In Part I of this week’s roundup we focused on ultras in the East with a big spotlight on the record-setting action at the Jack Bristol Lake Waramaug Ultras. Here in Part II we turn to events in the West and Midwest, including the Arizona classic Zane Grey Highline Trail Runs, the Royal Gorge Groove 50K in Colorado, and the multi-day Earth Day Bucklemania festival in Kansas.

The New England ultrarunning calendar closed out April with a pair of big events, the Trail Animals Running Club’s TARC Spring Classic in Massachusetts (to be covered in separate story), and the historic Jack Bristol Lake Waramaug Ultras in Connecticut. While New Englanders also ventured beyond the region to more than a dozen other ultras, we lead off Part I of this week’s roundup by focusing on ultras in the East, beginning at Lake Waramaug where a dynamite female field did serious damage to the 100K record board and two runners toppled a milestone that stood for more than 35 years.

Easter weekend means two things in the New England ultrarunning world: Traprock and “Don’t Run Boston.” Both iconic events typically fall on the same weekend, and occasionally the same day, offering runners a pair of burly challenges on technical trails to kick their seasons into high gear. DRB will have its own separate recap, but the Traprock 50K leads off the April 18-20 weekend edition of the roundup. Additionally, we catch up on results from a few New Englanders who headed west to ultras in California, Colorado and Arizona.

Spring is here, leaves are emerging, and racing season is ramping up. That much was clear during the April 11-13 weekend as New England ultrarunners took to the trails from coast to coast, some earning their first ultramarathon finishes and others securing spots on the podium. While a few dozen runners raced locally at the Spring Fever 8-Hour in Hingham, Mass. (separate recap to follow), many others scattered across the country, racing from New York to Alabama, to Kansas and Oregon. We make seven stops in this edition of the roundup, but we lead off with Boston resident Philip Royer’s dynamite performance at the Gorge Waterfalls 100K.

After several jam-packed weekends of ultramarathon racing in March, April began with a quiet slate for New England runners on the national scene. That may be because several raced the Mt. Toby Ultra and Trail Race in Massachusetts, or because several other ultras are on the local slate in the weeks ahead. Still, runners spent the April 5-6 taking on ultramarathons in North Carolina, California and Georgia. We have them all covered, starting with Crystal Ross’s stellar performance in her return to the Umstead 100.