March came to a close with plenty of New England ultrarunners toeing starting lines across the country. Here in New England, they gathered in Connecticut for the grueling Sleeping Giant Trail Run 50K where both the male and female course records fell. Also, in nearby New York, New Hampshire’s Benjamin Niebla repeated as champion at the Spring On the Trails Endurance Runs 12-hour race. From there, we catch up on results from races in Virginia, Arizona, Utah, Kansas and Georgia.

Sleeping Giant Trail Run

Course records fell at the second annual Sleeping Giant Trail Run on Sunday, March 29, in Hamden, Conn. The 50K race challenged runners with a difficult course consisting of two 25K loops with 3,000 feet of climbing per loop on mostly technical singletrack trails. Ninety-two runners finished within 12 1/2 hours, and the male and female course records both fell.

Darius Parker, 22, of Hinesburg, Vt., led all runners in 4:43:03 and topped the male field by 23 minutes. Chase Smith, 29, of Stamford, Conn., was second in 5:06:48, followed by 33-year-old Christopher Petroff of Cheshire, Conn., in 5:09:13. The top three men all broke Justin Kousky’s course record of 5:12:47 from 2025. Peter Bonito, 40, of Westmoreland, N.H., was a distant fourth in 5:30:37.

Lydia Keys, 23, of Wallingford, Conn., topped the female field in 6:44:37, dipping just under Jessica Crandall’s previous course record of 6:45:03. Carole Murallaz, 27, of New Haven, Conn., was the runner-up in 7:30:37, and 51-year-old Debbie Livingston of Bolton, Conn., rounded out the podium in 7:51:18.

Spring On the Trails Endurance Runs

Benjamin Niebla repeated as champion at the Spring on the Trails Endurance Runs on Saturday, March 28, in Lagrangeville, N.Y. The event offered 12- and 6-hour time-based ultras, and Niebla once again won the longest option. The 29-year-old from Manchester, N.H., matched his mileage tally from 2025 as he won again with 62.0 miles within the time limit. From here, Niebla will continue to ramp up to the Riverlands 100-miler in May in Maine, followed by the Notchview Ultra 72-hour in Massachusetts in July, and then the Jigger Johnson 100-miler in New Hampshire in August.

Niebla topped a field of 18 competitors, but he wasn’t the only New Englander to earn a victory. Top female Anna Miller, 46, of Lexington, Mass., tied for second overall with 49.6 miles in her build-up to May’s White Lake Ultra 24-hour race. Miller tied for the win with 51-year-old Rachel Sumerson of East Rockaway, N.J. Male runner-up Brady Golden, 28, of North Grafton, Mass., also completed 49.6 miles. Catherine Ricks, 46, of Brewster, Mass., tied for seventh overall and was fourth in the female field with 43.4 miles.

An additional 30 runners took part in the 6-hour race. Noah White, 47, of Slingerlands, N.Y., led all runners with 34.1 miles, and Juie Alexander, 42, of Rutherford, N.J., topped the female field with 27.9 miles.

Capital Backyard Ultra 

Two New England men turned in 100-mile efforts at the Capital Backyard Ultra on March 28-31 in Lorton, Va. The seventh edition of the last person standing event took place at the Meadowood Special Recreation Management Area.

Forty-six competitors gathered to take on a 4.167-mile course and had exactly one hour to complete it before the next loop began. Those failing to finish within the hour were eliminated. Twenty-six runners lasted for at least 24 hours and 100 miles. That included Padraig Mullins, 44, of Norton, Mass., and Ed Clifford, 60, of Raymond, N.H. each finished 100 miles.

One more New England resident joined them in the field. Gregory Legier, 55, of Biddeford, Maine, tied for 38th with 62.5 miles

Haroldas Subertas, 34, of Haines, Alaska, outlasted everyone and won with 266.66 miles. Dave Kwiatkowski, 29, of Arlington, Va., earned the assist with 262.5 miles. Top female Joelle Fenton, 36, of New York, N.Y., was third overall with 200 miles after 48 hours of competing.

Crown King Scramble

Two New Englanders successfully completed an Arizona classic ultra when they took part in the 34th running of the Crown King Scramble 50K on Saturday, March 28, in Phoenix. The race took runners on a point-to-point run on dirt roads from Lake Pleasant Regional Park to the historic Crown King Saloon. Julie Kelly, 53, of Essex Junction, Vt., placed 65th overall in 6:52:26, and 50-year-old Jennie Chisholm of Salem, N.H., placed 93rd in 7:26:07. It was Chisholm’s latest successful run in Arizona; she finished the Cocodona 250 in both 2024 and 2025.

