There is never an “easy time” to run the trails of Mt. Tom State Reservation. They’re steep, rocky and rough every month of the year. When Race Director Amy Rusiecki added an October race at Mt. Tom to her Beast Coast Trail Running Race Series in 2021, the accomplished trail- and ultrarunner decided those always-tough trails would be even more fun to run while covered in leaves.
Continue reading Grip Clips Course Record with Victory at Mt. Tom Trail RaceTag Archives: Massachusetts
Womp Romp Champ Tidd Savors Victory at “Special Place”
HINGHAM, Mass. – Andrew Tidd squinted as he rounded the final turn and the finish line came into view. A steady rain blurred his vision, but through the drops he could see the race clock, the red arch and Race Directors Robert Jeffers and Matt Hoadley cheering him on.
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Photos: Mt. Tom Trail Race
Beast Coast Trail Running played host to the third annual Mt. Tom Trail Race and second edition of its 50K offering on Saturday, Oct. 21, in Easthampton, Mass. The race started and finished at Millside Park in Easthampton. In between, runners took on one or two loops of a course on the trails on and around Mt. Tom. Photographer Jonathan Loyche was on the scene to capture images of the day, and he shared them with MassUltra. The following are just a sample of Loyche’s photos; a full gallery can be viewed here.
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Results: Mt. Tom Trail Race
Beast Coast Trail Running played host to the third annual Mt. Tom Trail Race and second edition of its 50K offering on Saturday, Oct. 21, in Easthampton, Mass. The race started and finished at Millside Park in Easthampton. In between, runners took on one or two loops of a course on the trails on and around Mt. Tom. Runners in the 25K race amassed around 3,600 feet of climbing while 50K runners gained around 7,000 feet of elevation.
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Results: Womp Romp
The third annual Womp Romp 10-miler and second edition of the 50K took place on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023, at Wompatuck State Park in Hingham, Mass. Runners took on a 10.5-mile loop course on a mixture of surfaces – singletrack trails, doubletrack, fire roads, cross country grass, and pavement – either one or three times depending on the distance. Temperatures in the upper 50s made for comfortable running despite a light drizzle falling for the first four hours that eventually transitioned to a steady rain.
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Rain Ravages Runners at Grueling Midstate Massive
The Midstate Massive Ultra-Trail 100-mile race course is daunting during the best of conditions. It is front-loaded with climbing, the majority of it on rugged, technical singletrack trails where the footing is tricky and progress is often slow. The back half has several miles of road, so runners who’ve made it that far can try to pick up the pace, only to then be smacked with even more technical trails during the late miles in Douglas State Forest.
The event earned its reputation during mostly dry conditions through its first four years. The fifth edition of the race – which took place Oct. 7-8 – took course conditions to a diabolical new level as rain drenched the course, making rocks extra slippery and turning portions of the trail into rivers.
Continue reading Rain Ravages Runners at Grueling Midstate MassiveResults: Midstate Massive Ultra-Trail
The fifth annual Midstate Massive Ultra-Trail 100-mile, 50-mile and 30-mile trail races took place Oct. 7-8, 2023, on point-to-point courses starting in New Ipswich, N.H., as well as Rutland and Spencer, Mass., with all three distances finishing at Douglas State Forest in Douglas, Mass.
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Runners Conquer Revamped Course at Free to Run Trail Races
A few new surprises were in store for runners at the Berkshire Ultra Running Community for Service’s (BURCS) Free to Run Trail Races this year.
The event still raises funds to support Free to Run, Inc., a nonprofit organization that seeks to enable women and girls in conflict regions to engage in physical and outdoor activities. That part of the event was unchanged.
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Kaplan Outlasts Everyone for Victory at MetroWest Backyard Ultra
NEEDHAM, Mass. – At its core, the format of the backyard ultra is rooted in simplicity: a set distance, a set time, repeated over and over again.
For runners at the second annual MetroWest Backyard Ultra, that simplicity may have been summed up best by the official race timepiece. There was no fancy digital clock next to a blow-up arch. Instead, there was a classic plastic circular clock with hands on it to track the hours, minutes and seconds.
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Photos: MetroWest Backyard Ultra
he Needham Running Club played host to the second annual MetroWest Backyard Ultra on Sept. 16-17 at the Needham Town Forest in Needham, Mass. A full gallery by MassUltra Editor Chris Wristen can be viewed here. An additional photo gallery by Adam Hoffman can be viewed here.
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