The Ultra Minute

The Ultra Minute: Javelina’s 55-second finish

Ken Seals — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 22:27:18 GMT

Hey y’all,

After an up-and-down year, Heather Jackson told Mountain Outpost she wanted to end her season “on a positive note.” At mile 95.3 of Javelina, she was still 3:21 behind the leader. At the finish, she was 55 seconds ahead.

The rain in the forecast arrived, leaving mud and minor washouts on the Arizona trails. We’ve got a pair of late-race overtakes and wins from China to Sweden.

Here’s your Monday Ultra Minute:

Javelina’s late overtakes

Jackson caught Carla Molinaro in the final miles of Javelina’s women’s 100-miler near Fountain Hills, Arizona, after trailing by more than eight minutes in the fourth loop. She won in 13:48:29, with Molinaro just 55 seconds back in 13:49:24. Katie Asmuth was third in 14:06:34, Valérie Arsenault fourth in 14:09:24 and Devon Yanko fifth in 14:12:55.

The men’s race turned late, too: Rob Molke passed Noah Dusseau after the mile-90.2 checkpoint and won in 12:11:30. Dusseau was only 87 seconds back in 12:12:57, and Canhua Luo was third in 12:19:39. Jacob Banta finished fourth in 12:23:29 and Rajpaul Pannu fifth in 12:26:47.

Both winners ran their divisions’ second-fastest times. Jackson’s time trails Tara Dower’s 2025 standard (13:31:47); Molke was less than 90 seconds off Will Murray’s record from the same year. The top two women and men all accepted their Golden Tickets to the 2027 Western States 100.

More from Javelina

Cassandra De Winter won Javelina’s 100K outright in 7:44:45, becoming the first woman under eight hours. That’s more than 28 minutes off the previous women’s course record. Juan Rocha was the first man and second overall in 7:50:28, ahead of James Cecil and Addison Porcelli. Brittany Charboneau was second woman in 8:26:09 and Steph McCall third in 8:50:43.
Every woman on the 100-mile podium was 40 or older: Jackson and Molinaro are both 42; Asmuth is 40. Yanko, fifth, is 44.
Asmuth was one place short of a Golden Ticket at February’s Tarawera 102K, finishing fifth after the tickets rolled down to third and fourth. Luo was fourth at April’s Canyons 100K, one place outside its three men’s tickets.
Brett Hornig calls it “trailflation” in Singletrack’s recap: improving your time can still mean sliding down the results. Blake Slattengren, as just one example, ran 12:50:30 for eighth this year, 7:37 faster than the 12:58:07 that earned him second in 2023.
Molke called his shot in July, writing that he was going to get a Golden Ticket at Javelina. At the finish, he told Mountain Outpost: “I have been betting on myself and I knew I could do this.”
Five runners in the men’s and women’s top fives had DNF’d here in 2025: Molke, Molinaro, Arsenault, Pannu and Yanko. For Molinaro, the 2023 50K world champion, this was her first completed 100-miler. “Third time lucky,” she told Mountain Outpost after landing the Golden Ticket. She normally races on the road and wanted to see how she’d stack up against the trail runners. Quite good, I’d say.
A couple of years ago, Asmuth returned after surgery in Javelina’s 31K, about 19 miles; this time, she was racing two hundreds closer together than ever before, following UTMB. “I missed the elusive ticket, but secured the podium,” she wrote afterward. Jade Belzberg had been racing mountain 100-milers, with a 100-mile best of 24:15, and wanted to see what she could do on a runnable course. Her eighth-place 16:08:12 took more than eight hours off that.
Des Linden finished ninth woman in 16:58:00 in her first 100-miler. In her own account, she says her calves cramped at the end of lap three, then locked up during a shoe change. After more than 45 minutes sitting trailside, she stopped her watch and began planning how to get back to drop out. A few more minutes of walking became a slow jog toward the next aid station. She rallied again and again, then made it through the last rainy, slippery loop. Her closing line: “Let’s do it again sometime!”
Cal Calamia won Javelina’s nonbinary 100-mile division in 22:35:13. Janelle Fritz finished her first 100-miler, representing Women in Ultrarunning through its HOKA program. First-time hundred-miler Kat Lopez was the last listed 100-mile finisher, the DFL, in 29:53:17. She beat her wave’s 30-hour cutoff by less than seven minutes.

Around the Sport

At the New York City Marathon, Jess McClain outsprinted Hellen Obiri for second in 2:24:42, becoming the first U.S. woman on the podium since 2018. Sheila Chepkirui won in 2:24:36. Ryan Montgomery won the nonbinary division in an event-record 2:23:39, part of his build toward a 24-hour world-record attempt at Desert Solstice on December 19.
Jim Walmsley won Saturday’s Tsaigu Trail 105K, about 65 miles, in Linhai, China, in 10:53, ahead of Miguel Arsénio and Bartłomiej Przedwojewski. It was his first ultra finish of 2026. Xiang Fuzhao led a Chinese women’s podium in 13:30, with Chi Lingjie second and Tang Jingyan third. DogsorCaravan’s race report describes Xiang pulling away on a technical descent. The report also describes fourth-place Meng Guangfu splashing stream water over Arsénio to cool him as they fought for position. Before the race, Walmsley explained why he wanted to come: to race China’s best runners on their home turf. “I want the hard race course.” Courtney Dauwalter describes the 50K as a “fun adventure” on steep trails and through bamboo forests, with humidity leaving her “fully soaked starting at mile 1.”
At Kullamannen’s 100-miler in Sweden, Anna Carlsson finished fifth overall in 16:44:26, more than an hour and 40 minutes ahead of second woman Anne Luksengaard Mjelva. Emma Lemminger was third. The men’s race was much closer: Juuso Simpanen won in 15:39:15, just 4:17 ahead of Baptiste Derouin, with Alexandre Boucheix third.
Mallorca’s weekend winners included Maite Maiora and Lambert Santelli in the 138K, about 86 miles through Spain’s Serra de Tramuntana. Santelli ran 14:38:02; Maiora finished in 18:01. Henriette Albon, who’d announced this as her final race of the season, won the 104K, about 65 miles, in 11:23:06. Marcel Fabian won that men’s race in 9:33:46.
The Cairn Project opened applications today for its 2027 Trail Running Sisterhood: 36 women preparing for a first 50K or trail half marathon at Wild Woman Trail Runs in Trout Lake, Washington. On the program page, 2026 participant Amina Hasan writes: “Growing up, I never saw other hijabi athletes.” The program includes coaching, gear, race entry and camping. Participants commit to raising $1,000 for future scholarships and cover their own travel. Applications close December 28.

Big thanks to Altra for supporting The Ultra Minute and helping me keep these stories coming your way. I’ve been running in their shoes for well over a decade, and I’m grateful to have them backing TUM.

If you’re shopping Altra, you can shop here and use code TUM15 for 15% off. It lets them know we sent you and is a great way to support us, too.

Thanks, y’all :)

Also worth a look:

Jason Schlarb recounts his fourth place at Kolon Trail Run Bhutan: mud on the climb, snow near the top, then running and sliding on his butt down the final descent. He calls it his best race of the year, perhaps the past two.
Amber Ferreira, Haley Heinrich and Lindsay Weigel join Andrew Wojciak on Run Mountain Peaks for a conversation about training, motherhood and the women building the White Mountains trail scene.
With no winter race planned for the first time in 20 years, Jill Homer returns to Niwot Ridge for a five-hour walk. She writes about old expedition dreams, the people and places she values now, and changing her mind about what she wants to do next.
Ahead of Friday’s Grampians Peaks Trail 100 Miler in Victoria, Australia, organizers issued a pollen and thunderstorm-asthma advisory. They’re asking runners to monitor updated warnings and carry their prescribed medication, and say they’ll communicate any changes.
Lastly, Matt Walsh looks at Satisfy’s latest accounts and asks whether the Golden Trail World Series’ TV push is finding an audience.

The most viewed links from our last issue:

That’s it for today, y’all. If this helped you catch up, send it to a friend who’d enjoy it. I appreciate you reading. And, don’t forget to use TUM15 next time you shop Altra :)

Ken

The Ultra Minute: Des Linden’s first 100-miler

Ken Seals — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 22:01:29 GMT

Hey y’all,

Like so many of you, I remember watching Des Linden win the 2018 Boston Marathon live in the pouring rain. That run still gives me chills. Now the two-time Olympian has turned her focus to trails and is about to take on her first 100-miler at Javelina on Saturday, with rain in the forecast again that night and Sunday.

We’ve got Javelina’s weekend viewing, Snowman’s climate mission, and a few good reads for the weekend.

Here’s your Friday Ultra Minute:

Back in December 2024, we linked Linden’s trail runs in New Zealand, our first hint that she might be heading toward trail and ultra racing. A few weeks later, we were following her hints about trail ultras on Nobody Asked Us with Kara Goucher. Since then, she’s finished 13th woman at Black Canyon 50K and third at Marathon des Sables. In this week’s Nobody Asked Us, she says a 14-hour finish would be “amazing.” The distance is what she’s most nervous about, and going really far is what she’s most excited about.
Javelina Jundred starts Saturday near Fountain Hills, Arizona, with 2027 Western States Golden Tickets for the first two women and men. Tickets can roll down as far as fifth if runners ahead decline or already have a place. Linden joins a field that includes Heather Jackson, Jade Belzberg, Addie Bracy and Devon Yanko. Jacob Banta, Rajpaul Pannu, Canhua Luo, Blake Slattengren and Jordan Bramblett are among the men. Camille Herron, the 2021 winner, is also planning to return this year. The National Weather Service forecast calls for a high near 77°F Saturday, then rain overnight and Sunday, with a flood watch beginning late Saturday night. Singletrack’s preview weighs cooler conditions against potentially muddy trails. All three panelists pick Belzberg to win; two have Jackson second and Yanko third. Their men’s win picks split among Banta, Pannu and Luo. On Free Outside, Allison Mercer picks Belzberg and Yanko for the women’s tickets; Jeff Garmire goes with Belzberg and Jackson. Liam’s new preview profiles both fields; he picks Belzberg and Banta to win. I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with for costumes. The first 100-mile wave starts at 6 a.m. Arizona time, 8 a.m. Central. Mountain Outpost’s live coverage begins at 7:30 a.m. Central, with streams continuing through Sunday.
Tove Alexandersson won Friday’s Tsaigu Trail 50K in Linhai, China, in 4:25:44, finishing fifth overall. She’d already won Zegama, Marathon du Mont-Blanc, Laugavegur and Marathon des Causses this year. Varvara Shikanova was second in 5:01:25 and Courtney Dauwalter third in 5:07:51. Dauwalter moved up from around sixth early on; DogsorCaravan’s translated post-race interview summary says the heat caught up with her late. Yang Chunlong won the men’s race in 4:10:04 ahead of Yu Xutao and Antonio Martínez Pérez, according to DogsorCaravan’s report and provisional results. The organizer says Martínez Pérez attacked after the final checkpoint to take the last podium place. The 105K, with Jim Walmsley among the entrants, is now underway in China. Watch the livestream on Tsaigu’s YouTube channel.
Bhutan’s Snowman Race combines racing with climate advocacy, bringing together a small, invited field. The five-day, 185-kilometer crossing, about 115 miles from Laya to Bumthang, finished Wednesday. Bhutanese runners took the top two spots in both races: Pema Choki ahead of Dawa Chozom and Rachel Entrekin, and Jamphel Choda ahead of Tashi Norbu and Cody Lind. iRunFar’s race report follows Choki’s four stage wins and Choda’s move clear on day three. The report also says Thursday’s glacial lake outburst flood damaged part of the route in the Laya area, where Choki and several other Bhutanese runners are from. Entrekin, Lind, Luke Nelson and other participants have since shared a message from Bhutan, saying their thoughts are with those affected by the flood.
Meg Mackenzie wrote Tuesday that she was “safe and stable” at lower altitude after a night on oxygen with altitude sickness. She thanked Snowman Race, the camp doctor who stayed by her side all night, and Luke Nelson, who checked on her hourly. “It made me realise how much better we can all be at taking care of each other.”
Reader Marcus Thornton tipped us off to Ben Clayton’s NoNo 200 at No Business 100 in Tennessee and Kentucky. Clayton ran the course twice: first an unofficial loop in reverse, then the official race with the field. He started October 21, two days before the race, and his NoNo 200 activity records 210.78 miles, about 339 kilometers, in 77:09:17 elapsed. The challenge raises money for the Tim Tebow Foundation.
John Kelly reports finishing the Benton MacKaye Trail fully unsupported in 4 days, 5 hours and 48 minutes. His account is shared on an eight-day delay. The route covers 287 miles, about 460 kilometers, from Georgia to the Great Smoky Mountains. He ran out of food with about five hours left. He writes about enjoying a few days alone, and about realizing ten days into this year’s Appalachian Trail attempt how much he wanted to be back with his family.
Dan England’s new Trail Runner feature gets inside the U.S. backyard team’s win. Early on the second night, Mark Dowdle admitted to Levi Yoder that he was struggling to stay awake. Yoder was struggling too, and suggested they look after each other through the lap. Harvey Lewis gave up some of his own rest to bring teammates through; Megan Smyth remembers asking for a “hill sherpa.”
The southernmost 1.1 miles of the Continental Divide Trail are closed, according to the Continental Divide Trail Coalition. The group says the U.S. Army notified it of the closure during border-area construction in New Mexico. Its fall shuttle is now picking up at Cache Box 1, 13.9 miles from the terminus. The coalition expects the restrictions to last until construction finishes in mid-November.
Nickademus de la Rosa writes in TIME about needing race wins to feel worthy of love, and what happened when open-heart surgery ended his professional career. Years of therapy helped him build a different relationship with running. One concrete change: entering shorter races he’d once avoided because he might not win, and having fun anyway. “There is nothing to prove. This is just a race.”
Kilian Jornet writes about fear and mountain decisions, including the times he turns around: about half of his activities, by his account. He describes a rescue after poor planning and overestimating his team’s abilities, then explains how he checks conditions, terrain and people before and during an outing. Preparation matters, but he stresses that zero risk doesn’t exist. He also takes on a question his own videos raise: should elite athletes show this stuff?
Cathy Beaudoin profiles Aisha McAdams in Women Can. The trail photographer found being the subject of Learning to Fly uncomfortable, and says the experience deepened her understanding of the empathy storytelling requires. She also gets specific about the work around a race assignment: studying the course, choosing shooting spots, meeting the athlete, traveling and delivering the photographs.

