WESTWOOD, Mass. – Rick Abradi gazed at the water as he ran along the sandy North Beach of Noanet Pond during his first loop of the TARC To Hale and Back 6-Hour Ultra on Saturday, March 21, at Hale Education. A grin spread across his face and he shook his head.
“Who has more fun than us?” Abradi declared, allowing his rhetorical question to linger as he continued across the beach and disappeared into the woods on a singletrack trail.
The Trail Animals Running Club (TARC) played host to the ninth running of the TARC To Hale and Back 6-Hour Ultra on Saturday, March, 21, 2026, at Hale Education in Westwood, Mass. Runners took on a 3.5-mile single-loop course that they could complete once in a fixed-distance 3.5-mile race, or as many loops as they wanted during the 6-hour ultramarathon event.
The Trail Animals Running Club (TARC) played host to the ninth running of the TARC To Hale and Back 6-Hour Ultra on Saturday, March, 21, 2026, at Hale Education in Westwood, Mass. Runners took on a 3.5-mile single-loop course that they could complete once in a fixed-distance 3.5-mile race, or as many loops as they wanted during the 6-hour ultramarathon event. The following are a small sample of photos taken by MassUltra Editor Chris Wristen. To view a full photo gallery from the race, check out the MassUltra Flickr page.
WESTWOOD, Mass. – Seventy-five runners gathered inside Powissett Lodge as a light snow fell outside. Some topped off water bottles and soft flasks, while others rustled through their packs, double-checking to make sure they had everything they needed. Most listened intently as co-Race Director Surjeet Paintal gave the pre-race briefing.
They were wise to pay attention, because the seventh running of the Trail Animals Running Club’s TARCtic Frozen Yeti 30-Hour Ultra on Feb. 7-8 at Hale Education would be unlike any prior edition.
The Trail Animals Running Club (TARC) played host to the seventh running of the TARCtic Frozen Yeti 30-Hour Ultra and 15-mile night race on Feb. 7-8, 2026, at Hale Education in Westwood, Mass. Runners encountered challenging conditions with excessive snow that fell prior to, and during, the race, as well as temperatures well below freezing and wind chills as low as -15F.
The Trail Animals Running Club played host to the seventh running of the TARCtic Frozen Yeti 30-Hour Ultra and 15-mile night race on Feb. 7-8, 2026, at Hale Education in Westwood, Mass. The following are a small sample of photos taken by MassUltra Editor Chris Wristen. A full photo gallery can be viewed on the MassUltra Flickr page.
The G.A.C. Fat Ass 50K played a central role in Matt Veiga’s trail- and ultrarunning career. The event, hosted by Gil’s Athletic Club in Topsfield, introduced him to the sport in 2005 when he attended his first Fat Ass 50K. Veiga took part in the event at least 10 times, and like hundreds of runners in New England, always looked forward to the free fun run in early January that served as the unofficial kickoff to the new trail- and ultrarunning season.
When Veiga learned in November that the event would not return after a 25-year run, he wanted to do something about it.
After a 25-year run as the G.A.C. Fat Ass 50K, Gil’s Athletic Club handed off the reins for the classic New England ultrarunning kickoff event to the Trail Animals Running Club. The first offering of the annual fun run under its new name of the TARC Yeti Trail Trot took place on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, at Bradley Palmer State Park in Hamilton, Mass. Around 150 runners showed up on a cold morning to run or walk between one and five loops of snowy and icy trails. Thirty-one runners completed five loops and earned ultramarathon finishes, while another 11 runners completed four loops and an extra out-and-back for a marathon finish.
As the saying goes, absence makes the heart grow fonder. To put that theory to the test, the Trail Animals Running Club brought back a popular distance at the TARC Winter Classic to close out the 15th edition of the TARC Trail Series on Saturday, Dec. 6, at the Middlesex Fells Reservation in Stoneham.
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