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The weekend before Thanksgiving included 29 ultramarathons in North America. In this week’s Ultra Weekend Recap, we feature results from Maryland, Texas, Arizona and Ohio. Congratulations to everyone who raced this weekend and be sure to check out all the race results as they roll in on the UltraRunning Magazine results page.
JFK 50
The 63rd running of the JFK 50-mile ultramarathon in Boonsboro, Maryland, delivered another year of crazy-fast times in both the women’s and men’s races. In the women’s event, Jade Belzberg and Shea Aquilano ran within seconds of each other all the way through mile 41.8 at the end of the towpath trail. Belzberg then opened up a small gap over the final 8.4 miles when the course turned to rolling roads, winning in 6:07:53, the fourth-fastest women’s time in race history. Aquilano finished less than 2 minutes back in second (6:09:32), good for the fifth-fastest female course time ever. Hannah Allgood (6:15:09) rounded out the women’s podium in third.
In the men’s race, Hans Troyer made his move shortly after completing the Appalachian Trail section around mile 15. He passed last year’s winner, David Sinclair, who stopped for a shoe change, and never relinquished the lead. Troyer surged over the final 35 miles to win in 5:10:24, the second-fastest JFK time in history, behind only Sinclair’s 2024 CR. Sinclair held on to finish second in 5:18:06. Stephen Kersh crossed the line just 25 seconds behind in third (5:18:31). Full results here.
Dinosaur Valley Endurance Run
Our next stop takes us to Glen Rose, Texas, for the ninth annual Dinosaur Valley Endurance Run (100-mile, 100k and 50k ultra distances). There were 212 runners who finished this year’s 100k race, by far the largest field of the three ultra distances, paced by men’s winner Meng Zhao, who completed the multi-loop course in a new course record time of 9:57:50. Zhao also won the 100k race back in 2023. Graham Peck was the second runner across the line in 10:09:01, also well under the previous CR time. Kevin Tran came in third (10:55:05).
Top honors in the women’s 100k race went to Laura Arnold in 12:23:38, the fourth-fastest female time in course history. Arnold placed eighth overall. Guirong Wood ran to a second-place finish in 13:12:32. Sarah Loch-Test (13:26:40) ran to third.
It’s worth noting that 100-mile participants get recorded a 100k time, so names may show up in the rankings for both events.
Top 100-mile finishers:
Women
- Sarah Loch-Test (23:48:55)
- Darc Fesler (25:58:21)
- Guirong Wood (27:00:01)
Men
- Mark Wooten (19:34:15) *New course record
- Charles Linnemeyer (21:19:23)
- Becket Duncan (21:28:02)
Top 50k finishers:
Men
- Daniel Arnold (4:37:51)
- Gregory Shimansky (5:03:48)
- Jeremy Swan (5:19:47)
Women
- Jocelyn Mims (6:00:10)
- Mackenzie Herman (6:48:47)
- Janna Savallo (6:49:30)
Full results here.
Fat Ox
Next up, we travel to Buckeye, Arizona, for the Fat Ox Endurance Runs, home to the 2025 USATF 24-hour Championship where the top three women and men competed for $4,000 in prize money. Polina Hodnette earned the win in the women’s contest and placed fifth overall, completing 117.6 miles in 24 hours. Jian Springer finished second female and ninth overall with 90.9 miles. Pam Smith snagged the final women’s podium spot with 75.1 miles.
Scott Traer ran the most laps to win the men’s race, finishing with a total of 137.4 miles. Zachary Szablewski was second with 131.4 miles. Scott Munson (122.5 miles) placed third.
Fat Ox Endurance Runs also featured multiple fixed timed races, including 48 hours, 24 hours, 12 hours and 6 hours, as well as a 100 miles, 100k and 50k. Results from all the events can be found here.
Regal Beagle
Our final stop takes us to Akron, Ohio, and the Bath Nature Preserve, for the ninth annual Regal Beagle ultramarathon. There were 51 runners who started Sunday’s 50k race, with the crown in the men’s event going to Alec Cline for the second straight year. Cline led the race wire-to-wire on his way to running a speedy time of 3:22:50, the second-fastest course time ever. Runner up in the men’s race went to Brian Polen in 3:44:35. David Schwinger completed the podium in third (3:50:52).
Courtney Clark cruised to victory in the women’s contest, crossing the line in 4:13:10. Clark placed seventh overall. Madison Cuthbert was the second female finisher in 4:52:50. Lynette Hatzidakis took third (5:03:50).
Full results here.
Other results from this weekend include: Darrington Single Track Trail Challenge (Pilot Hill, CA), CT Trailmixers Fall Fling 400 (Southington, CT), and Duncan Ridge Trail (Blairsville, GA).
5 comments
The male winner of the Dinosaur Valley 50k was Daniel Arnold in 04:37:56.
Hi Laura, thanks for pointing this out. The live tracking was way off yesterday for the 50k for some reason. I’ve corrected the top three for both the men’s and women’s races. Congratulations on both of your races yesterday.
Thank you! We sure appreciate you!
Drew, the 50K has both Saturday morning and Sunday morning starts. So it appears you were pulling after Saturday morning’s race, but before Sunday’s finishes, but the resulted are combined as finishers come in Sunday automatically. Please feel free in the future to reach out to us, and we’ll connect you with our Social Media and Press Team to get you the information you need directly! Thanks for including us, as the first WS qualifier in the US in the qualifying period, and still a newer qualifier, this race has a lot of attention now across the US!
Hi Libby, thanks for letting me know, and sorry about the confusion!