If you’re shopping Altra, you can shop here and use code TUM15 for 15% off. It lets them know we sent you and is a great way to support us, too.

Thanks, y’all :)

Also worth a look:

Tom Evans won’t race again this year after his fall at Diagonale des Fous. He says scans showed more going on than hoped, with a clearer plan due next week.
Liz Myers and Christie Brinker compare their No Business experiences in Tribe of Runners: one finish, one missed cutoff, and a recap covering pacing, aid stations and racing without crew or pacers.
Darius Parker joins James Lauriello on The Steep Stuff Podcast to look back on his surprise U.S. mountain running team selection. He’d signed up for Sunapee thinking it was a short trail race in New Hampshire, and says he heard he’d made the team at the awards.
Max Hines revisits June’s One Dollar Ultra in New York City, where runners paid $1 per lap and street closures squeezed the course between barricades.
Zach Bitter joins Trail Mix Running Podcast ahead of a planned attempt on his own U.S. 100-mile record at December’s Desert Solstice in Arizona, where Ryan Montgomery is also targeting the 24-hour world record.
The 2027 Western States lottery entry window opens Sunday, November 1, and closes November 21. Applicants need a valid qualifying finish; the drawing is December 5.
Lastly, on this day in ultrarunning history: October 30, 2021, Camille Herron won Javelina’s women’s race in 14:03:23, a course record at the time. Arlen Glick won the men’s race in 13:14:51. Mark Wilson’s contemporary iRunFar report takes us back to that hot Halloween weekend in the desert.

To everyone who’s subscribed recently, thank you and welcome, y’all! I’m giving Substack’s chat a shot as a place for us to get to know one another. Introduce yourself in General, tell us where you run and what you’re looking forward to, and say hello to another reader. You’re welcome to start conversations of your own, too.

We’ve also opened a Western States & Golden Ticket Races channel. Let’s start with Javelina: who are your picks to earn tickets this weekend?

And, we’ve added our full archive to the TUM Directory, along with a new look that should make it a bit easier to navigate, and the profiles should contain a lot more context & history. Look up a runner or race to find our past coverage and follow the original sources. If you found yourself wondering about any of the names or races in this issue, try searching for them in the directory to learn more.

The most viewed links from our last issue:

That’s it for today, y’all. If this helped you catch up, send it to a friend who’d enjoy it. I appreciate you reading. And, don’t forget to use TUM15 next time you shop Altra :)

Ken

The Ultra Minute: Elazzaoui’s two-point three-peat

Ken Seals — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 20:52:03 GMT

Elhousine Elazzaoui celebrates his third consecutive Golden Trail World Series title in Muju, South Korea. Photo: ©GoldenTrailSeries® – Muju Trail Grand Finale – Koastal Forest.

Hey y’all,

Elhousine Elazzaoui wrote “To be or not to be” on his hands before the Golden Trail World Series finale. He left South Korea with a third straight title, decided by two points.

We’ve also got a breakthrough in the women’s final, an outright win at No Business, news from Bhutan, and a good read on what makes an adventure worth sharing.

Here’s your Monday Ultra Minute:

Elazzaoui won the Golden Trail finale in Muju, South Korea, in 2:49:14, holding off Patrick Kipngeno by 44 seconds. He attacked on the first climb, built a lead of more than five minutes, then had to withstand Kipngeno’s charge up the final climb. Timothy Kibett completed the race podium in 2:50:48. The win and six segment-bonus points took Elazzaoui from third in the Golden Trail World Series standings to first: 1,130 points to Kipngeno’s 1,128. Philemon Kiriago, the leader coming in, finished 11th and slipped to third for the season. He told The Star he slowed on the wet, rocky descents to avoid injury, also saying it was one of the toughest mountain running courses. American Taylor Stack ran second for much of the race before losing four places on the final climb and finishing sixth in 2:55:47. He called it bittersweet, but wrote, “I gave myself a real chance and I’m proud of it.”
Andrea Kolbeinsdóttir turned a national-series invitation into a Muju win. The Icelander earned her “Golden Ticket” in Australia, then won her first Golden Trail World Series race in 3:19:56. She and Mădălina Florea traded the lead before Kolbeinsdóttir pulled away on the final major climb, finishing 5:50 clear. Mexico’s Miriam Morales Hernández earned an at-large spot after winning a race in her country’s national series, then used the technical descents to help take third in 3:29:12. Florea’s runner-up finish secured her second straight series title, ahead of Caroline Kimutai and Ruth Gitonga. Across her five series starts this year, Florea won three and finished second twice. American Sydney Petersen finished 25th at Muju, closing the year 16th in the series, the top U.S. woman.
Mika Thewes won No Business 100 outright in Jamestown, Tennessee, in 20:11:10, 6:41 ahead of men’s winner Blake Neumann in 20:17:51. Derrick Lindsay and Steven Huffine completed the men’s podium; Laura Ricci and Kaysee Armstrong were second and third among the women. UltraRunning reports a women’s course record, more than 15 minutes under the previous mark. This comes just three weeks after her Mammoth 200 win.
At Massachusetts’ Womp Romp 50K, Blaire Byg won the women’s race and finished second overall in 4:39:35. Kayla Burnham, second in 4:44:36, also beat the previous women’s course record, according to UltraRunning. Sophie Van Leeuwen completed the women’s podium; Alejandro Mesa Mazo won outright in 4:03:04. Jackie Goldman won the nonbinary division in 7:12:35.
Liz Wright won the Tussey Mountainback 50K outright in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, in 4:09:19, about 1:36 ahead of men’s winner Gunner Denius. Bianca Pourmussa and Emily Koehle finished third and fourth overall, completing the women’s podium. Brian Thiede and Tanner McCall were the second and third men.
Closer to home in Bandera, Texas, Philip Arneson won Cactus Rose 100 in 22:43:50, according to the unofficial results. Esther Hackleman won the women’s race and finished third overall, and women filled four of the first six places. Stuart Job and Derek Ezell completed the men’s podium; Lillian Martinez and Lucia Powell were second and third among the women. And a shout-out to TUM reader, friend and neighbor Scott Baldridge, who went from curled up in a fetal position at mile 27 to fifth among the men in 33:32:35. He told me cramps and nausea had him stopped there for about ten minutes, but he never wanted to quit. He and Derek ran 30 miles together. “We saved each other’s races,” he said. Lillian joined them for two hours near the end of the second loop.
Underson Ncube won Cape Cobra Trail’s 42K in Cape Town, South Africa, in 3:55:16, 9:20 clear of Mvuyisi Gcogco. Johardt van Heerden was third. Mel Laing won the women’s race in 4:23:31, ahead of Lodelia Kombrink and Tarrin van Niekerk. Ncube said he’s “still new to the distance and still learning.”
Carre Zatwarnytsky won the women’s race and finished third overall at Rim to River 100 in Oak Hill, West Virginia, in 19:22:14 on chip time. Allayva Stier and Suzanne Klaus completed the women’s podium. Josiah Stermer won outright in 16:45:07, ahead of Anthony Oliverio and Andrew Boyd.
After three days of Bhutan’s Snowman Race, Pema Choki leads the women’s cumulative standings in 17:46:38, with Rachel Entrekin second in 19:07:21 and Dawa Chozom third. Jamphel Choda, Tashi Norbu and Cody Lind lead the men, in that order. These are combined stage times, with two days still to go in the 185-kilometer race (about 115 miles). Before Monday’s stage, Entrekin checked in from camp looking forward to the big climb with her “new trauma-bonded homies.”
Frédéric Tranchand and Sara Alonso both set course records at Sobrescobio in Asturias, Spain. Tranchand led from the first checkpoint and won in 2:39:14, ahead of Jan Torrella and Marcos Villamuera. Manuel Merillas, his season-long rival, was fourth, 4:28 back. Alonso led throughout and won in 3:14:02, almost ten minutes clear of Greta García, with Patricia Pineda third. The Skyrunner World Series now heads to its SkyMasters final at Marató dels Dements on November 7.
Kilian Jornet says his knee operation went well. Pain had persisted through the season despite trying to train around it, and he had surgery last week. He hasn’t named a return date or the procedure. His order of operations: “get healthy first, then get fit.” For now, that means sleeping, eating, moving without aggravating the knee, and letting it heal. The skis are waiting.
Cameron Balser had passed 1,175 miles (about 1,890 kilometers) by early Monday afternoon on his Breaking 42 run from San Francisco City Hall to New York City Hall. He started October 10, chasing Pete Kostelnick’s supported crossing record of 42 days, 6 hours and 30 minutes. He’s also raising money for the Grant County Family YMCA, where he previously worked. His crew reported muddy roads and a stuck support vehicle Monday, with Balser continuing on foot.
Jenny Tough asks what makes a professional adventurer worth following in The Ultra Trail. Her argument: an industry that pays for attention can reward wins and headline-grabbing exploits while overlooking stories that get ordinary people outside. She remembers defending a sponsored back-of-pack bikepacker whose followers were inspired to try the sport. For her own work, the payoff is readers saying they went camping because of her stories. She asks readers to support the people and stories they want more of.
Two Pennsylvania Appalachian Trail shelters are at the center of a preservation fight. Outside reports that the National Park Service plans to remove Eckville and 501, citing safety, maintenance and a return to a more natural backcountry setting. The agency says environmental and historic-preservation reviews will come first; no demolition date is given. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy supports removal. The volunteer Blue Mountain Eagle Climbing Club is campaigning to save them, arguing that their water, accessible locations and shelter matter to hikers. The 501 shelter is already closed; Eckville remains open.

If you’re shopping Altra, you can shop here and use code TUM15 for 15% off. It lets them know we sent you and is a great way to support us, too. Thank y’all :)

Also worth a look:

Finlay Grant and Dalia Alonso won the Skyrunner U23 series titles. Grant beat Tom Spencer by six seconds at the Sobrescobio final; Emma Méndez won the women’s race ahead of Alonso and Laia Calzada. The season podiums were Grant, Spencer and Jan Ballbe for the men, and Alonso, Méndez and Calzada for the women.
Miao Yao has accepted her Golden Ticket for the 2027 Western States 100, and Miguel Arsénio has confirmed he’ll be there for his first 100-miler. Both earned their tickets at CCC.
Heather Jackson says she’ll race Javelina Jundred this weekend: “Wasn’t sure we’d be able to get one more start line in this season but here we go.”
Dmitry Klimov completed 126 hourly loops at Russia’s Biotropika last week, covering about 845 kilometers (525 miles). He ran 39 loops alone after Alexander Laptev stopped at 87. Biotropika’s new Solo Mode format lets the last runner continue and permits support on course; the organizer calls this an event record.
Lastly, a couple of films to leave you with: Distances+ has a new Diagonale des Fous film, recapping this year’s race across Réunion, and Singletrack’s Whites 100 film follows a summer fastpack along the Appalachian Trail from Gorham to Glencliff, New Hampshire.

We’ve also got a new TUM Directory. It pulls together past TUM coverage of athletes, races and organizations, so you can get a little more background on a name that’s new to you, or find a few rabbit holes to go down.

The most viewed links from our last issue:

That’s it for today, y’all. If this helped you catch up, send it to a friend who’d enjoy it. I appreciate you reading. And, don’t forget to use TUM15 next time you shop Altra :)

Ken

The Ultra Minute: A shared record, a U.S. comeback

Ken Seals — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 17:36:25 GMT

Hey y’all,

Big’s has pretty much taken over my Instagram feed for the last five days, and I’ve really enjoyed following along. The U.S. worked its way past Australia for the team title, while Belgium’s final pair kept going to a shared record of 124 hours: five days and four hours.

