When Amy Rusiecki organized the inaugural Mt. Tom Trail Race 25K and team relay in 2021, the Beast Coast Trail Running race director crafted a course that lulled runners in with a smooth, speedy road section warm-up before smacking them with a strong dose of rugged New England singletrack – much of it hidden under a blanket of leaves. The result was some blood and brutality, outshined by a whole lot of fun.
So much fun was had that Rusiecki doubled down on the event for 2022 and added a 50K ultramarathon to the lineup.
The second annual Womp Romp 10-miler and inaugural 50K took place Saturday, Oct. 22, at Wompatuck State Park in Hingham, Mass. The event took place on a 10-mile loop course with a mix of single- and double-track trails, rail trail and paved path that runners completed one or three times. Proceeds from the event benefited Friends of the Wompatuck.
Beast Coast Trail Running’s second annual Mt. Tom Trail Race also played host to its first ultramarathon offering in 2022. Race Director Amy Rusiecki’s event offered 50K, 25K and 25K relay options on the trails of Mt. Tom Reservation while starting and finishing at New City Brewery in Easthampton, Mass. All photos in this gallery are courtesy of Jonathan Loyche and represent a small sample of his images from the race. Click here to view a full gallery of his photos.
Beast Coast Trail Running’s second annual Mt. Tom Trail Race also played host to its first ultramarathon offering in 2022. Race Director Amy Rusiecki’s event offered 50K, 25K and 25K relay options on the trails of Mt. Tom Reservation while starting and finishing at New City Brewery in Easthampton, Mass.
NEW IPSWICH, N.H. – Corin Kwasnik and Dan Grip hadn’t met prior to the Midstate Massive Ultra-Trail 100-miler, nor had they shared a race course, but they weren’t exactly strangers. In fact, they’d done battle before.
The fourth annual Midstate Massive Ultra-Trail 100-mile, 50-mile and 30-mile ultramarathons took place Oct. 8-9, taking runners on a journey from New Ipswich, N.H., to Douglas, Mass., or shorter variations along the Midstate Trail that crossed Massachusetts from north to south.
Since its founding in 2017, the Village Ultra has supported a new organization each year with the goal of making a positive impact. It began with helping a family with a child needing medical treatment for Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome, and in later years raised funds for R.C. Mahar Regional Middle School and High School, the Swift River School in New Salem, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), and a LGBTQIA+ youth support organization called The Trevor Project.
When the U.S. Supreme Court in late June overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating abortion as a constitutional right and opening the door to states to completely ban the medical procedure, Village Ultra founder Carla Halpern knew what the 2022 event would support: the Abortion Rights Fund of Western Massachusetts.
The fourth annual Midstate Massive Ultra-Trail 100-mile, 50-mile and 30-mile ultramarathons took place Oct. 8-9, 2022. Runners in the 100-miler started at the Windblown Cross Country Ski Area in New Ipswich, N.H., traveled across Massachusetts from north to south on the Midstate Trail, crossed into Connecticut and Rhode Island and then traveled to the finish line at Douglas State Forest in Douglas, Mass. The following are a select few photos from the race. A full photo gallery with 142 photos can be found on the MassUltra Facebook page at this link.
When the United States military and NATO forces withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021 and the Taliban returned to power, the country was thrown into turmoil as its new leadership set about rolling back all sorts of rights people had gained and enjoyed in years prior. No group was more targeted than women and girls, as the Taliban sought to deny them access to education, freedom of expression and movement, and so much more. In a very real way the Taliban sought to deny women and girls their own identities.
For years the TARC Fall Classic was something of the Patrick Caron show. The native of Needham, Mass., made his ultrarunning debut at the 2015 event and turned heads with his runner-up finish in the 50-mile race in 8:19:45 at just 18 years old. He returned to run the 50-miler during each of the next three years, setting new course records each time, concluding with a sizzling 6:52:04 performance in 2018.
MassUltra 