The 2025 Western States Endurance Run isn’t until June 28, but the journey to the starting line of the 49th running of the historic 100-miler began Saturday, Dec. 7, for six New England residents whose names were drawn in the Western States lottery.
Joseph D’Alessio, Patrick McEnaney, Lance Doherty and Christopher Lay of Massachusetts, Austin Black of New Hampshire, and Yuichiro Hidaka of Rhode Island were among the lucky few selected for one of ultrarunning’s most exclusive events.
All was quiet on the ultrarunning scene in New England during the post-Thanksgiving weekend, save for personal ambitions to log big miles after enjoying a feast. Two runners from the region ventured outside New England to toe the starting line of ultramarathons, though, with one on each coast. Those efforts make for some light reading in the Nov. 29-Dec. 1 weekend roundup.
It was a head-spinning Nov. 22-24 weekend at the historic JFK 50, and a New Englander was at the heart of it all. Vermont’s David Sinclair smashed the course record by a large margin, while fellow Vermonter Britta Clark notched a top-five finish in the women’s field. Beyond and its 1,100-plus field of runners, New Englanders took to the trails at the CT Trailmixers’ Fall Fling 400 in nearby Connecticut, and a few others logged big miles in Arizona at the Fat Ox. Read on for more in this pre-Thanksgiving appetizer edition of the roundup.
It isn’t yet Thanksgiving, but New England ultrarunners spent the Nov. 15-17 weekend preparing for the big feast by banging out plenty of miles. More than 100 did so at the Trail Animals Running Club’s annual TARCkey Trot 6-hour ultra in Massachusetts, but several more runners from the region opted for other events. A few in Connecticut packed on the calories at the CT Donut Run 31.5-miler, though results from that delicious event were unavailable at the time of publication. Others raced ultras in New York, Utah, California and Georgia. We have highlights from those events in this edition of the roundup.
WINCHESTER, Mass. – Months of drought have ravaged Massachusetts from the Berkshires to the bay. Hundreds of wildfires have scorched fields and forests, and many bodies of water have shrunk or disappeared in the dry conditions. If there is a positive to be found in the dearth of rain, it may be that runners at the Trail Animals Running Club’s TARCkey Trot 6-Hour Ultra benefitted from near-perfect trail conditions.
The Trail Animals Running Club played host to the eighth edition of the TARCkey Trot 6-Hour Ultra on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, at Wright-Locke Farm in Winchester, Mass. Runners had six hours to complete as many loops as they wanted on a 3.5-mile course that started and finished on the farm after traveling on the winding, technical trails of neighboring Whipple Hill.
The Trail Animals Running Club played host to the eighth edition of the TARCkey Trot 6-Hour Ultra on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, at Wright-Locke Farm in Winchester, Mass. Runners took on a 3.5-mile loop course that started and ended on the farm and wound through the technical singletrack trails of neighboring Whipple Hill. The following are a small sample of photos taken by MassUltra Editor Chris Wristen. A full photo gallery can be viewed on the MassUltra Facebook page.
As the sun set over the Kenty Farm and headlamps clicked on to help fend off the darkness, 23 runners stood in the starting corral at the Race for DFL.
In addition to the ultras in the Midwest and the West, New England ultrarunners were plenty busy racing throughout the region during the Nov. 8-10 weekend. Beast Coast Trail Running put on another epic Race for DFL in Massachusetts that will be featured in a separate story. Additionally, dozens of runners put up ultra mileage at the highly technical Bold Coast Bash in Maine and the paved Roxbury Marathon 50K in Connecticut. We have both of those events highlighted in this edition of the roundup.
Beast Coast Trail Running and Race Director Amy Rusiecki played host to the fifth edition of the Race for DFL last person standing event on Nov. 9-10 at the Kenty Farm in Winchendon, Mass. Sixty-four runners took on a 4.17-mile course through the farm’s wooded trails, on a nearby rail trail, and on a rocky farm road until only one runner remained.
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