We’ve also got a 24-hour record attempt, a championship weekend in Korea, the Snowman Race in Bhutan, and some good reads.

Here’s your Friday Ultra Minute:

Merijn Geerts and Ivo Steyaert stopped together after 124 yards at Belgium’s backyard team-worlds race, sharing a new record of 516.7 miles, about 831.5 kilometers. That’s five more hourly loops than Phil Gore’s previous mark. Neither won the Belgian race: a winner must complete one last loop alone. The U.S. won the team championship with 1,120 cumulative yards, ahead of Australia’s 1,069 and Belgium’s 1,058. Countries race on separate courses, and the team total adds up every runner’s completed hourly loops, known as yards. After the 82nd hourly loop, Australia still led by 18 team yards, but had only two runners left to the Americans’ eight. When Australia’s race ended at 87 yards, the U.S. was level on points with four runners still going. Greg Fall went on to 92 yards and Nicholas Steel to 94, before it came down to Mark Dowdle and Jon Noll. Noll timed out on yard 107, earning the assist with 106 completed yards; Dowdle completed it alone to become the U.S. winner with 107 yards. Megan Smyth contributed 82 yards, the highest total by a woman in the championship. Belgium and the U.S. have traded the team title since the championship began in 2020: Belgium in 2020 and 2024, the U.S. in 2022 and now 2026. Australia has finished second in the last two editions.

Ryan Montgomery is calling his shot at the 24-hour world record: more than 200 miles (about 322 kilometers) at Desert Solstice in Phoenix on December 19. Aleksandr Sorokin’s mark is 198.6 miles. In David Melly’s CITIUS Mag / The Lap Count interview, Montgomery says the preparation includes more than 80 miles on the track in one week, practicing direction changes and fueling with liquid calories.
The Golden Trail World Series settles its titles in Muju, South Korea this weekend. Mădălina Florea leads Caroline Kimutai and Ruth Gitonga in the women’s standings; Philemon Kiriago leads Patrick Kipngeno and Elhousine Elazzaoui in the men’s. The finale offers 300 points for a win, plus up to 30 across uphill, downhill and sprint segments. Both races start at 1 p.m. in Korea: 11 p.m. Central Friday for the women and 11 p.m. Central Saturday for the men. U.S. coverage includes HBO Max and FloSports (FloTrack), both subscription services. FloTrack’s event page is here.
Rachel Entrekin writes from Laya, Bhutan ahead of the Snowman Race, saying she’s there to witness a country’s plea for climate action. She connects the 185-kilometer (about 115-mile) Himalayan challenge with taking small steps without any guarantee of success. “But the difficulty of a challenge doesn’t make it any less necessary to try,” she writes. The five-day race starts October 24 at 7 a.m. in Bhutan, which is 8 p.m. Central tonight. Live tracking is here.
Aaron Kubala recounts the Moab 240 storm in Outside. While leading in the La Sal Mountains, he says he had to climb over and under downed trees as more fell nearby. He was devastated to see his season end, but says cancellation was the right call. He also describes being hospitalized afterward with rhabdomyolysis. The organizer is offering commemorative buckles to runners who reached Bridger Jack, mile 96. Its emailed request form is due October 25; contact the race if you didn’t receive it.
Rod Farvard’s UTMB 2026 and Beyond details his recovery from quad tendinitis, the injury behind his withdrawal. As his knee deteriorated, Zach Miller motioned him back toward the front group rather than letting him drift away. After Farvard eventually dropped, Courtney Dauwalter told him she was proud of him. He writes about how much those words mattered, and how stepping away from social apps helped him be present through injury and grief. He’s back to run-walks and says he won’t resume full training until he’s fully healthy.
A public-lands change to know about: the U.S. Forest Service has finalized shorter project-comment windows, effective November 12. For projects covered by the rule, the minimum becomes 15 days for an environmental assessment and 30 for an environmental impact statement, down from 30 and 45. Transition provisions preserve the old process for some projects already underway. This is a separate rule from the proposed Roadless Rule rescission we covered earlier.
In The Soul of Trail Running, Miller starts with the simple aid stations and familiar faces at his hometown Conestoga Trail Run. His October 16 iRunFar essay finds the same connections in conversations at UTMB, even amid its commercial machinery. The atmosphere can change; the people who give a race its soul are still there.

If you’re shopping Altra, you can shop here and use code TUM15 for 15% off. It lets them know we sent you and is a great way to support us, too. Thank y’all :)

Also worth a look:

A new Pikes Peak Skybound Marathon is planned for August 7, 2027, on the paved Pikes Peak Highway. This is a separate road event from the established trail Marathon and Ascent, which return September 18–19.
Hanna Gröber has joined Nike ACG. She says Nike supports her goal of competing at an international championship and believes in her long-term potential at short or long trail distances.
Kilian Jornet’s NNormal is expanding into alpine apparel: four pieces for mountaineering, climbing and ski touring, developed with prototypes he used on Alpine Connections and States of Elevation. The brand says trail running remains its main focus.
Runners for Public Lands is recruiting volunteer ambassadors for 2027. It’s a full-year commitment, with options including trail work, advocacy and community runs. Applications close November 21.
Arizona’s Chiricahua is now a national park. The former national monument was already part of the park system; this changes its designation. The National Park Service has updated its site, too.
Sabrina Little takes on greatness at iRunFar, starting with a dad and his sons picking up playground litter while she was keeping her own kids away from the mess (an experience I can relate to, as grabbing my toddlers before they pick up a used dum-dum seems to be a near daily event). Her question: can we carry trail running’s service culture into the rest of life?
A callback from the water: Catherine Breed has completed Swim California, the coastline project we mentioned in July. She covered nearly 900 miles from Oregon to Mexico in stages, supported by a boat and crew. She started July 1.
Lastly, congratulations to Anthony Lee and María José, who got married on October 10.

The most viewed links from our last issue:

That’s it for today, y’all. If this helped you catch up, send it to a friend who’d enjoy it. I appreciate you reading. And, don’t forget to use TUM15 next time you shop Altra :)

Ken

The Ultra Minute: Młynarczyk takes the Templiers record

Ken Seals — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 13:08:21 GMT

Hey y’all,

“I don’t think I’ll ever ‘be ready’ for this distance or race. But I’m curious enough to try.” Toni McCann has accepted her Western States ticket.

We’ve also got a Templiers course record, an 18-year-old winner at Lake Sonoma, and a finish that took 49 days.

Here’s your Tuesday Ultra Minute:

Martyna Młynarczyk won the Grand Trail des Templiers in 7:41:18, taking 66 seconds off Caitlin Fielder’s 2024 women’s course record. Alexandra Cassan-Ferrier closed late for second in 7:46:22, with Audrey Tanguy third in 7:51:05. In the men’s race in Millau, France, Francesco Puppi caught longtime leader Dimitri Morel-Jean on the final two climbs and won in 6:32:20, one second outside Jon Albon’s course record. Morel-Jean finished in 6:39:27 and Benjamin Roubiol in 6:44:09. Puppi describes two very different races within those 80 kilometers: 55K fighting his body and negative feelings, then 25K of powerful, joyful running. “I tried to be patient and give myself a chance,” he writes.
Diagonale des Fous follow-up: Ruth Croft, still leading when we sent Friday’s issue, went on to win in 27:13:23, ahead of Alyssa Clark (28:26:53) and Agathe Bes (29:05:19). Croft was 11th overall on Réunion’s 180-kilometer course. In her own race account, Croft writes: “Every time I thought I’d found my rhythm, the course had another plan.” She calls the race brutal but beautiful, from its scenery to the people supporting her, and found her groove in the last 50K. Behind Hugo Deck, whose win we covered Friday, Robin Juillaguet and Jérôme Vanderschaeghe completed the men’s podium. Salomon calls Juillaguet’s second place his 100-mile debut. Seventh-place Tom Evans says a fall around 70K changed the rest of his race. He’s proud to have finished, with more shin scans planned this week.
Charlie Kline, 18, won the Sonoma Fall Classic 50 Mile in 7:10:30, ahead of Andrew Hutchinson (7:23:11) and Grant Hotaling (7:24:51). Amy Cameron, 47, won the women’s race in 8:20:31 and finished sixth overall. Alexandra Sciocchetti (9:22:15) and Tory Dobyns (10:15:34) completed the women’s podium.
In the Sonoma Fall Classic 100-mile race, Nicole Kurnik won the women’s race and finished second overall in 20:55:25, less than an hour behind overall winner Nick Reshetnikov (20:01:06). Marisa Pasnick (25:56:16) and Sydney Chesta (27:34:16) were second and third women; Daniel Lingenfelter (21:22:52) and Hunter Olson (21:50:00) completed the men’s podium.
Mary Namestnik finished second overall at Mines of Spain 100 in Dubuque, Iowa, winning the women’s race in 21:09:26. That’s nearly an hour off her own course record, UltraRunning reports. Garrett Nelson won overall in 19:02:51. Namestnik writes that emergency abdominal surgery in May had left her wondering when her body would feel like hers again. The volunteers and runners believing in her brought her to tears: “A community that believes in you is powerful.”
In Quebec, Anne Champagne won Bromont Ultra’s 160K in 21:43:45, fifth overall. UltraRunning reports a women’s course record by more than 90 minutes. Philippe Groleau won the men’s race in 18:42:49.
Anna Maraia won Uwharrie’s 100K outright in 14:08:28 in Troy, North Carolina, more than 40 minutes ahead of men’s winner Kyle Bevers (14:48:50).
Lily Hubanks won Wild Duluth’s 50K in Minnesota in 4:39:49, fourth overall. Clayton Foster won the men’s race in 4:27:49, and Morgan Durbin led the nonbinary division in 7:10:10.
David Sinclair won Cranmore Mountain Race’s two-lap 10K in North Conway, New Hampshire, with Remi Leroux second and both listed at 44:06. Daniel Curts was third in 47:30. Charlotte Winkler won the women’s race in 59:28, seventh overall, ahead of Jenna Gigliotti (1:00:14) and Colleen Sands (1:03:19). And if you followed Sinclair’s Pemi Loop FKT in our October 9 issue, he revisits the 5:01 run with Run Mountain Peaks in a new interview.
McCann is going to Western States in 2027. She turned down her 2024 CCC-earned Golden Ticket because the jump to 100 miles felt rushed, and wanted more 100K experience first. This time, she’s still afraid of the distance, but excited by the training and a runnable, hot, unfamiliar challenge. She’s accepted the ticket rather than waiting to feel ready. Comrades, she says, can wait another year or two. Yngvild Kaspersen has accepted her 2027 ticket too, excited and nervous to share the race with McCann.
Annabel Hepworth has finished the Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race, winning the women’s race in 49 days, 9 hours, 3 minutes and 2 seconds. The organizer ranks her the fourth-fastest woman in the race’s history. She withdrew after 2,185 miles in 2024 and couldn’t start last year after a late injury. The race closed Monday evening when Vasu Duzhiy became its fifth and final 3,100-mile finisher in 50 days, 13:14:53, his 14th completion. Four other runners ended with shorter totals, led by Nayaja Perugini at 2,862.1 miles; nobody remains on course.
Jeff Browning writes about life 54 days after his cardiac arrest at TDS. He and Jennifer are happy, he says, with an “undercurrent of melancholy.” He’s been told the heightened beauty of life after a near-death experience fades; he doesn’t know if he can prevent that, but says he’ll never stop being grateful. His wife and kids, deep conversations with friends, yellow wildflowers along a trail. “Giddyup, but don’t forget to breathe in the beauty of the world.”
The U.S. moved into second overnight at Big’s Backyard Ultra’s World Team Championship. At 7:27 a.m. CDT Tuesday, after 72 completed yards, the board’s top four were Australia (1,017 team yards, 10 runners left), the U.S. (959, 9), Japan (945, 4) and Belgium (934, 5). Standings remained provisional, with one other nation still entering results. In an earlier overnight update, the U.S. organizer wrote: “Then it’s a chase to Australia, the race leader.” The organizer’s yard-33 post confirmed a daytime move from the U.S. trail loop to its night road course and described the heat. Dead Cow Gully and Backyard Ultra Podcast questioned the midrace change. Their post gave faster laps and more recovery as the reported U.S. rationale, but said prior course changes had been limited to severe weather. They asked whether any team could switch midrace and whether that fit the spirit of backyard racing. Our interactive explainer covers the hourly format, team scoring and course differences. Spain’s race stopped in heavy rain. Big’s organizer says it can be rescheduled with the runners still active at the stoppage; the post gives no date or explanation of how a restart would be scored. And comedian and podcaster Theo Von came to crew Mark Dowdle for a yard, serving pasta and talking with crews and Laz.

Big thanks to Altra for supporting The Ultra Minute and helping me keep these stories coming your way. I’ve been running in their shoes for well over a decade, and I’m grateful to have them backing TUM.

