It’s no easy feat topping a course record held by Daniel Grip or Lila Gaudrault, but that’s exactly what happened at the Mt. Toby Ultra and Trail Races on Saturday, April 4, in Sunderland, Mass.

Beast Coast Trail Running Race Director Amy Rusiecki dialed up an ideal day for running with sunny skies and temperatures in the 50s to low 60s. Still, the sixth edition of the event served up a stiff challenge, as always. Runners in the 50K ultra took on the classic figure-eight-style loop course with three trips to the top of Mt. Toby, a pass through a cave, and more than 6,000 feet of climbing. Runners also encountered plenty of mud to slick the shoes and coat the legs, a staple at Mt. Toby, but by this event’s standards it was about as perfect a day as runners could have hoped for – and a few took full advantage.

It was the Mt. Toby debut for Mead Binhammer, while Matt Pacheco and Britta Clark each had prior successes on the course. Pacheco entered as the two-time defending champion; Clark set the female course record in 2024, only to have it broken by Gaudrault in 2025.

The trio of New England stalwarts went out fast, but Binhammer quickly opened up a gap and ran solo for much of the way. Though Pacheco knew a third straight win wasn’t in the cards, he also seized the day and earned his fastest finish ever on the course – by a sizable margin. Binhammer, 31, of Brookfield, Vt., rolled to the victory in 4:15:05, toppling Grip’s previous course record of 4:33:41 by a whopping 18 minutes. Pacheco, 41, of South Hadley, Mass., was the runner-up, and he came close to Grip’s mark but finished in 4:37:29 to cap a stellar day on the trails.

Like Pacheco, Clark also enjoyed her finest run yet at Mt. Toby – and she ultimately reclaimed her status as the course record-holder. She hammered the climbs, cruised the downhills and crossed the finish line third overall with a new female course record of 5:07:00, well under Gaudrault’s previous mark of 5:30:03.

Shortly after Clark finished, third-place male Benjamin Morse, 24, of Sunderland, Mass., finished and rounded out the podium in 5:18:00. Nick Franchi, 30, of North Grafton, Mass., was next in 5:34:51, with 32-year-old Colin Basler of Franconia, N.H., close behind in 5:36:42.

Clark was joined on the female podium by Livvy Weld, 27, of West Springfield, Mass., and Kate Moore, 43, of Milford, Mass., in 6:35:44 and 6:56:49, respectively.

Forty-one runners completed the 50K within 8 1/2 hours.

In addition to the 50K, the event also played host to two sub-ultra distances: a 24K and a 13K. Ninety-seven runners completed the 24K race and another 79 finished the 13K.

The 24K race included 2,600 feet of climbing, and 29-year-old Danny Cosgrove of Boxford, Mass., led all runners in 1:47:51 and clipped two minutes off the male course record of 1:49:37 set by Matt Shamey. Cosgrove was followed 13 minutes later by 34-year-old Stephen Kerr, of Portland, Maine, in 2:00:14. Kayla Lampe, 33, of Shelburne Falls, Mass., finished fifth overall and was first place in the female field in 2:14:55, 13 minutes ahead of runner-up Elena Betke-Brunswick, 41, of Hadley, Mass. (2:27:46). Micah Kennedy, 34, of Easthampton, Mass., topped the nonbinary division in 2:41:04.

Runners in the 13K race made one trip to the top of Mt. Toby and amassed 1,500 feet of climbing. That wasn’t enough to slow down 46-year-old Daniel Grip of Belchertown, Mass. The 50K course record-holder hammered his way to the overall win on the short course in 59:40, setting a new overall course record in the process John Schatz set the previous male course record of 1:14:15 in 2025 while Jenna Gigliotti held the overall course record of 1:08:10. Wes Serrezee, 22, of Amherst, Mass., was a distant second in 1:04:14, but he also dipped under the previous male course record. A year after finishing second to Gigliotti, 28-year-old Lara Matthias of Sharon, N.H., was the first-place female and fourth finisher overall in 1:14:23, less than two minutes ahead of runner-up Lindsey Burkhardt, 44, of Peterborough, N.H., who finished in 1:15:42. In a close race for the top spot in the nonbinary field, 30-year-old Kris LaRosa of Hadley, Mass., edged 32-year-old Laura Dowd of Northampton, Mass., with LaRosa finishing in 1:48:37 and Dowd 25 seconds behind in 1:49:02.