Results: Chesterfield Gorge Ultra

The sixth edition of Beast Coast Trail Running’s Chesterfield Gorge Ultra took place June 1-2, 2024, at the Chesterfield Gorge Reservation in West Chesterfield, Mass. Runners took on a 7.75-mile out-and-back course on dirt roads and doubletrack trail, racing for up to 30 hours for 100-mile, 100K, 50-mile and 50K ultramarathon finishes, as well as 25K and 11K races.

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Photos: Chesterfield Gorge Ultra

Beast Coast Trail Running played host to the sixth running of the Chesterfield Gorge Ultra and 25K, and first edition of an 11K race, on June 1-2, 2024, at the Chesterfield Gorge Reservation in West Chesterfield, Mass. Nearly 250 runners took part in the event while running distances ranging from 11K to 100 miles. For additional photos from MassUltra Editor Chris Wristen, check out a photo gallery on the MassUltra Facebook page.

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Curiosity, Camaraderie and the Enduring Spirit of DRB

MILTON, Mass. — In the years since 2019 when he ran his first ultramarathon, Adam Hoffman was tempted many times to run the Trail Animals Running Club’s classic “Don’t Run Boston” 50K or 50-mile race at the Blue Hills Reservation. There was plenty that appealed to Hoffman, from the low-key, no-frills nature of the event, to the technical terrain that presented an enticing challenge.

Still there was one particular detail that kept Hoffman—and many others like him—away: the course is not marked.

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MassUltra Roundup: Infinitus, Pineland Farms, and the Capital Backyard Ultra

Memorial Day weekend was relatively quiet on the ultrarunning scene nationwide with just a handful of events, including the final days of Infinitus in Vermont and the Trail Festival at Pineland Farms in Maine. Given the limited number of ultras available, Framingham resident Ryan Fecteau picked up the extra mileage for everyone as he closed out his 888K performance at Infinitus. That massive effort leads off this edition of the roundup.

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MassUltra Roundup: Cruel Jewel, Massanutten, Quest for the Crest, Bryce Canyon, Ram Party, BuffaLoops, and Born to Run

In Part I of the May 17-19 weekend roundup we focused on results at ultras in the Northeast. Here in Part 2, we turn to the rest of the country. New Englanders had big performances from coast to coast, but nobody threw down harder than Rhode Island resident Ben Quatromoni who smashed the course record at the grueling Cruel Jewel 100-miler in Georgia. From there we turn to Virginia and the Massanutten Mountain Trails 100, and then stop off in North Carolina before heading West to Utah, Colorado, and California.

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MassUltra Roundup: Run Ragged, Manchester 2 Monadnock, Mayapple, and 3 Days at the Fair

Mid-May stayed red hot for ultrarunning in New England. Here in Massachusetts, the second annual Free Spirit 50K welcomed runners to Leyden, and two more runners – 22-year-old Lukas Janulaitis of Manchester, N.H (12:11:46) and David Marsh, 21, of Marstons Mills, Mass. (19:07:00) – completed the Cape Cod Race Against the Tides unsanctioned solo run. Beyond the Bay State, runners took on the grueling Manchester 2 Monadnock 55-miler in New Hampshire and the Run Ragged Last Person Standing event in Connecticut, which saw Sarah Connor outlast everyone. We catch up on both of those events, as well as a pair of New Jersey ultras – Mayapple and 3 Days at the Fair – in Part I of the roundup from the May 17-19 weekend. In Part 2, we will venture outside of the Northeast, where runners from the region took on at least seven other ultras across the country.

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Hensel-Browning Returns to Bay State for Record-Setting Run at Free Spirit 50K

The last time Ashley Hensel-Browning raced an ultramarathon in Massachusetts, it was back in 2021 when she went beyond the marathon distance for the first time and completed the 50K race at the Chesterfield Gorge Ultra.

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Sauvola Victorious at 50 Miles, Olivito Crushes Record for 43 at Wapack and Back

Lars Sauvola knows the Wapack Trail extremely well. He made his Wapack and Back debut in 2009 when he finished third in the 21.5-mile race. He then raced the Wapack Fall Race 18-miler four times between 2009 and 2014, finishing in the top six each time. He returned to Wapack and Back in 2023 and raced to victory in the 43-mile race in 8:58:00.

Sauvola was back at Wapack and Back for its 16th edition on Saturday, May 11, in Ashburnham, Mass., and this time the 49-year-old from Rindge, N.H., set his sights on the 50-mile distance, the longest of the event’s three offerings. That meant completing an out-and-back run of the trail, along with seven additional miles resulting in nearly 11,000 feet of climbing – much of it on rocky, gnarly terrain.

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MassUltra Roundup: Riverlands and Blood Root

While the Watuppa Trail Races and Wapack and Back brought many ultrarunners to the starting lines in Massachusetts during the May 10-12 weekend, there were also large gatherings in Maine and Vermont as runners took on 100 miles at Maine’s Androscoggin Riverlands State Park, or 100-mile, 50-mile and 50K distances in the Green Mountain foothills. We catch up on both of those events in this edition of the roundup.

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Going beyond the marathon in Massachusetts