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The final weekend of the 2022 UltraRunning Calendar is officially here and finally lets up a bit. With winter’s official arrival and the holiday season in full swing, there are just a few ultramarathons across the country this weekend before we return to our regularly scheduled programming in 2023.
Working our way backwards toward Christmas, we head to the desert for some warmth at Across the Years at Camelback Ranch in Phoenix, Arizona, kicking off on Wednesday, December 28. The event features 24, 48 and 72-hour races and both 6-day and 10-day competitions, as well as a last person standing event that will take us well into the new year.
Michael McKnight of Smithfield, Utah, the 2022 Cocodona 250 runner-up, is entered in the last person standing race. Catra Corbett from Bishop, California, who boasts hundreds of ultramarathon finishes, is in the 6-day field along with Araviapa’s own Jamil Coury. URM Ambassador Jacky Hunt-Broersma out of Gilbert, Arizona, is also on the 6-day start list. Mark Hammond hailing from Cottonwood Heights, Utah, leads the charge in the 100-mile race. Read: My First 100 at Across the Years by Peyton LaFiette.
In Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, starting on Tuesday, December 27, is the Charleston 100, a self-supported, non-sanctioned and point-to-point 100-miler. There is a $1 donation to enter this fun run and the event is full, with 78 entrants. The route takes runners across the entirety of Charleston County, starting at the Edisto River and finishing at the Santee River.
Luray, Virginia, is home to Boyer’s Furnace 40-miler on Monday, December 26. The race is a minimally marked 40-mile loop through the Massanutten Mountains and around the southern half of the Fort Valley and named for Boyer’s Furnace, one of four stone blast furnaces operated in the Fort Valley area during the 19th century. Runners pass the furnace ruins roughly halfway through the circuit, on a dirt road section while crossing the Fort Valley on the edge of the George Washington National Forest boundary line.
What’s Up in Ultra in your community this weekend that we should know about? Drop us a comment below, let us know what we missed and what is lighting your end-of-year fire this holiday season.