Ultra Weekend Recap — January 19

This weekend’s ultramarathon action included 26 races across North America. In this week’s Ultra Weekend Recap, we dive into results from Georgia, Hawaii, Arizona and North Carolina.

Let’s get to the action.

We begin down south in historic Savannah, Georgia, for the third annual Dark Anchor. The timed event challenged runners to see how many 3.5-mile loops they could run in 34 hours. Top overall honors went to Michelle Goldberg, who logged 119 miles in 30:56:30. Rene Crickenberger also ran 119 miles but with a slower time (33:20:24), good for second-place female and a tie for second overall. Lisa Evans (115.5 miles) took third woman and fourth overall. Richard Higgins ran the most miles for the men, earning his Dark Anchor buckle with 119 miles in 33:20:24. Mac McComas came in second with 101.5 miles in 19:39:44, and Jason Schall placed third (101.5 miles in 23:33:44). Full results here.

Next up, we journey to Honolulu, Hawaii, on the island of O‘ahu, for the 25^th annual HURT 100. This year’s event saw 135 runners line up at the start line attempting to tackle the grueling and technical course. Alyssa Clark smashed the female course record in the women’s competition, becoming the first woman to run the race in under 24 hours. Clark finished in 23:26:32, good for fifth overall and her second victory at HURT over the past three years. Andrea Tarras finished second female and ninth overall in (25:51:10). Candice Burt (28:29:43) rounded out the podium in third. Nate Jaqua paced the way for the men in 21:45:02, his third HURT 100 victory. Tyler Juza finished second (22:13:28), and Riley Robertson (22:33:08) took third. Full results here.

Returning across the Pacific, we land in Goodyear, Arizona, for the Coldwater Rumble Trail Runs. Because the event featured three ultra distances (100-mile, 100k and 60k) I’m only going to list the winners here, but you can view all the results here. Beginning in the 60k race, results show that Davis Gilbert took the overall win in 5:33:01, with Susan Reed winning the women’s race and placing third overall in 6:15:27. Moving up to the 100k, Lucie Rathbrun ran to the overall win and set a new course time to beat with her speedy time of 9:20:33. Matthew Bradner paced the way for the men in 9:30:09. Finally in the 100-miler, Nathan Brown took the win, running the third-fastest course time ever in a blistering 15:50:06. Elizabeth Shell finished first woman and third overall in 19:27:53.

Our final stop takes us to Almond, North Carolina, for the 14^th running of the Tsali Ultra. Saturday’s race saw three women crack the top five, with Ali Cooper finishing first female and second overall in 4:38:15. Porter Burgess placed second woman and third overall (4:41:34), and Rachel Doxey (4:57:14) claimed the final podium spot, finishing fifth overall. Canyon Woodward led the way in the men’s race, winning wire-to-wire in 3:42:40. Sam Fulbright finished second male in 4:52:02, and Hank Hepperly (5:09:19) came in third. Full results here.

I’d also like to give a shout-out to Aaron Reed, an ultrarunner and talented musician in the band, The Brothers Reed, as he crushes his cancer recovery like he crushes races out on the trails.

Other results from the weekend include: Southern Tour Ultra (Wilmington, NC), Snow Bull 6/12 Hour Endurance Runs (Whitwell, TN), Swamp Stomper (Millington, TN), and Ouachita Switchbacks (Big Cedar, OK).