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One of the best things about the sport of ultrarunning is that anyone can compete. You don’t have to be blessed with elite size or speed, like these amazing athletes playing in the Super Bowl. To enter, you just have to set a goal, put in the work and commit to not giving up. Shout out to every runner who trained hard and gave it their all this weekend. Now let’s get to the Ultra Weekend Recap.
We start in Mayer, Arizona, where snow unexpectedly delayed (but didn’t slow) runners at the Black Canyon 100k. In the men’s race, Hayden Hawks set a new course record in a time of 7:30:18. Jupiter Carera Casas finished second in 7:39:56, and Chris Myers took third (7:43:02). All three men accepted their Golden Tickets into the 2024 Western States Endurance Run. On the women’s side, a highly contested battle ended with Rachel Drake taking the win in 8:47:23, the second-fastest time on the course, and Becca Windell placing second in 8:52:46. Lauren Puretz completed the podium in 9:06:58. As with the men’s race, all three women accepted their Golden Tickets. Initial results show that nearly 700 runners completed the 100k course.
Black Canyon Ultras also hosted a 60k race which took place on Sunday. In the women’s race, Elena Horton won in 4:57:17, the second-fastest course time, besting second place Georgia Porter (5:00:06) who ran the third-fastest course time. Keely Henninger placed third in 5:04:37. On the men’s side, another course record was broken as Eli Hemming won in 4:06:39, shattering the previous CR by over 10 minutes. Brad Miles finished second in 4:35:14, and Brett Hornig rounded out the podium in 4:41:22. Full results here.
Next, we head to Escondido, CA, for the Ranch 50k, where the top three spots were separated by less than 3 minutes. Carl Maclean took home the win in 4:28:54 (the third-fastest time in course history), Cole Houser finished second (4:30:23), and Anthony Seifert claimed third (4:31:45). In the women’s race, Amelia Valinsky-Fillipow won in 5:37:41, Tiffany Navarro (5:52:26) took second and Leah Jack (6:14:01) finished third. Full results here.
Finally, we travel east to Virginia Beach, VA, for the Sunup to Sundown 50k Trail Race, a unique event in which runners complete a 5k every hour on the hour, for a total of 10 times. In the women’s race, Sarah Keshishian won in 3:51:50, Anna Scaramuzza placed second (3:58:46), and Heather Jasontek (4:08:18) finished third. In the men’s race, August Beyer finished way out in front in 3:14:10. Scott Shumate (3:35:46) took second, and Charles Spencer (3:50:43) finished third. Full results here.
There are still lots of results yet to come in, so please share how your race went in the comments below.