When Michelle Boland won the Drummer Hill 50K last June, a 10-month hiatus followed before she stepped up to another ultramarathon starting line. When Boland finally did so in April 2026, she raced to victory at the Wawayanda Trail Fest 50-miler in New Jersey. Less than two months later, Boland was back at it again when she made her first appearance at Beast Coast Trail Running’s Edge Hill Trail Race on Saturday, June 13, in Ashfield, Mass.

The third annual event offered three distances–a 50K ultra, a 30K and a 10K. Boland was one of 45 runners who opted for the ultra option, and she began leaving her mark as soon as the race began. The 39-year-old from Burlington, Mass., raced hard on the trails of the Edge Hill Conservation Area, a former golf course that is being transformed into a grassland and shrub habitat. The course featured a variety of terrain, from runnable singletrack to punchy climbs, and distance that measured on the “heavy” side at closer to 34 miles. The heat added to the challenge, with the temperature climbing into the low 80s under sunny skies.

Through it all, Boland ran strong and gradually built a comfortable lead on the female field. By the time she crossed the finish line in 6:28:21, in eighth place overall and first in the female field, Boland had a victory and a course record to her credit. Boland broke the previous record of 6:44:06 that was set in 2025 by Ashley Hensel-Browning. Boland had to outrun the defending champion to earn the victory, because Hensel-Browning was also in the field and the 40-year-old from Weathersfield, Vt., placed third in the female field in 7:00:56. Amanda Chilson, 43, of North Adams, Mass., was the runner-up in 6:45:24.

Boland was one of two runners to set new course records in the 50K. Beast Coast Trail Running regular Z Porter established a new nonbinary division course record. Porter, 46, of Roslindale, Mass., finished in 9:17:05.

The male 50K course record survived, but not without a serious challenge. The race marked the ultra debut for 25-year-old Mac Sloan Anderson of Somerville, Mass. A native of Shelburne Falls and former cross country runner at the Pratt Institute in New York, Sloan Anderson has plenty of experience pushing the pace and enduring some suffering during a race–just not yet at an ultra distance. It turned out he was up to the task. Despite battling cramps during the final third of the race, Sloan Anderson held on for the victory in 5:17:12. He was about eight minutes shy of the course record of 5:09:30 that was set by Matt Pacheco in 2025. Not far behind Sloan Anderson, 37-year-old Ryan Williams of South Deerfield, Mass., raced to a runner-up finish in 5:28:56, followed by third-place Jared Millay, 47, of Amherst, Mass., in 5:49:30. Matt Czaplinski, 60, of Northampton, Mass., was a few minutes off the podium, finishing fourth in 5:52:53.

A small but mighty field of 33 runners competed in the 30K race, and both the male and female course records were toppled as Matt Shamey and Bonnie Lathrop turned in big efforts. Shamey earned the outright win as the 46-year-old from South Deerfield, Mass., clipped 18 minutes off Keith Schmitt’s prior male course record, winning in 3:00:05. Aaron Gott, 18, of Sharon, Mass., also dipped under the prior course standard, finishing second in 3:11:13. Jason Guerino, 27, of Vernon, Vt., completed the male podium in 3:38:28. Hot on Guerino’s heels, Lathrop blazed across the finish line fourth overall in 3:40:06. For Lathrop, 35, of Amherst, Mass., the time was four minutes faster than the record that she established a year ago. Lathrop ran away with the win, but the race for second place in the female field came down to the wire. Ultimately, 41-year-old Kristen Trout of Ipswich, Mass., secured second place in 4:10:03, and third-place Kelly Adams, 46, of Wendell, Mass., followed four seconds later in 4:10:07 to complete the podium.

In the 10K race, 52-year-old Salem Mazzawy ran away with the overall win among a field of 32 finishers. Mazzawy has demonstrated his speed plenty of times before, most notably with three top-10 finishes at the rugged Seven Sisters Trail Race. Mazzawy, of Granby, Mass., cruised to victory by more than two minutes, winning in 56:36. William Breymann, 39, of Windsor, Mass., was second in 59:00, and top female finisher Elena Betke-Brunswick, 41, of Hadley, Mass., was a close third in 59:18. Jeff Beling, 35, of West Roxbury, Mass., rounded out the male podium in 1:01:34, while 32-year-old Iris Collins and 34-year-old Molly Peterson of South Deerfield, Mass., joined Betke-Brunswick on the female podium, finishing in 1:02:32 and 1:08:22, respectively.