If you’re shopping Altra, you can shop here and use code TUM15 for 15% off. It lets them know we sent you and is a great way to support us, too. Thank y’all :)

Also worth a look:

Courtney Dauwalter has confirmed she’ll run the California International Marathon on December 6. She tells Runner’s World she’s chasing 2:37, the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials standard. An Ironman next year is also “very likely,” the magazine reports; the open-water swim makes her nervous.
Dakota Jones and Footprints finished their five-day run around Utah’s Great Salt Lake. Their closing message: “If we want to save it, we have to prioritize it.”
Jim Walmsley’s next stop is China. Freetrail announced his planned return at Tsaigu Trail, following his Western States DNF in June. The 105K in Linhai, Zhejiang starts October 31 with about 6,677 meters of climbing. In the separate 50K, Freetrail lists Tove Alexandersson, Rémi Bonnet and Dauwalter. If you picked “Somewhere else” in our Walmsley poll, take your bow.
Both winners made their moves downhill at Malaysia’s 24.5K Mount Kinabalu Climbathon. June Villarroel (4:09:14) and Alex Oberbacher (3:20:54) each caught the leader after the summit.
Tara Dower’s Fastest Known Time: 40 Days on the Appalachian Trail is due March 30, 2027, from Gallery Books. The publisher describes a day-by-day memoir of her 2024 Appalachian Trail effort. Her agent, Kelly Newlon of RAD Boulder, writes about reading it 17 times through the editing process, and how often it has made her tear up.
Lotti Brinks joins Katie Asmuth on The Trail Network. The episode’s notes promise her Kodiak 100K story, mountain biking, and balancing elite racing with leading marketing at a tech startup.
Carmen Graves joins Women of Distance for a conversation about her first trail season after years on the track as a steeplechaser. She finished second woman at Kodiak’s 50K, which we covered October 12.
Chris Dixon covered a reported 940.06 kilometers, about 584 miles, on a treadmill in seven days, according to Helping Hands Running Festival. The organizer says the effort was for Gracie and other children living with a limb difference.
Austria’s Innsbruck Alpine Trailrun Festival is joining World Trail Majors in 2027, adding another independent event to the series.
Erin Ton reports a women’s Half Dome FKT, with 3:12:17 elapsed on Strava for Monday’s round trip in Yosemite. That’s below both women’s cables-route marks currently listed by Fastest Known Time: 3:37:10 supported and 3:38:36 unsupported. Ton says she started at the edge of the pavement in the valley and ran about 14 miles with 5,000 feet of climbing. She chose the attempt after learning the cables’ support posts and planks were down for the season, hoping for less traffic.
Réunion Aventures Joëlettes brought participants with disabilities to the Grand Raid finish after more than 100 kilometers on an adapted route, about 62 miles. They traveled in all-terrain wheelchairs, with the association’s carriers helping them along the route. The whole group reached the finish, the organizer reports.
Lastly, Sander Boom was Diagonale’s final finisher, reaching La Redoute in 65:57:33, the 2,126th person home.

The most viewed links from our last issue:

Grand Raid’s live tracker
Anton Krupicka and Hailey Moore’s wedding
Jeff Garmire and Allison Powell’s wedding photos

That’s it for today, y’all. If this helped you catch up, send it to a friend who’d enjoy it. I appreciate you reading.

Ken

The Ultra Minute: Marcato wins his seventh straight 3,100-mile race

Ken Seals — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 19:49:15 GMT

Hey y’all,

“More than a race, I would say it’s a journey.” That’s Andrea Marcato, after his seventh straight 3,100-mile win. Then he went back out to make it 5,000 kilometers.

We’ve also got Diagonale underway on Réunion, how to watch Big’s, and Ryan Montgomery on making a living while making more room in the sport.

Here’s your Friday Ultra Minute:

Marcato won the Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race Wednesday in 45 days, 3 hours, 11 minutes and 28 seconds. Runners have 52 days (yes, days) to cover the distance, circling a roughly half-mile block in Queens, New York. The course opens at 6 a.m. every day and closes at midnight, with a six-hour overnight break. In the organizer’s finish interview, Marcato is grateful, but still wants to improve his own performance; his best here remains 42 days, 17 hours, 38 minutes and 38 seconds, from 2021. He connects that pursuit to Sri Chinmoy’s philosophy of self-transcendence, with the finish one point in a physical, mental and, above all, spiritual journey. Radu Budan became the second finisher Thursday in 46 days, 10 hours, 59 minutes and 38 seconds. Annabel Hepworth led the women with 2,949.3 miles completed by Thursday night; her race continues.

Julie Brock has a newly listed fastest known time for Perth–Sydney in the women’s supported category: 48 days, 7 hours, 8 minutes and 7 seconds, finishing October 10. Her partner supplied food and water along the crossing from Cottesloe Beach to Bondi. She initially planned 65–70 kilometers a day; by the final week, she was covering more than 85.

Montgomery talks sponsorship and visibility with Raziq Rauf in Running Sucks. He accepted less money to join Janji so he could be more involved with a smaller brand, then built a model around one-off shoe collaborations at key races instead of going head-to-toe with one sponsor. He says it’s more lucrative and lets him try different shoes. He also helps athletes negotiate contracts. His sponsors help fund OutTrails, the queer running retreat he created for people who weren’t seeing themselves in the sport. Asked whether he feels pressure to speak out as a queer athlete, he calls the expectation that marginalized athletes must also be advocates “toxic.” He chooses to educate and build bridges; others might simply want to race. He sees value in both.

Hugo Deck has won Diagonale des Fous in 22:54:20, according to the organizer’s finish announcement. At 12:30 p.m. CDT Friday, Ruth Croft still led the women ahead of Alyssa Clark on the live checkpoint feed. The race crosses Réunion over about 180 kilometers and 10,200 meters of climbing; WebTV coverage is here. Marianne Hogan withdrew after calf pain returned, and is crewing Thibaut Baronian on his return after nearly two years sidelined by injury. The Roche Plate–La Brèche trail reopened Tuesday, resolving Monday’s conditional access update.

Big’s Backyard Ultra’s World Team Championship starts Saturday at 7 a.m. CDT, with national teams racing simultaneously in their own countries. Each runner starts another 4.167-mile loop every hour; teams can field up to 15 runners, and every completed loop counts toward their total. Belgium is defending its title. The official worldwide stream is scheduled to begin at 6:45 a.m. CDT, with this first broadcast covering hours 1–10.

The pre-race trash talk is underway, too. Mark Dowdle ribs Belgium and Australia, saying they’ve chosen easier home courses than Team USA’s. Terry Muffins fires back with satire about Australians having it easier thanks to universal health care, a joke contrasting Phil Gore’s charity fundraising with Dowdle’s TikTok likes, and a taunt about whether Dowdle can break the Big’s course record. The reels have drawn hundreds of comments. I find this kind of banter interesting. It feels unusual in ultras, and I’m curious to see how it evolves, including whether it makes its way beyond backyard racing. That course debate helped inspire our Big’s preview, with an interactive team map, a scoring explainer and a comparison of reported course climbing.
Check out our Bigs Preview
Vivek Gowri, owner of San Francisco Running Company, joins Corrine Malcolm on Trail Society to talk about helping more people feel they belong. The shop’s community helped him run beyond ten miles for the first time, then his first ultra. Now he’s texting friends and community leaders to bring more people in. Seeing few people who looked like him helped motivate him, as an Indian man, to take on a leadership role. He also talks about listening to what different communities need. For the women-led Women’s Trail Half Marathon, that includes twenty $250 childcare grants and a $25,000 purse paid ten deep. He argues that practical support for women should be normal across races.

Dylan Bowman sits down with Josh Rosenthal on Borderlands to talk about building Freetrail while missing the runner he used to be. At the interview, he’d taken two weeks off because running to relieve stress was wearing him down instead. He felt better, was still lifting and hiking with a weighted vest, and hadn’t given up on running. For the learning, growth and life experience, he says it was absolutely worth it; financially, not yet. He describes a team that’s overworked and underpaid, while also saying the business is in a solid place, he’s proud of it, and he still feels it’s the right work for him.

Women in Ultrarunning has named its Every Woman Belongs grant recipients: Nia Ryan, Charlotte Io and Audrey Rice. Katie Burns created the program; her fundraising and community donations made a third grant possible. Ryan and Io receive $750 each, and Rice receives $250. Ryan wants other trans women to see a place for themselves in ultrarunning. Io values having people to encourage and problem-solve with, and Rice says the group’s support helps quiet her self-doubt.

Will Peterson has shared the story behind the Hundred Mile Wilderness run we mentioned Monday. A bad forecast prompted a last-minute switch from a supported New Hampshire Appalachian Trail attempt, leaving about 48 hours to prepare for Maine. In the technical miles from roughly 60 to 84, he invented a running buddy who tracked his running versus hiking and got annoyed when he walked a flat or descent. Peterson says it worked. His 26:55:45 is now listed as the men’s unsupported FKT. He calls the run bittersweet: he thinks it may close a five-year speed chapter on the route with Xander Keiter.

France’s Ultra Marin is reserving half its 2027 lottery allocation for Brittany residents. Organizers say they want to preserve locals’ historical share as demand grows and limit travel. The split applies across eligible entries, with each distance weighted by its mix over the past three editions: the 175K Grand Raid example is 37%. Relay and nonlottery entries are exempt. Applications run October 19–23.

Courtney Dauwalter is training for December’s California International Marathon, Abby Levene writes in Trail Runner. Their conversation looks back at Dauwalter trying UTMB after Hardrock, feeling flat from the start, and continuing in hope things would turn around. She knows results matter, but doesn’t want a bad one to discourage experimenting: “I would like if trying hard things could just be the win alone.”

If you’re shopping Altra, you can shop here and use code TUM15 for 15% off. It lets them know we sent you and is a great way to support us, too. Thank y’all :)

Also worth a look:

Caitlin Fielder will miss Sunday’s Grand Trail des Templiers. The two-time defending champion told Distances+ she can’t line up for the 80K in Millau, France after being ill last week.
Blandine L’Hirondel crossed the Mascareignes finish with Réunion friends who’d lost their daughter, Lola. They’d supported her at Diagonale last year; this time she chose the race to share the moment with them.
Cirque Series has posted its season podiums. In the overall Pro standings, Jamie Brusa finished ahead of Alexa Aragon and Laurel Moyer; Mason Coppi topped the men ahead of Jackson Cole and Remi Leroux.
Becca Bramley has joined Mount to Coast after her runner-up Kodiak 100K finish. She also won the women’s race at July’s High Lonesome 100 in 21:55:49, lowering Rachel Entrekin’s women’s course record by 27 seconds. And Cody Poskin, the Kodiak 100-mile winner we covered Monday, has joined Team Tantrums.
ROOTS, Alexis Berg’s film about Croft, is now online. And Zach Miller’s Protect What Matters short looks back at caretaking at Barr Camp and connects proactive care for his body with caring for forests before fire season.
Fyn Kynd logged 6:45:02 on the Mahoosuc Traverse Sunday, saying he missed the record by about four minutes. He says he clawed back roughly ten minutes over the final five miles and wants another go next season.
Xavier Thévenard says the pleasure of running has returned after his difficult years with Lyme disease. Sunday’s fourth place at Vallée de Joux in Switzerland was his fourth race of the season. He wants to try longer distances again, without making big plans yet.
Allie Leveille won the women’s race in her 100-mile debut at Midstate Massive last weekend, October 10–11, in 26:11:16. She hadn’t expected a win after getting sick three days out, and credits her fiancé and friend for pacing her through the night and to the finish.
Lila Miller shares her Moab account from Bridger Jack, including friends’ unsuccessful attempt to reach her through floodwater. She respects the cancellation and is glad everyone is safe: “a race is just a race at the end of the day man.” Free Outside’s Moab 240: What Actually Happened pairs Jeff Garmire with a runner and his crew member who spent the night there.
Ahead of Big’s, Run Mountain Peaks’ Bubba’s Backyard episode revisits the race from a day-three pacer’s perspective, with technical courses versus flat speed on the agenda.
Kilian Jornet is backing Rights for Nature, a European Citizens’ Initiative seeking legal personhood for ecosystems and a way for citizens to represent them. Its signature campaign opened Tuesday, with a goal of one million EU signatures over a year.
Scott Jurek calls Chicago a benchmark. He says he felt in 3:10 shape and fought for 3:12, but isn’t chasing his former self. He’s enjoying the training, sees room to improve, and wants to keep working.
Dakota Jones ran 33 miles on Day 1 of Where the Water Was, the community relay around the Great Salt Lake, then passed the baton and finished the day by bike. The group made it 43 miles to Ogden. The Footprints project hub has the October 13–17 plan, a map, and ways to support local groups working on the lake.
Corinne Shalvoy remembers the people in her Kodiak 100K: an early conversation with another runner, volunteers who made racing solo feel supported, and a phone call with her son during a low. Her fastest mile, she says, came at mile 62. “Damn this sport is cool.”
Jim Walmsley won’t be racing Templiers either. He’ll be watching his Hoka teammates. Javelina Jundred led last week’s TUM poll with 39% of 38 votes, and is the only named option from our poll that he hasn’t ruled out. He still hasn’t named his next race, and he wasn’t on Javelina’s 100-mile entry list as of this morning.
Lastly, congratulations to Garmire and Allison Powell, who brought a unicycle to the wedding photos; Anton Krupicka and Hailey Moore, who shared their “I do’s”; and Adam Peterman and Erin, who announced their October 5 wedding in British Columbia. Belated congratulations, too, to Allie Ostrander and Spencer Brown, married August 14, and Jennifer Lichter and Nick Cornell, married September 12.

