Kayla Lampe is new to running ultramarathons, but she’s no stranger to racing hard and throwing down a big performance.

The Downington, Pa., native and resident of Colrain, Mass., built her racing resume as an NCAA Division I track and cross country athlete at the University of South Carolina, and then transitioned to racing road marathons. She thrived there, too, becoming a two-time U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier (2020 and 2024) with a personal best time of 2:36:58. She followed up her 2024 Olympic Trials effort by winning the Mt. Washington Road Race, and then placed seventh at the U.S. Vertical Mountain Running Championship at Loon Mountain the same year.

Lampe opened her 2026 trail racing season with a victory in the 24K at the Mt. Toby Trail Race. From there, the 33-year-old turned her focus to the Free Spirit 50K on Saturday, May 16, in Leyden, Mass., where Lampe dazzled in her ultra debut.

The fourth annual race started and finished in front of Leyden Town Hall. In between, it took runners on a journey on the rolling dirt country roads of western Massachusetts and southern Vermont. Runners amassed 4,200 feet of climbing while cruising through the scenic countryside. Thirty-six runners gathered at the starting line, but it didn’t take long for Lampe to find herself alone. She shared some early miles with handcyclist Ryan St. Lawrence of Hollis, N.H., who eventually pulled away and finished the course in 2:43:26. From there, Lampe was on her own at the front of the field of runners. She steadily expanded her lead with each passing mile.

When Lampe arrived at the finish line at Leyden Town Hall, she had a 40-minute gap on the field and was the owner of a new overall course record with a winning time of 3:38:37. She broke the female course record (Ashley Hensel-Browning, 2024, 4:43:53) by more than an hour and whittled nine minutes off of the overall course record (Matt Pacheco, 2023, 3:47:33).

While Lampe dominated the overall field, the race for second place overall and first in the male field was tight throughout. The male field was stacked with veterans Brian Rusiecki, Jacob Varekamp, Sean Meissner and Eric Ciocca all in the field. They were all close for the first half of the race, but eventually Rusiecki and Varekamp moved ahead. Ultimately, Varekamp built a small gap and the 52-year-old from Norwell, Mass., secured the male victory in 4:19:11. His time was the third-fastest by a male in course history and fourth-fastest overall time ever. Rusiecki, 47, of Deerfield, Mass., was a close second in 4:22:42. Meissner, 52, of Perkinsville, Vt., completed the podium in 4:33:24, and Ciocca, 48, of Northampton, Mass., rounded out the top four in 4:52:31.

Lampe was joined in the female podium by 46-year-old Amy Rusiecki of Deerfield, Mass., and 26-year-old Ana O’Callaghan of Cumberland, R.I. Rusiecki finished in 5:11:07 and O’Callaghan followed in 5:18:51.

Thirty-three runners finished the race within 8 1/2 hours.

Special thanks to Ben Kimball of Ben Kimball Photography for sharing his photos for this story. Click here to view Ben’s full gallery from the race.