What is MassUltra?

Launched in 2016, MassUltra is a news site dedicated to covering the vibrant, growing ultrarunning community in Massachusetts. Ultrarunning is a global sport, and there are other news sources that do an excellent job covering the national and global scene. MassUltra might be the first site dedicated to covering the sport on a smaller, localized scale (if you’ve seen others, please send links!).

MassUltra is an online community newspaper run by freelance journalist and former newspaper sports editor Chris Wristen that aims to tell the stories of local runners, local ultras, and other stories that are relevant to you – the Massachusetts ultrarunning community.

What can I expect from MassUltra?

MassUltra strives to cover the Massachusetts ultrarunning community as thoroughly as possible. Expect to find a race calendar of the ultramarathons in Massachusetts, as well as photos and coverage of ultramarathon races in Massachusetts, profiles of local ultrarunners, and articles about other ultrarunning happenings in the state.

What else should I know about MassUltra?

Like the vast majority of ultrarunning media, MassUltra is a free, volunteer service provided by a writer with a day job and other life events taking place simultaneously. Although the goal is to provide as much coverage of the community as possible, it’s not possible to be everywhere or cover everything. Sometimes the day job and life events get in the way. Reporting on this site is done on a volunteer basis as time allows.

Can I submit story ideas?

Absolutely! You are a great resource. Send an email to editor@massultra.com.

ABOUT THE EDITOR

Chris Wristen grew up in Kansas and spent 12 years as a sports reporter and sports editor for newspapers in the Kansas City area. He earned numerous awards from the Kansas Press Association for his work, including first-place honors nine times. He started running on trails in July 2010, and ran his first ultramarathon in February 2012. He moved to Massachusetts in the summer of 2015, started MassUltra in 2016, and has spent the past several years getting to know the trails and the wonderful ultrarunning community of New England. He has finished 30 ultramarathons, winning none of them, finishing on the podium at none of them, but writing more text about them than most people care to read.