After a 25-year run as the G.A.C. Fat Ass 50K, Gil’s Athletic Club handed off the reins for the classic New England ultrarunning kickoff event to the Trail Animals Running Club. The first offering of the annual fun run under its new name of the TARC Yeti Trail Trot took place on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, at Bradley Palmer State Park in Hamilton, Mass. Around 150 runners showed up on a cold morning to run or walk between one and five loops of snowy and icy trails. Thirty-one runners completed five loops and earned ultramarathon finishes, while another 11 runners completed four loops and an extra out-and-back for a marathon finish.
Continue reading Results: TARC Yeti Trail TrotAll posts by Chris Wristen
MassUltra Roundup: West Rock Winter Extravaganza, Across the Years, Run Undead, and Great Scorpion
Jason Kaplan closed out the 2025 New England ultrarunning season with a winning effort at the West Rock Winter Fat Ass Extravaganza in Connecticut, and Cole Crosby ringed in the new year with a sizzling 200+-mile effort over 48 hours at Across the Years in Arizona. These are just a few of the highlights for New England ultrarunners from the final days of 2025 and first moments of 2026 that we have featured in this edition of the roundup.
Continue reading MassUltra Roundup: West Rock Winter Extravaganza, Across the Years, Run Undead, and Great Scorpion
From the Editor’s Desk: 10 Years of Telling Stories
I’d lived in Massachusetts less than six months when I launched the MassUltra website in January 2016. I only knew a handful of people, a couple of local trails, and had yet to run a trail ultramarathon in the Commonwealth. I was the new guy in town and had so much to learn.
Continue reading From the Editor’s Desk: 10 Years of Telling Stories
A Celebratory Seth’s Fat Ass 50K Closes Out 2025 Season
It would have been understandable if Wayne Ball turned his focus to next year the moment his name was selected in the Dec. 6 lottery for the 2026 Western States Endurance Run. After all, he waited eight years for his chance to participate in trail ultrarunning’s original 100-mile race from Olympic Valley to Auburn, Calif.
Continue reading A Celebratory Seth’s Fat Ass 50K Closes Out 2025 Season
G.A.C. Fat Ass 50K will Continue Under TARC Leadership
A New England trail- and ultrarunning classic event will return in 2026 after all.
Continue reading G.A.C. Fat Ass 50K will Continue Under TARC LeadershipMassUltra Roundup: Cave Creek Thriller, Lookout Mountain, Woodside Ramble, and Sleigh It
The second-to-last New England ultramarathon of 2025 took place on Saturday with the annual running of Seth’s Fat Ass 50K in Springfield, Mass. We’ll have that covered in a separate story, but here in this week’s roundup we catch up on how runners from the region fared at other ultras throughout the United States during the Dec. 20-22 weekend. Only a handful of runners traveled for pre-holiday ultras, but they turned in some strong performances. None were better than Vermont’s Eric LiPuma and Joanna Fortier who earned victories at the Cave Creek Thriller in Arizona. Their winning efforts lead off this edition of the roundup.
Continue reading MassUltra Roundup: Cave Creek Thriller, Lookout Mountain, Woodside Ramble, and Sleigh ItResults: Seth’s Fat Ass 50K
The 15th edition of Seth’s Fat Ass 50K took place on Sunday, Dec. 20, 2025, in Springfield, Mass. Runners took on a 5K paved loop course in Forest Park that had to be completed 10 times within seven hours. Seventy runners took part in the event, and 40 completed the 50K.
Continue reading Results: Seth’s Fat Ass 50KMassUltra Roundup: Left Nut 50, Beast of the East, RunFluent, and Naked Nick
The final weeks of 2025 are upon us, and New Englanders are squeezing in a few final ultramarathons to close out the year. During the Dec. 13-14 weekend, that included a pair of events in the region, with the inaugural Left Nut 50 in Rhode Island and the eighth annual Jingle My Frosty Balls 8-Hour in New Hampshire. Results of the latter were unavailable, though dozens of runners took part and the event raised $320 for local charities. Beyond New England, runners from the region stayed in the east, venturing to Florida and Pennsylvania, as well as North Carolina – where Connecticut’s David Stawski closed out a dozen 100-milers in a dozen months at Beast of the East. We have it all covered in this edition of the roundup.
Continue reading MassUltra Roundup: Left Nut 50, Beast of the East, RunFluent, and Naked Nick
Return of 40-Miler Highlights TARC Winter Classic
As the saying goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder. To put that theory to the test, the Trail Animals Running Club brought back a popular distance at the TARC Winter Classic to close out the 15th edition of the TARC Trail Series on Saturday, Dec. 6, at the Middlesex Fells Reservation in Stoneham.
Continue reading Return of 40-Miler Highlights TARC Winter ClassicMassUltra Roundup: Krampuslauf, Tower Tag, Devil. Dog, Anza Borrego Cuyamaca, McDowell Mountain Frenzy, Ray Miller, and Festivus
The 2025 ultrarunning season is rapidly coming to a close. Here in New England, the Dec. 6-7 weekend saw a few final events play out, including in Massachusetts with the final race of the 2025 TARC Trail Series with the TARC Winter Classic at the Middlesex Fells, as well as in Connecticut at the Tower Tag Challenge 8-Hour and up north in New Hampshire at the Krampuslauf 9-Hour. We’ll have the TARC Winter Classic covered in a separate recap, but here in this week’s roundup we catch up on Krampuslauf and Tower Tag, as well as other ultras throughout the United States where New Englanders secured late-season finishes.
Continue reading MassUltra Roundup: Krampuslauf, Tower Tag, Devil. Dog, Anza Borrego Cuyamaca, McDowell Mountain Frenzy, Ray Miller, and Festivus
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