The opening weekend of May was quiet on the Massachusetts ultrarunning scene, but it was busy in the rest of New England. Ultras were held in half of the region’s states, with the Big A 50K taking place in Maine, the White Lake Ultras in New Hampshire, and the Blue 2 Blue Challenge in Connecticut. Results from Blue 2 Blue were unavailable as of the time of publication, but we catch up on the outcomes at Big A and White Lake in Part 1 of this week’s roundup. In Part 2, we will catch up on ultras beyond the region.

The busy April 27-28 weekend merited a two-roundup recap to catch up on all the action of New England ultrarunners. After highlighting results from the greater Northeast in the first part, here in part two we have results from the rest of the country, highlighted by Connecticut resident Caitlin Rossi’s 101-mile effort in Georgia and Massachusetts resident Bill Wells’ top-10 showing at the Grind on the Grid Backyard Ultra in Indiana.

The Lake Waramaug Ultras celebrated 50 years of history during the April 27-28 weekend as the main ultra event in New England following a busy few weeks of racing in Massachusetts. Beyond the region, several New Englanders hit the road for other ultras throughout the country with enough racing that it merits a two-roundup week. Here in part one we focus on the greater Northeast, with the results from Lake Waramaug in Connecticut, as well as the C&O Canal 100 in Maryland and a pair of races in Virginia.

The April 19-21 weekend was busy for ultrarunning in the Bay State with two events – the TARC Spring Classic and the Spring Fever 8-Hour – attracting hundreds of runners to tackle ultra and sub-ultra distances on local trails. Not all racers that weekend stayed local, though. Some put up big mileage in nearby Connecticut at the Forgotten Forest 9-Hour Ultra where a course record crumbled. Others headed South to Virginia for the Promise Land 50K, and even more headed West to ultras in California, Colorado and New Mexico. And that’s just the events with results available at press time. New Englanders were also set to toe the starting line of the Wawayanda Trail Fest in New Jersey, the Hyner Trail Challenge in Pennsylvania, the Phoenix Trail Fest in Alabama, and Earth Day Bucklemania in Kansas.

While a few-dozen New Englanders were taking on the tough trails and unmarked course of the Trail Animals Running Club’s “Don’t Run Boston” 50K and 50-mile ultras at the Blue Hills Reservation in Milton, Mass., several other runners from the region were scattered throughout the country for a variety of other ultras during the April 12-14 weekend. Some stayed in the region for the classic Traprock 50K in Connecticut, where some of the finest performances in the event’s 14-year history were delivered. Others headed to nearby New York for the English’s Ridge Rumble. Several more raced out West, in Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, and Utah, while a few more headed South to Virginia. We have them all covered in this jam-packed edition of the roundup.

The April 5-7 weekend featured plenty of tough running in sloppy conditions at the Mt. Toby Trail Race in Sunderland,  Mass., but a few New Englanders opted for other environments as they scattered the country to race in Georgia and North Carolina, as well as Texas and Washington. Results have yet to be posted for the Ancient Lakes 50K in Washington and the Brazos Bend 50 in Texas, but New Englanders earned 100-mile finishes at the Bootlegger 100 in Georgia and the Umstead 100 in North Carolina, highlighting this edition of the roundup.

The busiest March ultrarunning slate in recent memory for New Englanders came to a close with a relatively quiet March 30-31 weekend. Just a handful of runners from the region took on ultras with a few traveling to Georgia for the Georgia Death Race and two more heading west to Utah for the Antelope Island Buffalo Run. We have both covered in this edition of the roundup.

After starting in the South and then venturing to the Midwest and West, we close out our March 22-24 weekend roundups by returning to the Northeast. While many runners from the region stayed close to home and raced the TARC To Hale and Back 6-Hour Ultra in Massachusetts (see separate recap story), runners also took on ultras in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. We start in New York with the Spring on the Trails Endurance Runs and the inaugural Devil’s Shadow 50K, and then head to New Jersey for the rugged Mt. Tammany 10 before finishing up in Pennsylvania at the Bullshit Backyard Ultra.

New Englanders made the most of opportunities to race ultras during the jam-packed March 22-24 weekend, as many raced locally at the TARC To Hale and Back 6-Hour Ultra in Massachusetts and several others scattered throughout the country to at least a dozen other starting lines. Our first roundup of the week focused on local runners’ results at ultras in the South. Here in our second roundup, we head to the heartland and the West where New Englanders took on Ohio’s Backyard Ultra, the Prairie Spirit Trail Ultra in Kansas, the Behind the Rocks Ultras in Utah, and the classic Crown King Scramble in Arizona.

While a large crop of New England ultrarunners were gathering at Hale Reservation in Westwood, Mass., for the Trail Animals Running Club’s seventh edition of the To Hale and Back 6-Hour Ultra, numerous other runners from the region scattered throughout the country for the busiest weekend of ultra racing so far in 2024. In fact, the March 22-24 weekend was so busy that New Englanders were drawn to at least a dozen ultras across the country – and results are still coming in. In fact, there were so many runners competing throughout the country that this will be our first three-roundup week to try to include everyone. We start in the South, where a Massachusetts man and former Bay State resident were among the competitors during a historic weekend at the Barkley Marathons in Tennessee. We also visit North Carolina, where runners from the region competed at Badwater Cape Fear and the Mount Mitchell Heartbreaker, before closing out this edition in Virginia where runners took on the Hone Quarry 40-miler and the Dogwood Ultras.