The most viewed links from our last issue:

That’s it for today, y’all. If this helped you catch up, send it to a friend who’d enjoy it. I appreciate you reading.

Ken

The Ultra Minute: Moab canceled, Gibson’s record debut

Ken Seals — Mon, 12 Oct 2026 22:31:32 GMT

Hey y’all,

Trees were falling and aid-stations were blowing away, according to reports reaching Destination Trail at Moab 240 on Sunday. Runners were told to shelter at their next aid station and wait for their crew or a shuttle to pick them up.

Aimee Warnke was amid falling trees, hail and high winds when the race was called off. She was saddened by the cancellation, but she understood the decision: “I knew they made the right call,” she writes.

Elsewhere, Kodiak delivered a fast first 50K, the mountain-running World Cup wrapped up in Québec, and both Yeti 100 course records fell. We’ve also got a Bubba’s catch-up, a few mountain efforts, and some good reading.

Here’s your Monday Ultra Minute:

Moab 240 was canceled Sunday after wind, rain and freezing temperatures made the Utah course unsafe. Destination Trail reported falling trees and aid-station structures blowing away, and told runners to shelter at their next aid station. Earlier, flooding at Cottonwood Creek had left about 70 runners and volunteers temporarily isolated at Bridger Jack, with heated tents, hot food and water while race staff and emergency responders worked on evacuation. The latest organizer update says every runner is accounted for, either back at race headquarters or in a vehicle headed there. Aaron Kubala, whose Triple Crown record bid we followed Friday, described a rough night in the La Sals with his back locking up and trees falling in the wind.
Brady McDonald, one of Ashley Paulson’s pacers, stepped in earlier than planned for 26 miles when the storm arrived Saturday night. He also shared storm footage, saying Paulson and her companion crossed more than 100 fallen trees. Aimee Warnke, replying to that post, commented “As saddened as I was about it, being in the middle of the falling trees with hail and the crazy winds in that same section when the race was canceled, I knew they made the right call.”
Anna Gibson won Kodiak’s 50K in Big Bear Lake, California, in 3:59:13, finishing 11th overall. Brooks calls it a course record in her first 50K. Before the race, Gibson was heading in with “no pressure, no expectations, just a fun celebration of a jam packed really epic year.” Carmen Graves was second in 4:04:12 and Elizabeth O’Connor third in 4:06:30; Abby Hall finished fourth in 4:08:56. Cole Campbell won the men’s race in 3:20:42, with Miquel Corbera Rubio second in 3:23:15 and Cade Michael third in 3:27:02. Eli Hemming was fourth. As the UTMB World Series Americas Major, Kodiak gives the top 10 women and men in each ultra distance direct entry to next year’s corresponding final: 50K to OCC, 100K to CCC, and 100 miles to UTMB.
In Kodiak’s 100K, Lotti Brinks won in 10:15:44, ahead of Becca Bramley in 10:25:04 and Lindsay Allison in 10:28:08. Jose Angel Fernandez Jimenez took the men’s win in 8:33:09, 2:31 ahead of Gavin Prior, with Stephen Kersh third in 8:59:04. The top 10 women and men earn CCC entry.
Nichole Abma won Kodiak’s 100-miler in 20:43:40, followed by Madeline Wighardt in 22:05:50 and Charlotte Saunders in 22:39:31. Cody Poskin won the men’s race in 16:46:21, with Alex Proctor second in 17:23:05 and Max Jolliffe third in 18:15:45. Wighardt’s coach, Addie Bracy, shared the story behind her runner-up finish. At High Lonesome in July, Bracy and Rachel Entrekin talked Wighardt out of dropping at mile 65. Bracy had to do it again at mile 83, and Wighardt eventually walked to the finish. After a week off and a debrief, athlete and coach decided one bad race didn’t outweigh the evidence that their training was working. Now Wighardt has a place in next year’s UTMB 100-mile final. “See you in Cham, Maddie!” Bracy writes.
Nina Engelhard swept both races at Défi des Couleurs in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Québec, the WMRA World Cup finale. She won Saturday’s uphill race in 31:43, ahead of Kirsty Skye Dickson and Erin Moyer, then Sunday’s classic up-and-down in 1:20:34, ahead of Joyce Muthoni Njeru and Nélie Clément. Meikael Beaudoin-Rousseau won the men’s uphill in 28:55, nine seconds ahead of Rémi Leroux, with Cam Smith third. The U.S. men won the uphill team competition, and the U.S. women’s team finished second. Philemon Kiriago won Sunday in 1:11:24, just 19 seconds ahead of Mason Coppi, with Leroux third again. The season titles went to Kiriago and Ruth Gitonga. Gitonga and Njeru finished tied on 384 points, with Gitonga’s greater number of wins deciding the women’s title. Visa problems kept several Kenyan contenders from reaching the finale, including Gitonga. In its pre-race update, WMRA said several athletes still hadn’t secured the visas needed to travel.
Both Yeti 100 course records fell on Virginia’s Creeper Trail. Janessa Taylor became the first woman under 15 hours in 14:59:21, fifth overall; Joshua Lecrone became the first man under 13 in 12:52:32. The official results put Whitney Richman second woman in 15:42:32 and Steph Hill third in 16:50:35. William Weidman and Dominick Borreggine completed the men’s podium in 13:49:49 and 14:14:00. Taylor took 24:09 off the previous women’s mark; Lecrone took 41:22 off the previous men’s mark.
A catch-up we owe you from the October 3 event: Corin Kwasnik won Bubba’s Backyard in Center Conway, New Hampshire, with 81 hourly laps, or 283.5 miles. Katie Melsky was the assist, second overall and last woman standing. She completed 80 laps and 280 miles, adding 32 hours to her own women’s course record before timing out on lap 81.
Eddy Morales, this year’s Angeles Crest 100 winner, has published his race account. He let the leaders go in upper-90s heat, recovered with his crew’s help after running out of supplies, then left Mount Wilson in the lead. His closing lines look beyond the race, to his Latino community and families “being torn from their homes, displaced, and forced to live in fear.” “The thing I still value most is community,” he writes.
If you’ve ever felt qualified on paper but out of place anyway, Jenna Bensko’s reflection on August’s CCC is worth your time. Her past results earned a spot in the front start corral, but she felt awkward beside the pros in matching kits, wearing four brands and squeaky new shoes. After a rough day, a passing French woman slowed, whispered “courage” and squeezed her shoulder. The belonging she’d wanted from the corral came from a stranger who saw her struggling.
Andy Jones-Wilkins has closed AJW’s Taproom after 15 years at iRunFar. He’s making more room for being a grandpa, coaching and writing his book. His farewell includes the book’s prologue and one last Beer of the Week. Bottoms up, AJW.

If you’re shopping Altra, you can shop here and use code TUM15 for 15% off. It lets them know we sent you and is a great way to support us, too. Thank y’all :)

Also worth a look:

Will Peterson reports an unsupported Hundred Mile Wilderness run in Maine in 26:55:45, 32 minutes, 12 seconds quicker than Austin Black’s listed men’s unsupported mark of 27:27:57. “This took everything I had,” he writes.
Steph Abegg has a listed women’s unsupported FKT on Utah’s Wasatch Ultimate Ridge Linkup: 26:31, finishing October 7. Ten days after doing it over two days, she returned for one push carrying a pack weighing nearly 25 pounds. It takes 1:09 off Kelly Halpin’s previous unsupported mark.
At That’s No Moon 50 Mile in Silverado, California, Zack Skovgaard won in 7:42:39 and Melissa Taylor in 9:04:09. Aravaipa California says Skovgaard, Noah Johnson and Taylor and Audrey Wallingford earned the four 2027 Angeles Crest 100 Sterling Silver Tickets, which guarantee entry.
Yvette Kenny and Juliette Miller finished first and second outright at CanLake Ultras’ 50K in Canandaigua, New York, in 4:21 and 4:22. Martin Michelson was the first man and third overall in 4:31.
Lucy Gossage is planning The Longest Lap: roughly 6,000 miles around Britain’s coastline, starting in Edinburgh March 27, 2027. The six-month run supports Move Against Cancer, with pop-up 5K events for people living with and after cancer along the way.
The Roche Plate–La Brèche trail could reopen Tuesday, according to the French forestry agency’s Réunion team, which would preserve the planned Diagonale des Fous and Trail de Bourbon routes. Repairs to the guardrail and safety line still need finishing, and weather could delay the work. Diagonale starts Thursday, and Marianne Hogan now plans to start.
Cassidy Carroll joins Run Mountain Peaks for its latest episode about her unsupported White Mountains 100 effort.
Jeff Browning shared his first hike-jog back in his old Bend, Oregon, stomping grounds after cardiac arrest. Good to see this update from him.
Borderlands is putting on ANALOG, a trail-running late-night show November 1 at Salt Lake City’s State Room. Anton Krupicka headlines, with Aaron Gillespie of Underoath as musical guest. A film, conversation, music and a room full of people who care about the local ultra.
UltraSignup is rebuilding its registration platform for runners and race directors. Co-CEO David Callahan says the first phase will roll out over the next few months. The company says new tools will make it easier to find, register for and manage races. Attendees at November 5–7’s U.S. Trail Running Conference in Nashville will get an early look and demos.
Lastly, Caleb Olson went back to Utah’s Antelope Island Fall Classic, where he earned his first ultra win in 2019. He won the 50K again in 3:42:13, with Alexandra Audu winning the women’s race in 5:05:23. Olson camped with friends and family the night before, saying the island now feels like a “neighborhood block party.”

Friday’s poll about Jim Walmsley’s October race teaser closed with Javelina Jundred as the top pick at 39%, followed by Diagonale des Fous at 29%, Les Templiers at 26%, and “somewhere else” at 5%. Since his last post, Jim has ruled out Diagonale for 2026, but hasn’t yet named his October race.

The most viewed links from our last issue:

That’s it for today, y’all. If you raced, crewed or volunteered this weekend, I hope you’re getting a little rest today. And if this helped you catch up, send it to a friend who’d enjoy it. I appreciate y’all reading.

Ken

The Ultra Minute: Kilimanjaro’s first listed women’s unsupported FKT

Ken Seals — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 17:42:25 GMT

Hey y’all,

We’ve got a couple of fast mountain days to get into, from Kelly Halpin on Kilimanjaro to David Sinclair on the Pemi Loop. Rachel Entrekin is headed to Bhutan, Moab 240 is underway, and Abby Hall, Anna Gibson and Eli Hemming are among the names to watch at Kodiak tomorrow. Plenty to follow this weekend.