Kevin Taddonio, 43, of Del Mar, Calif., and Alisa Macdonald, 45, of Cochrane, Alberta, led the male and female fields in 4:13:17 and 4:40:17, respectively, and 275 runners finished the race within 11 hours.

Behind the Rocks

Several New Englanders took on the challenging, scenic trails of the Behind the Rocks Ultra on Saturday, March 28, in Moab, Utah. The 12th edition of the event offered 50-mile and 50K ultra distances on the Behind the Rocks Trail, which runs along the border of the Behind the Rocks Wilderness Study Area. Runners at both distances took on a mix of singletrack and doubletrack trails and sandy washes.

The 50-mile race saw 51 runners finish within 15 hours, including two from New England who achieved the distance for the first time. Kelly Snyder, 33, of Somerville, Mass., placed 22nd overall and eighth in the female field in 11:23:49. Paul Tassinari, 51, of Wilbraham, Mass., finished 35th in 13:04:11. Eli White, 34, and Kristin Johnson, 35, both of Salt Lake City, Utah, finished 1-2 overall and were the male and female champions in 7:55:27 and 8:40:41, respectively.

Three more New Englanders were among the 206 finishers of the 50K race. Shan Tie, 37, of Watertown, Mass., led the way, placing 55th in 6:49:17. It was her first ultra since placing third in the Midstate Massive Ultra-Trail 50K in October 2025. Additionally, both Paul Drews, 40, of Watertown, Mass., and Victoria Nelson, 29, of Boxborough, Mass., earned their first ultramarathon finishes. Drews placed 97th in 7:36:45, and Nelson finished 157th in 8:55:43. Alex Johnson, 26, of Salt Lake City, Utah, led all runners in 4:09:54 while 30-year-old Mary  Braughman of Boulder, Colo., placed third overall and first in the female field in 4:45:28.

Prairie Spirit

After completing his first ultramarathon on a treadmill when he ran 50 miles in December, Solvyr Asadi earned his first outdoor ultra finish at the 13th edition of the Prairie Spirit Trail Ultras on March 28-29 in Ottawa, Kan. The event offered 100-mile, 100K, 50-mile and 50K races on a flat, fast crushed limestone rail trail. Asadi was the lone New England resident at the event, and the 35-year-old from Boston took part in the 50-mile race. He finished his out-and-back run in 11:33:12 and placed 28th out of 47 finishers, most of whom completed the course within 17 hours. Kayla Straub, 36, of Newton, Mass., won the race outright in 6:31:16 and set a female course record. It was her third straight time topping the female field. Kevin McCormick, 41, of Lee’s Summit, Mo., was second overall and the top male finisher in 6:33:51.

Vernal Equinox

Ed Peters was the lone New England ultrarunner who took part in the seventh annual Vernal Equinox ultras on March 27-29 in Batavia, Ga., but Peters represented the region well with a 100-mile performance at the time-based event.

The event was held on the grounds of Majestic Farm, an equestrian facility, and used a 2-mile loop course that runners took on for 48-, 24-, 12- and 8-hour races. Peters, 74, of Norwalk, Conn., was one of 57 participants in the 48-hour race. Thirty-eight of them ran at least 100 miles, including Peters who tied for 25th with 100 miles completed. Michael Schreiber, 45, of Zanesville, Ohio, led all runners with 200 miles completed in the two-day race, and Helen Rutter, 49, of Athens, Ga., was the top female with 130 miles finished.

Georgia Death Race

Four New England residents secured hard-earned finishes of the grueling Georgia Death Race on March 28-29 in Blairsville, Ga. The 14th annual event took runners on a point-to-point journey that started at Byron Herbert Reece Farm and finished at Amicalola Falls State Park. Along the way, runners covered around 74 miles and climbed around 16,000 feet.

Allison Sullivan, 48, and Daniel Sullivan, 48, both of Bartlett, N.H., ran and finished together in 66th and 67th place overall in 20:16:19 and 20:16:21 respectively. Additionally, 46-year-old Mari Engelhardt of Marshfield, Mass., placed 159th in 23:30:29, and 34-year-old Tara Allen of Mount Desert, Maine, was 168th in 23:46:43.

Of the 246 runners who started the race, 180 finished within 25 hours. Jack Elvin, 25, of Cary, N.C., and Brianna Gribsby, 38, of Tucson, Ariz., were the top male and female finishers in 14:07:49 and 14:20:00, 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.