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We officially move into the final quarter of 2023 with this weekend’s What’s Up In Ultra, which straddles September and October on our North American UltraRunning Calendar. A 100-miler in Utah’s Wasatch Mountains, an old school 50-miler in Northern California, a mountainous 50k in New Mexico and more highlight our column, closing out the third quarter of the year.
Starting on Friday, September 29, is the 25th edition of The Bear 100-miler in Logan, Utah. This is a point-to-point race through the Wasatch-Cache National Forest, across the Bear River Range of Idaho and finishing at Bear Lake on the Utah-Idaho border. This year’s start list runs 363 names deep, and last year, a record number 235 people crossed the finish line. Check out live race day tracking here. Read Believing at the Bear 100 by UltraRunning ambassador Alex Gold.
The 40th Dick Collins Firetrails 50-miler is on Saturday, September 30 in Castro Valley, California. The race returns to Lake Chabot Marina, which is the location of the start and finish. The course goes out and back on Dinosaur Ridge before heading back to Anthony Chabot Park. Directed for many years by the legendary Ann Trason, Firetrails celebrates the memory of Dick Collins, one of the forefathers of ultrarunning. The race is sold out, but there are a few spots left in two different sub-ultra-distance races including a marathon and 30k.
Grants, New Mexico, is home to the Mt. Taylor 50k, also on Saturday. Just 90 minutes west of Albuquerque, the race runs east to greet the sunrise from the La Mosca Lookout. Featuring views of volcanic plugs to the north, the Continental Divide Trail, open high mountain meadows and a 360-degree view from the summit of Mt. Taylor at 11,305 feet—this course truly has it all. This year’s race is sold out.
Additional races on our calendar include but are not limited to, the Iron Horse Ultra 100k/100-miler in St. Paul, Alberta, the Blues Cruise 50k in Reading, Pennsylvania, the Hinson Lake 24 Hour Ultra Classic in Rockingham, North Carolina, the Crested Butte Ultra 55k/50-miler in Crested Butte, Colorado, the Black Forest 100k in North Bend, Pennsylvania, and the Perpetua Coast 50k in Yachats, Oregon.
What’s Up In Ultra in your community this weekend? Don’t forget to check out our Ultra Weekend Recap if you missed it, highlighting last weekend’s North American ultrarunning results, and be on the lookout for results from the above races and more on Sunday. Subscribe to our Thursday morning newsletter to read even more ultrarunning news from us each week.