WESTWOOD, Mass. – Thirty miles and around 7 1/2 hours into his race, Patrick McEnaney made efficient work at the aid station. A wardrobe change, some extra snacks and refilled fluids, and he was ready to head back out for more. As McEnaney prepared to return to the trail, he paused to check in with a friend whose race was done and commend them for a successful day.
After a few congratulatory words and a fist bump, it was time to go.
“I have to get moving,” McEnaney said, a look of urgency on his face. “I’m starting to freeze.”
For ultra marathon runners in New England, snowshoe running is an ideal complement to a training routine. Because ultra runners have long training cycles, sometimes it’s difficult to avoid training for races during the winter months. But snowshoe running can seem a little intimidating.
A one-week postponement of the TARCtic Frozen Yeti meant that the Trail Animals Running Club’s cold-weather event took top billing for most New England ultrarunners who raced during the Feb. 5-6 weekend, but a handful sought warmer climate to race in places like Arizona, California, Florida and Texas. Two of the runners who traveled – Abby Hotaling of Oak Bluffs and Rachel Glazer of Needham – brought victories back home to Massachusetts. Their winning performances lead off this edition of the roundup.
Following a one-week postponement due to a massive Nor’easter, the Trail Animals Running Club played host to the third running of the TARCtic Frozen Yeti 30-Hour Ultra and the first edition of the 15-mile night race on Feb. 5-6 at Hale Reservation in Westwood, Mass.
The Trail Animals Running Club’s TARCtic Frozen Yeti 30-Hour Ultra was originally slated for Jan. 29-30 weekend, so the majority of New England ultrarunners looking to race selected that event as their primary objective for the weekend, though it was ultimately postponed by a week due to the massive Nor’easter that brought more than two feet of snow to much of the state. Several runners headed out-of-state to race, however, most of them escaped the storm’s clutches to run in warmer climates during the final weekend of January. Those races are featured in this edition of the roundup.
After five years as a short-distance event, starting as a 5-miler before switching to a 10K, the Watuppa Trail Race went long in 2018 with the addition of a 30K race and a 50K ultramarathon. Both options proved popular, and the 50K provided a welcome addition to the growing ultra scene in southern Massachusetts.
The Trail Animals Running Club has postponed the TARCtic Frozen Yeti 30-Hour Ultra and 15-mile night trail race by one week, the race directors announced in an email to runners at 6:11 p.m. today.
Since 1998, the G.A.C. Fat Ass 50K has kicked off the new ultrarunning year in New England all but three times. The 2004 and 2018 events were canceled due to dangerous weather – severe cold or blizzard-like conditions – and the 2021 race was called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 22nd running of the G.A.C. Fat Ass 50K took place on Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022, at Bradley Palmer State Park in Topsfield, Mass. Around 100 runners took part in the event with 19 successfully completing five loops of the course for a 50K finish.
MassUltra 