Results: 2024 TARCtic Frozen Yeti

The Trail Animals Running Club played host to the fifth edition of the TARCtic Frozen Yeti 30-Hour Ultra and 15-Mile Night Race on Feb. 3-4, 2024, at Hale Reservation in Westwood, Mass. Runners took on a 15+-mile clover-leaf style course consisting of three approximately 5-mile mini-loops. Runners enjoyed seasonably good weather with no precipitation, a temperature around 30 degrees at the start on Saturday, sunny skies and a high in the mid-30s, overnight temperatures in the mid-20s, and a sunny Sunday morning that crept above freezing for the final hours before reaching the upper-30s by the time the race ended on early Sunday afternoon.

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MassUltra Roundup: Clearwater, Mountain Mist, Southern Freeze, Frosty Fat Sass, and the Itch

The jam-packed Jan. 26-28 weekend saw New England ultrarunners taking on races from coast to coast. In part one of the week’s roundup we focused on the events in the West, including the AZT Oracle Rumble in Arizona, the Arches Ultra in Utah, and the Fort Ord 50K and Sean O’Brien Ultras in California. Here in part two we turn to the East, where New Englanders raced in Florida, Alabama, Georgia and New Jersey, and we lead it off with a pair of runners from the region who earned podium finishes at the Clearwater Running Festival 50K – a rare paved ultra – in sunny Florida.

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MassUltra Roundup: AZT Oracle Rumble, Arches, Fort Ord, and Sean O’Brien

After a quiet start to 2024, the Jan. 26-28 weekend saw a flurry of activity from New England ultrarunners as they scattered from coast to coast to take on a variety of trails. In fact, runners from the region were so busy racing that we have the first two-roundup week of the year. We start with races in the West, where several runners took on ultras in Arizona, Utah and California. Krystyna Oszkinis’s ultra debut leads us off with her podium finish at the AZT Oracle Rumble 50K.

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MassUltra Roundup: Coldwater Rumble, Fort Clinch, and Dark Anchor

The 2024 ultrarunning season is just a few weeks old, but runners from New England are already making their presence felt on trails throughout the country. A few turned in big mileage in Georgia at the 34-hour Dark Anchor Ultra during the Jan. 20-21 weekend, while another earned his first ultra finish at Fort Clinch in Florida. And then there was Jason Baker, who hammered his way to a podium finish in the 100-mile race at Coldwater Rumble in Arizona. We have them all covered in this edition of the roundup.

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MassUltra Roundup: Bandera, the Shippey, and St. Croix Scenic

One of the biggest early-season ultras in the United States – Bandera – welcomed hundreds of runners to Texas, including several ultrarunners from New England. One of them – Colleen Chase of Princeton, Mass. – came home with a victory while eight others from the region also earned finisher’s buckles in the 100K race. Beyond Bandera, New Englanders also conquered ultras in frigid Missouri and sunny St. Croix, USVI, during the Jan. 12-14 weekend. We have them all covered in this edition of the roundup.

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MassUltra Roundup: San Tan Scramble, Frozen Flamingo, and Recover From the Holidays

The 2024 ultrarunning season officially opened on Saturday, Jan. 6, in traditional fashion with the 24th edition of the G.A.C. Fat Ass 50K in Topsfield, Mass. Around 250 runners took part in that classic event, and it will be featured in a separate recap. Still, a handful of New Englanders ventured outside the region to take on ultras during the Jan. 5-7 weekend, with some heading to nearby New York for the Frozen Flamingo 50K and Recover From the Holidays 50K, and others heading southwest to Arizona to race the San Tan Scramble 50K. We have them covered in this edition of the roundup.

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Photos: 2024 G.A.G. Fat Ass 50K

The 24th running of the G.A.C. Fat Ass 50K took place on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024, at Bradley Palmer State Park in Topsfield, Mass. Around 250 runners took part in running between one and five loops of the 10K course. The following are a sample of photos taken by MassUltra Editor Chris Wristen. Additional photos can be viewed on the MassUltra Facebook page.

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MassUltra Roundup: Across the Years

The final miles of 2023 and first miles of 2024 were turned in by hundreds of runners on a 1.05-mile loop in Arizona at the 39th annual Across the Years endurance festival. A handful of New England residents were among those who logged last-minute ultras in 2023 or secured some of the first ultra finishes in the country of the new year. We have them covered in this edition of the roundup.

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Going beyond the marathon in Massachusetts