Here’s your Friday Ultra Minute:

Kelly Halpin, the Jackson, Wyoming, mountain runner, set the first listed women’s unsupported round-trip FKT on Kilimanjaro in Tanzania Tuesday, finishing in 10:30:56. Her ascent is also listed, at 7:10:16. The mountain already has men’s unsupported listings, led by Tyler Andrews’ 6:37:57 round trip. But park rules require a guide, which made Halpin’s setup a little complicated. After eight days scouting and camping with guides Simon Mtuy and Jackson Mtui, she carried her food, warm layers and emergency gear, refilling water once at a stream. Mtuy gave her a big head start, then ran the same route without crossing paths; he finished hours later. Halpin emailed Fastest Known Time beforehand to check whether that arrangement would be acceptable. “It’s not my ideal version of unsupported,” she writes, but she wanted to respect the rules of the country and mountain hosting her.
David Sinclair set the men’s unsupported Pemi Loop FKT in New Hampshire Wednesday, finishing in 5:01:11. That takes 31:23 off Jake Acito’s previous unsupported mark of 5:32:34, and is 26:09 quicker than Jordan Fields’ 5:27:20, the previous fastest listed time across support styles. A Lincoln Woods Trail closure sent Sinclair out on the Eastside Trail; coming back, a steep riverbank forced a backtrack and chest-deep ford of the Pemigewasset River. He still pushed for sub-five, missing by 1:11. “Looking forward to see if anyone can go under 5 hours in the future,” he writes.
Rachel Entrekin is headed to Bhutan’s Snowman Race, a five-day mountain race starting October 24. She says runners carry their cold-weather and sleeping gear, with overnight stops typically in local homes. She’ll join Luke Nelson, Cody Lind and Nancy Jiang, among others. Her pre-race post includes the application letter she sent to the King of Bhutan. In it, she describes how running in the mountains turned climate change from an abstract concern into something she could see: changing snow, glaciers and seasons. The race’s climate-awareness mission gives her a chance to share a landscape many of the people following her running will never visit.
Will $100,000 bring the biggest names to Run Rabbit Run? Jesse Rich isn’t convinced. The Steamboat Springs, Colorado, race has announced $100,000 each for the men’s and women’s 100-mile winners in both 2027 and 2028. Rich thinks the opportunity may matter most to sponsored runners and strong amateurs weighing expensive UTMB travel against a chance to earn money closer to home. He’s less sure the sport’s biggest stars will change their calendars. After finishing third this year, he initially said he wouldn’t return. Now he’s reconsidering: “perhaps a decent sized bonus on top of a $0 salary” would be nice, he writes.
Haroldas Subertas has shared his own account of the John Muir Trail attempt we followed last week. An early storm left snow on the trail and froze his hydration hoses; warmer weather and a breakfast burrito helped turn things around the next day. But he couldn’t make daytime naps work, and by the third night he was sleep deprived and hallucinating. After sleeping six hours beside the Tuolumne River, he woke outside the record window and arranged a pickup rather than continuing to Happy Isles. There’s respect for the trail and those who attempted it before him throughout the account. “The JMT has won, but I will be back to try again,” he writes.
A Mammoth 200 bookend: Jennifer Whipple was the final finisher, crossing while holding her kids’ hands after 106:20:53, according to the final results. And Kevin Funk, the runner carrying family letters we mentioned Tuesday, finished in 95:28:04. Good work, y’all.
Aaron Kubala and Aimee Warnke are on course at Moab 240, which started this morning at 7 a.m. Central / 6 a.m. Mountain. Both are chasing Triple Crown records and raising money for cancer causes. Kubala discussed his record goal on HappyCast. He says losing his mother a few weeks before Tahoe 200 reframed his season. As of his October 7 post, his campaign had raised $54,605 for metastatic breast cancer research through METAvivor in her honor. “Running is just running, but it can be a platform for something else,” he writes. Warnke is running the final leg of her Triple Crown of 200s. She says she’s chasing the Triple Crown record, with a bigger goal of raising $35,000 for CHRISTUS Children’s Cancer Center. If you’d like to help, you can support Kubala’s METAvivor campaign or Warnke’s campaign for CHRISTUS Children’s.
Kodiak’s 50K entry list includes Abby Hall, Anna Gibson, Eli Hemming, Matt Daniels and Miquel Corbera Rubio. Lotti Brinks, Stephen Kersh and Justin Grunewald are listed in the 100K. The free broadcast from Big Bear Lake, California, begins Saturday at 7:45 a.m. Central / 5:45 a.m. Pacific on UTMB Live. The 100K starts at 8 a.m. Central and the 50K at 9:30.
Hans Troyer talks with Joe Corcione on Everyday Ultra about his Western States DNF and third place at CCC. He was down for weeks after States, but didn’t think one bad day called for throwing out everything that had worked. His comparison is a disc-golf putt that hits the basket and bounces out: you don’t rebuild your whole stance for the next hole. At CCC, he waited longer to attack and eased off when a friend reminded him to stay in control. He’s still drawn to aggressive racing. The adjustment is finding more control within it.
The National Park Service wants input on the North Rim’s future after the 2025 Dragon Bravo Fire. Three preliminary redevelopment concepts are available for review, with comments open through November 6. This is a chance to weigh in on the recovery plan before it’s settled.

If you’re shopping Altra, you can shop here and use code TUM15 for 15% off. It lets them know we sent you and is a great way to support us, too. Thank y’all :)

Also worth a look:

The season-long WMRA World Cup wraps up at Défi des Couleurs in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Québec, with the uphill final Saturday, October 10, and the classic up-and-down final Sunday, October 11. These final races decide the uphill and up-and-down titles, along with the final overall standings for the season.
At MDS 120 Morocco, Rachid El Morabity won the men’s race with a three-stage total of 9:28:39, just 4:17 ahead of Louis Godeman. Sylvie Van Baelen won the women’s race in 12:29:47, 15:11 ahead of Laura Dumortier.
UTMB shares a breastfeeding-access pilot used at this summer’s Mont-Blanc event. Its Breastfeeding Pass provides a dedicated nursing space requested in advance, with passes collected near bib pickup.
An interesting partnership: sports dietitian Vic Johnson is working with Open Fuel on product development, with a goal of making fuel appealing over longer distances and keeping palate fatigue at bay.
Jim Walmsley says he’ll race this October after he wasn’t ready in time for UTMB. He hasn’t named the race. “Watch out for those late entries,” he writes.
Grand Raid Réunion will confirm the final routes for Diagonale des Fous and Trail de Bourbon early next week with the French forestry agency, ahead of their October 15 and 16 starts, respectively. A rockfall closed the Roche Plate–La Brèche trail, which both planned courses use. Repairs are underway, with no reopening date announced. A backup itinerary is ready and still passes through Maïdo.
Marianne Hogan has gradually resumed running after 10 full days off for the calf injury she disclosed ahead of Diagonale des Fous. She’s following her medical team’s recommendations and still feels some tension. Her hope is that a few more days will get the patched tire fully inflated before race day.
Writer and runner Nicholas Triolo talks with Hannah Green on iRunFar about a daily practice of running and writing, with room to notice birds and follow curiosity instead of always chasing an outcome.
Today’s deadline: comments on the proposed Pitkin County operating permit for Maroon Bells close October 9. The proposal remains pending.
Lastly, Justin Grunewald’s Kodiak sendoff run turned into Pokémon time, with Hans Troyer pulling a rare Mew card. “No running content, just Pokemon!” Grunewald writes.

I’ve been curious about Substack’s poll feature for a while, and Jim’s October race teaser seemed like a fun opportunity to try it out. So, what do you all think? Where’s Jim racing this month?

The most viewed links from our last issue:

That’s it for today, y’all. Good luck if you’re racing, crewing or volunteering this weekend. And if this helped you catch up, send it to a friend who’d enjoy it. I appreciate y’all reading. See you early next week.

Ken

The Ultra Minute: Women take second and third overall at Mammoth 200

Ken Seals — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 15:35:50 GMT

Hey y’all,

Mammoth 200 gave us two women on the overall podium. We’re starting there, then catching up on a win for San Antonio, a race director in a pea costume, and a hometown race that starts with a line drawn in the mud.

Here’s your Tuesday Ultra Minute:

Mika Thewes and Roxanne Vogel took second and third overall at Mammoth 200, finishing in 54:03:46 and 58:04:23 behind Gabe Joyes (51:35:11), according to official timing. That’s 218+ miles through California’s Eastern Sierra. Joyes finished second at HURT 100 this year. Mammoth was his first continuous 200-miler. He led for nearly 200 miles, Mountain Outpost reports, and finished 2:28:35 clear of Thewes. Thewes won Tahoe 200’s women’s race in June, finishing second overall there, too. Thewes’s pacer described a rough overnight stretch, estimating she’d kept down almost no calories between June Mountain and June Lake. “Not bad for having signed up 2 weeks ago,” she writes on Strava. Wyatt Barrett was the second man and fourth overall in 59:25:44. Yassine Diboun completed the men’s podium in 60:38:08, fifth overall; Lindsey Dwyer was the third woman and sixth overall in 61:21:28. Last year, Dwyer paced her husband for close to 100 miles at Mammoth, Mountain Outpost reports.
Vogel was racing her first 200 on her home trails. In September, she wrote that setbacks after hamstring surgery had left her unsure she could still race. Mammoth’s cutoff is Tuesday at 10 p.m. Pacific, and runners were still out there Tuesday morning. One favorite from the coverage: Kevin Funk, 58, with 4 grandchildren. He brought letters from his family to open when the nights get dark, Mountain Outpost reports.
Perpetua Coast 50K in Yachats, Oregon, hosted the rescheduled USATF 50K Trail National Championship Saturday. Anna Dalton won the women’s race in 4:29:20, sixth overall and more than 26 minutes clear of Theresa Fritz-Endres. Jessica Watychowicz completed the women’s podium. In her pre-race post, Watychowicz described a gradual return from an ankle injury and said she was “excited to learn.” The Trail House, the Boulder project supporting young runners chasing professional careers, went one-two in the men’s race: Dylan Flewelling won in 3:50:04, ahead of housemate Bayden Menton, with Jack Matherly third. Kirsten Beverley-Waters was the nonbinary winner in 6:36:40.
Hillary Allen won the women’s Mt Si VK at North Bend Trail Fest in Washington in 51:04, a women’s course record that she celebrates in her post. “I think I smiled the whole way up Mount Si,” she writes. Her return to running after injury and a gravel-cycling pivot has brought third woman at the Rut VK, then second woman at Mammoth’s Dragon’s Back Ascent, and now this win. Casey Campbell won the men’s VK in 39:20. Sunday’s elite 30K winners were Sarah Paxson (3:20:40) and Dustin Mullaney (2:50:55). Allen finished eighth woman in that race, which she describes as her longest run since her injury. Joe McConaughy, fresh off his supported northbound John Muir Trail FKT, turned up in a pea costume for his first year directing the festival and helped send off the kids’ race. “Life is good,” he writes.
Taelor Smith won Angeles Crest 100’s women’s race in 22:56:58; Eduardo Morales led the men in 20:12:08. Lake Franklin was the nonbinary winner in 26:47:58. Lindsay Phenix won the separate women’s Solo division in 26:26:56, fourth woman overall. Solo runners can use official aid stations and drop bags, but no crews or pacers. Dom Grossman finished his tenth AC100, describing overheating on exposed climbs between water sources. “I don’t think I’ve ever fought so hard for my life,” he writes. The official timing lists 109 finishers from 212 starters. Winter-storm damage to Highway 2 forced the start and finish into Altadena; the route also avoided the 2025 Eaton Fire closure area.
A Texas shout: San Antonio’s Courtney Rouse won the women’s Arkansas Traveller 100 in Perryville in 18:49:00, sixth overall and 1:38:21 clear of the second woman. Jacob Phillips won the men’s race in 16:47:32.
The threat of storms cut Ultra Pirineu’s 100K to about 60 kilometers around Bagà, Spain. Julen Calvó Vigara won in 5:32:33, ahead of Eliot Retulli and Pere Aurell Bové. The three future podium finishers were within five seconds at the Collada de Turbians checkpoint after five hours of racing. Gemma Arenas Alcázar won the women’s race in 6:57:55, followed by Jana Dobrovolná and Pilar Medina Heredia. Organizers also canceled Sunday’s 21K because of the severe-weather forecast.
The Cirque Series season wrapped up at California’s Mt. Baldy Saturday. Mason Coppi won the Pro race in 1:25:55.4. Lucinda Kolpa won the women’s race in 1:49:03.0, fourth overall. Coppi and Jamie Brusa top the season’s Pro standings. Coppi’s four wins gave him 200 points; Brusa reached 250 through six third places and one fourth, without an individual race win.
Zach Miller shares a hometown favorite, the September 27 Conestoga Trail Run near Lancaster, Pennsylvania: a roughly ten-mile race over rocks, roots and creek crossings, starting at a line drawn in the mud and ending with pizza at the pavilion. New runners and veterans shared the trail. “Small. Low-key. Soulful,” he calls it. “It’s the sport I hope we never lose.”
Kaylee Frederick won the women’s Black Forest 100K at Hyner Run State Park, Pennsylvania, in 14:50:07, third overall; Reagan McCoy won outright in 12:24:43. In her season recap, Frederick celebrates completing the PA Sufferfest: Hyner 50K, Worlds End 100K, Ironstone 100K, Eastern States 100 and Black Forest 100K in one year. She reports three overall podiums across those five races. She also reports finishing the four-race Black List, which excludes Ironstone, in a combined 56:59, down from 76:43 in 2023. That’s 19 hours and 44 minutes faster. She credits her coach and the Pennsylvania trail community that welcomed her as a teenager. Roads are next for a while, she writes, but she’ll be back on the trails.
Two reported records: Michael Tomchaney won Saddles 100 in Prescott, Arizona, in 16:41:43, a course record by more than an hour, UltraRunning reports. Marlena DeLeone led the women in 24:22:22. At The Naturalist 50K in Franklin, North Carolina, Canyon Woodward won in 4:09:36, a course record reported by iRunFar; Deanna Doane won the women’s race in 5:29:42.
More women on overall podiums: Sidney Andrew and Jessica Roberts finished second and third at Sage Burner 50K in Gunnison, Colorado. Emily Buchheit won Swiss Valley’s women’s 50K in Peosta, Iowa, in 6:02:03, third overall. Molly Alexander won the women’s DC Peaks 55K in Utah in 6:49:22, second overall.
A Big Bend follow-up: federal judge Kathleen Cardone issued a preliminary injunction Friday, pausing border-barrier construction and related ground-disturbing work in the Big Bend Sector until officials comply with applicable laws or the court orders otherwise. The order also stays the Big Bend waivers at issue. It’s a temporary court order, with the project’s ultimate fate still unresolved.

