STONEHAM, Mass. – Roos Karssemeijer planned to stay home on Saturday, Nov. 2, rather than running the 32-mile race at the Trail Animals Running Club’s annual Fells Winter Ultra.
The prior two weeks had been busy, between work and a cross-country trip to run an ultramarathon in California, so she was exhausted. Besides, the friend she’d signed up to run with had to cancel. Continue reading After Arm-Twisting, Karssemeijer Races, Wins Fells 32-Miler
STONEHAM, Mass. – Emily Rose had a few simple goals for the Fells Winter Ultra 40-miler, and none of them involved winning.
“Today I wanted to not get timed out; I didn’t want to DNF because of time,” she said. “My next goal was I didn’t want to need to have a headlamp, and I just wanted to not be hurting a lot – which I wasn’t. I actually felt really good!” Continue reading No Headlamp Necessary: Rose Outruns Darkness, Others in Fells 40-Mile Victory
STONEHAM, Mass. – Isaac Burleigh hasn’t lived in Massachusetts for very long – he moved to Somerville from Socorro, N.M., in September – but he spent his first two months in town exploring the trails of the Middlesex Fells Reservation.
Burleigh ultimately made the Fells his first trail race in Massachusetts. He joined 27 other runners in taking on the 40-mile race at the Trail Animals Running Club’s Fells Winter Ultra on Saturday, Dec. 2. The Fells has dozens of miles of trails winding throughout the more than 2,200-acre reservation. The race consisted of five eight-mile loops of the Skyline Trail and took runners over the reservation’s biggest climbs and some of its most technical sections. Continue reading Burleigh Delivers Strong Performance in Massachusetts Debut, Wins Fells 40-Miler
December is typically a quiet month of racing for Massachusetts ultrarunners as cold weather rolls into New England and the holiday season cuts into the running travel schedule. A large crop of local runners spent the first weekend of the month in-state at the Trail Animals Running Club’s Fells Winter Ultra at the Middlesex Fells Reservation (separate story in development), and just one race earned a spot in this week’s roundup. New Bedford’s Lynn Poyant opened December with a 100-mile finish at the Devil Dog Ultras. Continue reading MassUltra Roundup: Devil Dog 100
The following are just a few of the nearly 200 photos we have from the 2017 Fells Winter Ultra. To view the full gallery on the MassUltra Facebook page, click here. Continue reading Photo Gallery: Fells Winter Ultra
The Trail Animals Running Club played host to the Fells Winter Ultra 40-mile and 32-mile trail ultramarathons on Saturday, Dec. 2, at the Middlesex Fells Reservation in Stoneham, Mass. Sixteen runners finished the 40-mile race, and 66 finished the 32-mile race. Continue reading Results: TARC Fells Winter Ultra
Thanksgiving weekend was mostly quiet for the Massachusetts ultrarunning scene, at least in terms of racing. Many runners took to the trails for multiple long runs on what—for many—was a four-day weekend. The racing schedule wasn’t silent, however. This week’s roundup features two races in Florida, one on the holiday weekend and one the week prior. Medford’s Andy Novis took on 24 hours at the Icarus UltraFest, and Arlington’s Ray Rey finished 50 miles at Saint Sebastian. Continue reading MassUltra Roundup: Icarus and Saint Sebastian
Thanksgiving loomed just five days away, but Joshua Fiore wasn’t at the Trail Animals Running Club’s second annual TARCkey Trot 6-Hour Run on Saturday, Nov. 18, hoping to burn off a few extra calories before chowing down on a holiday feast.
Instead, Fiore came to the race at Wright-Locke Farm in Winchester, Mass., and Whipple Hill in neighboring Lexington with his sights set on a much grander goal four weeks later. Continue reading Fiore Savors Final Tune-Up at TARCkey Trot as Iceland Awaits
Massachusetts residents eased into Thanksgiving week with a pair of in-state ultramarathons to burn pre-Turkey Day calories at the TARCkey Trot 6-Hour Ultra and the Village Ultra 10-Hour Run. That made for a quiet Nov. 18-19 weekend for Bay State runners at out-of-state ultras – but there were a few. Runners headed as far away as Utah, and stayed as close as Maryland and New York City to log some big mileage before the holiday weekend. Continue reading MassUltra Roundup: Dead Horse, JFK 50, and NYC 60K
The Trail Animals Running Club’s second annual TARCkey Trot 6-Hour Ultra and 5K trail races took place Saturday, Nov. 18, on the trails of Whipple Hill and Wright-Locke Farm in Winchester and Lexington, Mass. The course consisted of a 3.1-mile loop that runners circled either once in the 5K race or as many times as they could within the six-hour time limit in the ultra event. Continue reading Results: TARCkey Trot 6-Hour
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