BARNSTABLE, Mass. – The sun was already shining high above Cape Cod Bay when the cars started trickling into the parking lot at Sandy Neck Beach. It wasn’t long before the lot was nearly full of cars, many adorned with bumper stickers boasting of the long distances the drivers had run, races they’d conquered, or mountains they’d climbed.
The 12th annual Cape Cod Frozen Fat Ass 50K took place on Saturday, Jan. 27, at Sandy Neck Beach in Barnstable, Mass. In addition to the 50K distance, runners also had the option of running a 25K. Seventy runners took part in the event. Continue reading Results: Cape Cod Frozen Fat Ass 50K→
While the Cape Cod Frozen Fatass 50K ushered in the 2018 ultramarathon season in Massachusetts (separate article coming soon), scenic trails at more running-friendly winter destinations lured runners away from the Bay State for the final weeks of January. They traveled to the slick rock of Moab, the singletrack of Alabama, and a ghost town in California, and fast times were turned in along the way – none moreso than at the Arches Ultra in Utah where former Massachusetts resident Kyle Pietari and current residents Sean Haggerty and Molly Karp threw down speedy runs. Continue reading MassUltra Roundup: Arches, Mountain Mist, and Calico Trail→
The 12th annual Cape Cod Frozen Fat Ass 50K took place on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2018, on Sandy Neck Beach in Barnstable, Mass. The Cape Cod Ultrarunning Society played host to 70 runners who took on either the 50K or 25K distance. The following are just a sample of the photos from the race. A full gallery with more than 130 photos can be found on the MassUltra facebook page. Continue reading Photos: Cape Cod Frozen Fat Ass 50K→
Acton’s Andrea Baum traveled to sunny Florida to run her first ultramarathon. Meanwhile, Waban’s Dima Feinhaus had a polar opposite experience in the United Kingdom – with an emphasis on polar. Baum’s race at the Clearwater Distance Classic and Feinhaus’ epic experience at The Montane Spine Race are this week’s featured races. Continue reading MassUltra Roundup: The Spine Race and the Clearwater Classic→
The 2018 Massachusetts ultrarunning season originally was set to begin bright and early on Jan. 3 with the G.A.C. Fat Ass 50K, but the 20thedition of that event was called off due to single-digit temperatures and a wind chill well below zero.
Due to that change of plans, the Bay State’s 2018 ultramarathon race calendar will officially kick off with the Cape Cod Frozen Fat Ass 50K at 8 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 27, at Sandy Neck Beach in Barnstable, Mass. The 12thannual event is put on by the Cape Cod Ultrarunning Society, and it includes a 25K race for runners who would rather not make a second figure-eight loop of the sandy course.Continue reading Massachusetts Ultra Season Begins Saturday on Cape Cod→
A quiet second weekend of January on the ultramarathon racing scene meant Dan Kelley of Lynnfield, Mass., gets this week’s roundup all to himself – and he earned the spotlight with a victory in California. Continue reading MassUltra Roundup: San Diego 50→
The 2017 ultramarathon season closed out and 2018 was ushered in at the 34th annual Across the Years Ultrarunning Festival in Arizona where Mattapoisett resident Clifford Lange lodged perhaps the final ultra finish of the year for a Massachusetts resident, and then Cambridge’s Julien Klaudt-Moreau and Boylston’s Neil Feldman opened the 2018 season with strong showings in Arizona and Texas.
Confusion abounded at the finish line of the inaugural Spartan Ultra World Championship on Sunday, Dec. 17, in Reykjavik, Iceland, but it had nothing to do with the outcome of the race.
Joshua Fiore, a resident of North Andover, Mass., was the winner – that much was certain. What puzzled the race’s announcer and other spectators gathered at the finish line was why Fiore was so intently digging into his pack pocket rather than exuberantly celebrating his world championship.
The G.A.C. Fat Ass 50K has seen its share of cold, challenging weather conditions during the past 19 years, including a mid-race snowstorm in 2017 that sent some runners home early and forced others to scrape a few inches of fresh powder off of their windshields after finishing.
The forecast for the 20th annual Fat Ass 50K on Saturday at Bradley Palmer State Park in Topsfield, Mass., looks like a recipe for frostbite, however, with The Weather Channel projecting a high of 4 degrees, a low of minus 9, and 17-mile-per-hour wind. Given the potentially dangerous conditions, the ultramarathon has been called off to ensure the safety of both runners and volunteers. Continue reading Frigid Temperatures Force Cancellation of G.A.C. Fat Ass 50K→
MassUltra 