The Ultra Minute is now supported by Altra. I’ve been running in their shoes for well over a decade and am currently really enjoying their Experience Wild 3+. If you’re shopping Altra, you can shop here and use code TUM15 for 15% off. This lets Altra know we sent you and is a great way to support us :)

Also worth a look:

Caroline Chaverot, the 2016 UTMB and trail world champion, won Trail des Glières’ women’s 21K in Fillière, France, in 2:26:04. Timothée Courtois won the men’s race in 1:58:31.
Andy Jones-Wilkins writes about running at 59 on iRunFar: a favorite 20-mile loop now takes much longer, but a more flexible working life gives him time to enjoy it.
Seth LaReau’s latest shoe-sponsor rankings in Trail Waves put Hoka ahead of Nike ACG and Adidas Terrex. He scores sponsored athletes’ results at selected races and notes that Hoka benefits from its deep roster.
Matt Walsh asks where running’s boom is taking its brands in Trailmix: growth is giving companies room to expand into other sports, but will they keep investing in trail when the excitement fades?
Ben Dhiman coached himself to a UTMB win. Now he is hiring a performance coach: a paid, long-term partner to challenge his thinking and take over training planning and analysis, he writes.
Run Mountain Peaks talks with Stieg Bertram and mentor Larsen Ojala about Bertram’s White Mountains 100 in 31:58 at age 17, including their final stretch together on Moosilauke.
A deadline today: the U.S. Forest Service’s comment period on its proposed rescission of the 2001 Roadless Rule closes October 6.
Lastly, Camille Bruyas and her partner Antoine Relave welcomed Romy, born September 23. Congratulations!

The most viewed links from our last issue:

That’s it for today. To everyone who spent the weekend refilling bottles, driving between aid stations or walking a friend through a rough patch: thank you, you rock. See y’all Friday. And as always, if you enjoyed this issue, consider forwarding it to a friend (thank you!).

Ken

The Ultra Minute: Emily Keddie wins Grand to Grand outright

Ken Seals — Fri, 02 Oct 2026 20:38:26 GMT

Hey y’all, we scrolled through 600+ IG posts and checked articles, newsletters, podcast episodes, and videos since Tuesday’s issue so you could catch up without living on your phone.

Here’s your Friday Ultra Minute:

We missed this in Tuesday’s issue: Emily Keddie won Grand to Grand outright, totaling 37:51:23 to finish 1:18:36 ahead of men’s winner Andy Pearson (39:09:59). Reinhold Hugo was third overall in 42:28:40. The six-stage desert race finished September 26, and Keddie had won the first three stages outright. That included the 53.2-mile long stage, about 75% sand, crossing Coral Pink Sand Dunes. By then, her overall lead over Pearson was 1:26:28. Pearson won the fourth and sixth stages, and they had the same time on the fifth. He took back less than eight minutes across the final three stages. Juliette Sailland (43:18:03) and Szilvia Lubics (45:17:32) followed Keddie on the self-supported women’s podium. Lubics won the women’s race in 2024 and 2025. Kristof Crolla (54:38:16) joined Pearson and Hugo on the self-supported individual men’s podium. Founders Colin Geddes and Tess Geddes say 2027 will be their last edition as race directors.
Katharina Hartmuth’s post-race interview with Emily Halnon in Trail Runner gets beyond the Tor des Géants result we covered. Hartmuth says she set out to race more boldly, knowing she could fail. A six-mile climb she mostly walked in 2024 became a run this year. She also describes sleeping just 15 minutes on one night and later hallucinating so badly that she couldn’t remember what she was doing on the trail. Yet she came away excited about how much more she might have to give (which is so cool to think about): “I feel like I just started to unpack this box of potential.”
A JMT update: Haroldas Subertas was picked up from Tuolumne Meadows Thursday morning, Lauren Klein reports in an IG Story. He’d been unable to stay awake and slept on the trail for six hours; she says he’s safe and unhurt.
Last weekend’s Nice Côte d’Azur by UTMB 100M came down to 61 seconds: Clément Desille won in 22:27:00, ahead of Mathieu Delomier (22:28:01), with Laurent Mendez third in 23:45:54. Nice Premium describes the final battle over the last three kilometers. “I really thought I was prepared to win, but I came up against a very strong competitor,” Delomier said. Martina Klančnik Potrč won the women’s race in 29:25:52, followed by Nanihi Dantin (31:56:30) and Marianne Leroux (32:03:14).
At Cirque Series’ first Jay Peak race in Vermont on September 26, Remi Leroux won in 49:56, ahead of Noah Williams and Kevin Robertson; Laurel Moyer won the women’s race in 1:04:23, followed by Sabrina Thurber and Miranda Kielpinski. That’s a 6.7-mile course with 2,811 feet of climbing.
In iRunFar, Robbie Harms profiles Sin Miedo, a Nashville running group for Black, Indigenous and other people of color, founded by Yolanda López Haugabook, Antoine Haugabook and friends in June 2025. These former road runners wanted a trail community where they saw themselves represented. Now the group helps people navigate the equipment and know-how, then turns up at races with flags and bells, 25–35 people deep. For Yolanda’s birthday, members planned a 5K with purple bibs and medals, followed by a surprise party. “Saying everyone is welcome is not the same as creating access,” she says.
Kilian Jornet’s Substack essay, Nutrition: focus on the basics, takes us into his daily routine: overnight oats with berries and yogurt or kefir, and vegetables from the garden. He makes the case for habits you can sustain before chasing supplement and timing tweaks.
Raziq Rauf’s new Running Sucks profile of Preston Hopkins introduces the “dirtbag fixer” behind Jornet’s 2025 States of Elevation project. Hopkins rerouted bike legs and cooked for the team. Photographer Nick Danielson says Hopkins learned the whole crew’s needs, leaving him free to document the trip. When a mismatched pickup pin left Jornet and Dakota Jones cold, wet and about six miles away, Hopkins apologized. Jornet pointed at his bike’s “More Miles, More Fun” motto and smiled.

The Ultra Minute is now supported by Altra. I’ve been running in their shoes for well over a decade and am currently really enjoying their Experience Wild 3+. If you’re shopping Altra, you can shop here and use code TUM15 for 15% off. This lets Altra know we sent you and is a great way to support us :)

Also worth a look:

MLB has stopped evaluating Grand Teton for a national-park baseball game, KHOL reports, citing an October 1 letter. Other parks may still be considered.
In High Country News, Zoë Rom reports on a proposal to let Pitkin County operate and maintain Colorado’s Maroon Bells Scenic Area from 2027 as U.S. Forest Service staffing and budget shortfalls strain its upkeep. Federal approval is still pending, and the agency’s public comment period runs through October 9.
At Big Bend National Park, U.S. Customs and Border Protection says in a court notice it’s considering a smaller border-infrastructure project and expects a decision in the first week of October. Ground-disturbing work won’t begin immediately afterward; further administrative steps and remobilization will likely take several weeks.
Freetrail released Rich Roll’s TrailCon conversation with Katie Schide Thursday, recorded during Western States week in June.
1st Phorm has released Still Standing, a documentary following Kilian Korth at Cocodona 250, where he won the men’s race and finished second overall behind Rachel Entrekin in May.
Dakota Jones has announced Where the Water Was, a five-day run around the Great Salt Lake with Footprints. Jones says it starts October 13 at the Utah State Capitol and invites people to join.
I’m a fan of what Mike Hahn is building with WIRE. With his blessing, here are a few jobs from his latest roundup I thought you all might be interested in: Roark needs a Marketing Manager in Irvine, California, with four office days a week; norda has a Sales Account Manager role based in Montréal, hybrid, with French and English required; and HiiKER wants a UK-based Content Creator, working remotely in Europe-friendly time zones, with full-time, part-time or freelance arrangements considered. I also enjoyed his recent 3 questions feature with Mario Fraioli (Vincent Bouillard’s coach and writer behind The Morning Shakeout).
Lastly, Mammoth 200 started this morning, with 218+ miles ahead of the runners. Mountain Outpost’s coverage is live, and here’s the full stream schedule through October 6 if you’re making a weekend of it (see you in the chat).

The most viewed links from our last issue:

That’s it for today. If TUM helps you follow the sport without spending your whole day on Instagram, the best way to help it grow is to share this issue with one friend who’d get it. Or simply like this post. Thanks for reading.

Ken

The Ultra Minute: Kristin Johnson Finishes Third Overall at Bear

Ken Seals — Tue, 29 Sep 2026 16:37:34 GMT

Hey y’all, we scrolled through 600+ IG posts and checked articles, newsletters, podcast episodes, and videos since Friday’s issue so you could catch up without living on your phone.

Here’s your Tuesday Ultra Minute:

Kristin Johnson finished third overall at the Bear 100, winning the women’s race in 18:50:37. Only men’s winner Sidney Noble (17:39:23) and Mike McMonagle (18:25:27) got to the finish ahead of her. Anna Fisher (20:20:07) was second among women, nearly 90 minutes behind Johnson, followed by Maria Guy (22:14:14); Eli White (19:39:04) completed the men’s podium. Organizers called Johnson’s run a women’s course record. She was 1:35:12 faster on the clock than Careth Arnold’s listed 2024 mark of 20:25:49, though about a quarter of this year’s course changed after development displaced the old lakeshore finish. The race said the Garden City course could be a few minutes faster. On Monday’s Singletrack News, Finn Melanson called Bear “one of the classic 100-milers” and Johnson’s run “unsung”, saying the race’s smaller media profile could obscure her performance. Also, in a bit of fun before the race, McMonagle and Brett Hornig asked followers to predict which of them would finish first and in what time, with shoes and a gift card at stake. Hornig didn’t finish; his last recorded checkpoint was Franklin Basin, mile 62.
Tamás Bódis ran from Athens to Sparta in 19:40:51 to win Spartathlon, a men’s course record and more than 14 minutes faster than Fotis Zisimopoulos’s previous mark. Zisimopoulos finished second in 20:32:41, followed by Tomi Ronkainen in 21:26:36. Despoina Simantrakou won the women’s race in 24:45:43, ahead of Radka Churaňová (26:05:56) and Lemonia Panagiotou (26:58:04).
At the finish of Gorbeia Suzien, Sara Alonso held up a photo of her late friend and teammate Ida Robsahm after winning in a course record of 3:21:27. “I was thinking of her the whole time,” she told the Skyrunner World Series. Denisa Dragomir and Natalie Beadle followed her on the women’s podium. Alain Santamaría also broke the men’s record, running 2:50:24 ahead of Manuel Merillas and Loïc Robert. Every one of the first five men finished under the old mark.
Mammoth Trail Fest’s weekend results are in. David Sinclair won the 50K in 3:56:36 ahead of Chad Hall and Sean Riedel; Clara Caspard won the women’s race in 4:59:53 ahead of Emma Sjolund and Peyton Bilo. Ares Reading (1:59:12) led Adam Sjolund and Matt Daniels in Sunday’s 26K. “It was surreal watching this race on the livestream last year when I first started trail running,” Reading told The Trail House. Erin Moyer (2:17:52) led Tilde Bångman and Liz O’Connor in the women’s 26K. The 26K elite para winners were Jared Ewing (men, 3:08:35) and Dani Aravich (women, 3:00:46). In the non-binary results, Nicole Kimball (10:05:45) finished first in the 50K and Jax Van Horn (5:07:58) in the 26K.
Ruth Mwihaki Gitonga came from about two minutes behind to win her first series race at the Golden Trail World Series’ Jinshanling Great Wall Trail Race in China in 2:39:47. Hanna Gröber held second after a fall, with Caroline Kimutai third. Patrick Kipngeno pulled clear on the final major climb to win the men’s race in 2:12:30 ahead of Philemon Kiriago and Joey Hadorn. Kiriago and Mădălina Florea lead the series standings heading into October’s final in Muju, South Korea.
Joe “Stringbean” McConaughy joined both Singletrack and Freetrail’s Rest Day Live to unpack last week’s supported JMT record. On Singletrack, he said he was about an hour behind François D’Haene’s record splits at 40 miles but about two hours ahead by Muir Pass. He also explained his choice to run with pacers after hallucinations during his 2024 unsupported attempt led him off trail onto dangerous terrain near Whitney. “There’s a reason I’m not going unsupported,” he told host Finn Melanson.
Andrew Wojciak’s September 22 men’s unsupported White Mountains 100 FKT is now listed at 33:10:44, 1:38:52 faster than Austin Black’s previous mark. Wojciak said stomach trouble slowed him to a walk through the Pemigewasset section overnight before he ran the final 25 miles of the White Mountains 100 route. The route is part of White Mountain Ski Co.’s $10,000 annual FKT bounty program. On another bounty route, Lindsay Webster lowered her own women’s unsupported Presidential Traverse mark from 4:33:39 to 4:25:38 on September 12.

