with Park finishing in 4:55:15 and Wilson in 4:56:39. Shae Regan also had a strong day and secured the final spot on the podium with a third-place finish in 5:14:33.

In the men’s field, 27-year-old Jordan Bramblett of Paulden, Ariz., dominated the field and won by 23 minutes in a course record-setting 3:30:49. Keegan Oldani, 23, of Carbondale, Colo., was a distant second and the only sub-4-hour finisher in 3:53:51.

Of the 55 runners who started the race, 41 ultimately finished with most doing so within 9 hours.

In the event’s 26K race, former Woburn, Mass., resident Scott Traer – now living in Scottsdale, Ariz. – earned the victory. Traer, 43, outdistanced the field of 91 runners and won by 5 minutes in 1:45:35 while missing the course record by less than 3 minutes.

*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.