The October 31-Nov. 2 weekend saw New England play host to four trail ultramarathons – three of them massive events. We’ll catch up on the largest, the TARC Stone Cat Trail Festival, in a separate recap, but here in Part I of this week’s roundup we’ll focus on the others: the Hamsterwheel in New Hampshire, and RutFest in Vermont. We’ll also check in on 8 Hours at the Farm in Connecticut, and then turn back the clock a few weeks to catch up on the results of the Bimbler’s Bluff 50K. 

The Hamsterwheel

It was always going to take a mighty effort to eclipse Cody Cutler’s 144-mile record for 30 hours of running at the Hamsterwheel. Cutler covered the distance – 36 out-and-backs of the New Boston Rail Trail – within the time limit at the 2022 event. On the same weekend, Laura Ricci set the female record with a gritty 120-mile effort.

Cutler’s record was broken – but bonus time was required to do so – at the 11th annual Hamsterwheel 30-hour, 24-hour, 12-hour and 6-hour ultras on Nov. 1-2 in New Boston, N.H. The Hamsterwheel allows runners to receive credit for laps completed that began before time expired. Both Ian O’Reilly and Andy Daggett started their 37th laps before 30 hours had passed, and both finished those laps for 148 miles apiece. O’Reilly hit the mark in 30:24:14 while Daggett followed in 30:59:14. Christopher Bortz logged 29 laps and 116 miles in 30:33:39, good for third place, followed by Michael Lo Presti who completed 38 laps and 112 miles in 29:54:41.

Ricci’s female course record was safe, though Zofia Defayette and Jessica Racusin both had big weekends, completing 112 miles apiece in 30:36:50 and 31:28:23, respectively. Charlotte Kelley was the third-place female with 27 laps and 108 miles in 28:14:02. Christina Danosi matched the mileage in 29:55:46.

Of the 141 runners who took part in the 30-hour race, 37 completed at least 25 laps for 100 miles.

Forty-eight runners logged laps in the 24-hour race, and seven of them completed 100 miles or more. Garrett Wright led all runners with 26 laps and 104 miles in 23:58:53. Emily Lowrey was the top female finisher and second overall with 26 laps and 104 miles in 24:08:11. Those who completed 25 laps and 100 miles were Carey Patrick Wertz (21:51:41), Thomas Leo (22:08:36), Takafumi Takai (22:36:36), Taylor Days-Merrill (23:17:57), and Chad Macdonald (23:20:51). Marcy Schwam and Brennan Hamby-Hopkins were the second- and third-place female finishers with 72 miles apiece in 20:55:20 and 23:27:01.

Fifty-one runners took part in the 12-hour race, and the top 11 completed at least 13 laps and 52 miles. David Desnoyers and Lesley Rossi finished 1-2 overall and led the male and female fields with 64 miles apiece in 10:20:54 and 11:44:42, respectively. Male runner-up Michael Kennedy finished his 16th lap over the time limit, but logged 64 miles in 12:24:31. Robert Stevens was the third-place male and fourth overall with 15 laps and 60 miles in 11:43:35. Joining Rossi on the female podium were Jordan Whitaker and Michelle Leach. Both completed 13 laps and 52 miles in 10:14:42 and 11:16:24, respectively. Other runners who eclipsed the 50-mile mark included Richard Matthiesen and Matthew Broe with 14 laps and 56 miles apiece; and Chris Lowry, Ron Locandro and Sean Kehoe with 13 laps and 52 miles apiece.

Of the 39 runners who took part in the 6-hour race, 19 completed at least seven laps of the course for ultramarathon mileage. Thomas O’Shea led all runners with nine laps and 36 miles in 5:54:20. He was followed by top female finishers Stephanie Selleck and Julie Luistro, who finished eight laps apiece in 5:40:34 and 5:44:02, respectively. Male runner-up Eric Rodden was next to finish with 32 miles in 5:44:04. Also completing eight laps and 32 miles were Xinuo Gao, Lori Kidder, Sue Bernik, Elizabeth Clare and Bryna Hebert. Third-place male finisher Richard Mitchell finished seven laps and 28 miles in 4:36:22.

RutFest

Chris Paquette put up the biggest performance in RutFest history at the fifth annual event on Nov. 1-2 in Williston, Vt. Paquette, 33, of Waterford, Conn., ran his first 100-miler earlier this year at the Jigger Johnson 100 in New Hampshire. For his second, he added a slew of bonus miles when he joined 216 other runners for a 36-hour race at the Catamount Outdoor Family Center. The event used two mini loops, one approximately 3 miles in length and the other 4 miles, that runners completed as many times as they wanted.

Some ran one mini loop and called it a weekend. Others went nearly the entire time, including Paquette. He pushed hard, and by the time he was done he held a new course record with 133 miles. Paquette’s performance surpassed Katie Markesich’s overall course record of 129 miles from 2024. He also broke the male course record of 119 miles that Benjamin Lane set in 2023.

Nineteen more runners completed 100 miles or more. Eighteen of them finished 101 miles, including: Satya Yalamanchi, 43, of Chantilly, Va.; William Biediger, 27, of Burlington, Vt.; Michael Trigg, 43, of Hyde Park, VT; Peter Teal, 46, of Schenectady, N.Y.; Tim Richmond, 51, of Williston, Vt.; Aleida Castillo-Gage, 52, of Leominster, Mass.; Victoria Hart, 48, of Winooski, Vt.; Steven Merrill, 41, of Starksboro, Vt.; Eli Burakian, 47, of Brownsville, Vt.; Dipak Bhattacharyya, 62, of Fairfax, Va.; Guy Alderdice Jr., 51, of West Windsor, Vt.; Gregory Dorchies, 36, of Jericho, Vt.; Bucky Love, 43, of South Gardiner, Maine; Hannah Doyle, 38, of Cambridge, Vt.; Krista Alderdice, 49, of West Windsor, Vt.; Kenny Komala, 47, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; Phillips Hutchison, 28, of Burlington, Vt.; and Xander Swann, 22, of Middlebury, Vt. Cris Cote, 62, of Essex Junction, Vt., finished 100 miles.

Chase Hall, 41, of North Conway, N.H., narrowly missed triple-digit mileage, finishing with 98 miles. George Alexion, 66, of Waterboro, Maine, and Clorice Reinhardt, 30, of Burlington, Vt., each finished 87 miles.

The top 53 runners completed more than 50 miles, and 122 runners surpassed the marathon distance.

8 Hours at the Farm

Justin Kousky’s debut run at 8 Hours at the Farm resulted in another course record for the Connecticut standout. A record-holder at countless ultras in New England, Kousky took his first crack at the 4-mile loop of rolling farm trails and singletrack dirt at the fifth annual 8 Hours at the Farm trail race on Sunday, Nov. 2, at Gurski Farm and Williams Park in Brookfield, Conn.

Kousky was one of 10 runners in the field, and the 45-year-old from Westport, Conn., hammered the loop 14 times for 56 miles within the time limit, finishing first overall with two more laps than his closest competitor. Runner-up David Martin, 37, of Cheshire, Conn., completed 12 laps and 48 miles, while third-place Sean Khong, 24, of Singapore, completed 10 laps and 40 miles. Cody Gotthardt, 31, of Newtown, Conn.; David McGrath, 41, of West Hartford, Conn.; Ian Maclauchlan of Wallingford, Vt.; and Christian Dockum, 49, of Fairfield, Conn., also finished 40 miles. Three more runners – Kevin Ward, 38, of Bolton, Conn.; Corbin Wright, 33, of Shelton, Conn.; and Jordan Jones, 26, of Roxbury Crossing, Mass. – finished nine laps and 36 miles apiece.

Bimbler’s Bluff 50K

The sixth time was the charm for Jeff Grant.

In five prior attempts at the Bimbler’s Bluff 50K, Grant raced hard but victory eluded him. His best performances came in 2021 and 2024 when he placed second each time. That changed at the 17th edition of the event on Sunday, Oct. 19, in Guilford, Conn. Finally, Grant earned his place atop the podium.

Racing on rolling forest roads and technical singletrack trails, Grant pushed hard and the 44-year-old from Woodbridge, Conn., earned the overall victory among 84 finishers. He was the lone sub-5-hour finisher, completing the course in 4:56:05. Runner-up Lee Davis, 44, of Hamden, Conn., followed in 5:00:15, with 33-year-old James Boeding of West Hartford, Conn., close behind in 5:01:12 to complete the male podium. Stephen Krohley, 35, of Beacon Falls, Conn., was fourth in 5:24:15.

Erin Macfarlane, 46, of Hamden, Conn., topped the female field in 6:54:37, followed by Amanda Dombroski, 35, of Killingworth, Conn., in 7:12:01, and Namita Malik, 52, of Ridgefield, Conn., in 8:06:04.

*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.