The Ultra Minute is now supported by Altra. I’ve been running in their shoes for well over a decade and am currently really enjoying their Experience Wild 3+. If you’re shopping Altra, you can shop here and use code TUM15 for 15% off. This lets Altra know we sent you and is a great way to support us :)

Also worth a look:

Alexandra Sciocchetti won the Bogus 50K outright in Boise, Idaho, in 4:21:05, finishing 33 minutes ahead of men’s winner Bryan Edgar.
Marianne Hogan says a calf fascia tear means 10–15 days without running. She still hopes to make the start of Diagonale des Fous and is adapting her preparation around the injury.
Tara Dower says she has been running consistently again after four weeks off with a high-hamstring tear. The return feels “equal parts scary and exciting,” she wrote, as she rebuilds trust in her body.
Zach Bitter is targeting a 100-mile PR at Desert Solstice on December 19. Beating his 11:19:13 from 2019 is his “minimum target.”
According to his latest post, Haroldas Subertas started Monday morning on his unsupported John Muir Trail attempt. Here’s his tracker.
MLB has approached the White House about a game in a national park, with Grand Teton among the reported possibilities. No site has been chosen or permits issued, and the White House denies that administration officials were actively scouting sites there.
In Trail Waves, Seth LaReau uses game theory to ask whether Run Rabbit Run’s announced $100,000 winner prizes will pull athletes from UTMB or the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships, and how sponsors might respond.
Distance To Empty’s podcast with Jake Jackson looks at returning to Mammoth 200 after a solo finish that left him wanting more. The goal this time: feel accomplished, not just finished. He recorded it from his UPS truck on a lunch break.
Lastly, Shilletha Curtis calls her completed Direttissima a “Happiest Known Time.” She linked New Hampshire’s 48 4,000-foot peaks, watched the leaves change, welcomed friends along the way, and raised money for Summits in Solidarity. She says she is the first Black person to complete the route. Speed was very much beside the point: “I dare someone to take a longer time on the Direttissima than me.”

The most viewed links from our last issue:

Klaire Rhodes’s Four Corners essay
Kilian Jornet’s favorite books
Trail Runner’s profile of Pema Franchi Antelme

Ken

The Ultra Minute: Stringbean Breaks the Supported JMT Record

Ken Seals — Fri, 25 Sep 2026 20:59:44 GMT

Hey y’all, we scrolled through 800+ IG posts and checked 40+ articles, newsletters, podcast episodes, and videos since Tuesday’s issue so you could catch up without living on your phone. Here’s your Friday Ultra Minute:

Joe “Stringbean” McConaughy broke the men’s supported JMT record early Wednesday, completing the 223-mile John Muir Trail in about 2 days, 16 hours. That’s roughly 3 hours, 26 minutes faster than François D’Haene’s 2017 mark. Joe had held a record on this trail before: he set the unsupported record going southbound in 2022, only for Jeff Garmire to break it less than a month later. He tried to reclaim it in 2024, again running unsupported and southbound, but struggled with fatigue and disorientation, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. This time he had a crew and pacers and headed north, from Whitney Portal to Happy Isles in Yosemite. Catch his finish clip here. My favorite comment comes from his sponsor, Brooks: “Petition to rename it the Joe McConaughy Trail.”
Another D’Haene record went down Friday. Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz crossed Corsica’s GR20 in 27 hours, 29 minutes, about 2 hours, 17 minutes faster than D’Haene’s mark. He’d secretly aimed for 28:30 and dreamed of breaking 28 hours. His father greeted him with champagne in Conca. Watch the finish celebration.
UTMB is cutting direct Finals places at each World Series Major from 210 to 60 starting in 2027. The top 10 women and men in each of the 50K, 100K, and 100M categories still qualify directly. The change removes the Majors’ direct age-group places; a separate pathway across the circuit is promised, with details still to come. Double Running Stones remain. Ultra-Trail Australia gets an extra year, adopting the change in 2028.
Friday’s Dragon’s Back Ascent at California’s Mammoth Trail Fest is a three-mile climb gaining 2,400 feet to the summit of Mammoth Mountain. Meikael Beaudoin-Rousseau won the men’s race in 36:02, ahead of Adam Sjolund (36:15) and David Sinclair (37:05), with Ares Reading of The Trail House fourth. Erin Moyer won the women’s race in 41:31, followed by Hillary Allen (47:06) and Pema Franchi Antelme (48:12). Franchi’s podium makes this Trail Runner profile especially timely: it follows the 13-year-old’s move from open-water swimming into mountain running and how her family and Norda are trying to keep it fun as she races adults. Mary Daniels (formerly Denholm) finished eighth among the women in her first race back postpartum. For the results, select Dragon Ascent. Mountain Outpost’s coverage continues with the 50K on Saturday at 7 a.m. Pacific and the 26K on Sunday at 7:45 a.m. Pacific.
Freetrail is rolling out five TrailCon sessions, beginning with Matt Carpenter in a 52-minute conversation with Scott Jurek. Rich Roll and Katie Schide follow October 1, with sessions on industry trends, anti-doping, and trail running at the Olympics arriving weekly through October 22.
Kodiak Ultra Marathons is remembering John Emig, its communications director and ham-radio lead for about a decade. The race credits him with keeping aid stations connected and runners accounted for. He also taught its race and course directors to use ham radios, and had volunteered at Western States and AC100 since the 1980s.
Klaire Rhodes has written the fuller story of the bear encounter we covered in August. The essay follows the attack, the blame strangers assigned her online, and her determination to keep running in the mountains she calls home.
Anton Krupicka tells Josh Rosenthal in a Borderlands podcast how recovering from a broken leg changed his view of hiking, scrambling, and climbing. His 2021 Leadville return came from curiosity after a long bike trip, and he remembers gratitude throughout the race. They also talk about aging and Anton mentions taking inspiration from Ludovic Pommeret (aren’t we all?) as he seeks to continue pushing himself, just as the person he is now rather than the runner he was in his 30s.

The Ultra Minute is now supported by Altra. They reached out earlier this summer to say they’ve been longtime readers and were interested in supporting the project. I’ve been running in their shoes for well over a decade and am currently really enjoying their Experience Wild 3+ (seriously, they’re good). If you’re shopping Altra, you can shop here and use code TUM15 for 15% off. This lets Altra know we sent you and is a great way to support us :)

Also worth a look:

Last Soul Ultra has announced an international series: qualifiers in the U.S. in February, the U.K. in April, and Australia in June 2027 will lead to a German final in August. Exact venues and dates are still to come.
Emily Schmitz joins Lauren Cramer on Women of Distance. She finished third at UTMB, just 94 seconds behind Rachel Entrekin after a late push for second. The latest episode is billed around the curiosity that has guided her running and how she stayed connected to her own experience during the race. I haven’t listened yet, but can’t wait to catch up on this one this weekend.
Max Lowe’s Learning to Fly is now on Prime Video. The film follows photographer Aisha McAdams documenting Jim Walmsley, Eszter Csillag, and Vincent Bouillard at Western States and UTMB.
Lastly, Kilian Jornet shared some favorite books, and most aren’t about mountains. His list includes José Saramago’s Blindness and Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being, alongside the climbing books you might expect.

The most viewed links from our last issue:

Ken

The Ultra Minute: A U.S. double at 100K Worlds

Ken Seals — Tue, 22 Sep 2026 16:07:03 GMT

Hey y’all, we scrolled through 1,100+ IG posts and checked 110+ articles, newsletters, podcast episodes, and videos since Wednesday’s issue so you could catch up without living on your phone. Here’s your Tuesday Ultra Minute:

Courtney Olsen and Charlie Lawrence won the individual titles at Sunday’s IAU 100K World Championships in Ames, Spain, giving the U.S. its first individual championship double. iRunFar reported temperatures rising from 61°F in the morning to 91°F by race end. Olsen worked her way forward from sixth after the first quarter of the race, catching longtime leader Miho Nakata on lap 17 of 20. In the official results, Olsen’s 7:10:31 left her just 1:26 ahead of Nakata (7:11:57), with Gemma Arenas Alcázar third in 7:17:50. Lawrence took over before halfway, reaching 50K in 3:00:34 and staying ahead of Aleksandr Sorokin the rest of the way. His 6:09:25 winning time beat Sorokin’s 6:12:41, with Alex Milne third in 6:17:50. It was the fastest winning time in the championship’s history, 2:45 quicker than Haruki Okayama’s 6:12:10 in 2022. Olsen offered her assessment of his run: “Had this been held in better conditions that World Record would have gone down.” Lawrence’s post-race celebration mixed confidence with gratitude: he thanked his team and said he was proud of Olsen’s win. The U.S. also won men’s team gold, just 44 seconds ahead of Great Britain. Filmmaker Alan Lam shared the anthem moment, writing that it was the first time he had seen Lawrence emotional. Des Linden put it simply: “watching a dream become reality.”
Ryan Sullivan and Hannah Allgood set course records at Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile despite hours of torrential overnight rain. In the official results, Sullivan’s 17:03:38 put him 55:36 ahead of Jeff Mogavero (17:59:14), with Jesse Rich third in 18:18:47. Allgood ran 19:01:59, fifth overall and 1:24:23 clear of Nicole Laughton (20:26:22); Lauren Puretz completed the women’s podium in 20:32:27. iRunFar compares Sullivan’s time with Dave Stevens’s 2023 record on the current course, an improvement of roughly 20 minutes; Sullivan also beat Jason Schlarb’s 17:15:20 from 2013, set on an older course. Allgood took about 46 minutes off Emilie Mann’s 2024 record of 19:48:06. Sullivan spent roughly 75 miles alone. He told iRunFar’s Meghan Hicks that a fast crew stop opened a gap before he meant to break away: “I had no idea that I wasn’t going to get caught until Mount Werner.” That left only six miles to run. In her interview with Hicks, Allgood said the size of her lead surprised her: “I was trying to hold back.” She avoided asking for gaps early, then used the cushion to take her time getting warm food and dry clothes at aid stations. Behind Sullivan, Devon Olson says a fall separated his shoulder after he’d moved into second. Rich stopped to help and alerted medics; Mogavero gave Olson his space blanket. Olson reached an aid station, but medics ended his race at mile 88. Next year’s stakes are bigger still: iRunFar reports from the briefing that co-race director Fred Abramowitz announced $100,000 for each women’s and men’s winner in both 2027 and 2028, funded by Insight Global. To iRunFar’s knowledge, it would be trail running’s biggest first-place prize. That’s five times this year’s $20,000; for another benchmark, UTMB offered €20,000 per winner this year. Further details of the Run Rabbit Run announcement are still to come.
Norwegian runner Ida Amelie Robsahm died at 30 after a fall on Romsdalseggen on Saturday. The Norwegian athletics federation’s memorial recalls her rapid rise in the sport and fourth place at last year’s short-trail world championships. She finished fifth woman at last month’s OCC. She was also a teacher, and her school’s tribute remembers how much she meant to students and colleagues. In his remembrance, Miguel Benítez shared a photograph from their final outing together and wrote: “You were the most wonderful person I have ever met.”
Joaquín López calls his fifth-place UTMB the race he’s proudest of. His recap in Latinoruns takes you from chasing Ben Dhiman with Baptiste Chassagne to being so exhausted that deciding when to take a gel feels overwhelming. When he tells his coach he’s suffering, she reminds him he’s having the race of his life. He keeps trying to race even as the podium slips away. For López, who writes about years of feeling like an outsider as a Latino runner, that matters: he finally saw himself as an equal among the runners he used to put on a pedestal.
Seven seconds separated Joseph Gray and Cam Smith at Saturday’s Pikes Peak Ascent: 2:15:14 to 2:15:21, with Jeremiah Vaille third. It was Gray’s sixth Ascent win. Anna Gibson won the women’s race in 2:37:22 ahead of Hali Hafeman and Janelle Lincks, her first Ascent win after finishing third in 2023. Sunday’s Pikes Peak Marathon went to Darren Thomas in 3:57:00 and Chrissy Lofgren in 5:01:08; Nate Marshall and Dean Abel completed the men’s podium, Rachel Mow and Olivia Fink the women’s. For Thomas, it was a first win in ten attempts.
Benjamin Stout broke 19 hours at IMTUF 100 in McCall, Idaho, winning in 18:46:47; Ginny Robbins won the women’s race in 23:07:03 and finished eighth overall. iRunFar reports both as course records.
Liam Meirow framed it as a “24-hour business trip”: fly in, win Grindstone’s 50K in 3:51:54, and fly home Saturday. Sarah Bergeron Larouche finished fourth overall in 4:21:13, defending her title. In the longer races, Jordan Buck (20:58:15) and Katti Jackson (21:46:37) won the 100-miler, with Jackson fourth overall; Guillaume Hansel (9:19:24) and Rachel Doxey (12:26:54) won the 100K.
Following up on our mid-race updates from Wednesday’s issue: Kaitlin Allen won Tor des Glaciers, a 450K race in Italy’s Aosta Valley, in 147:49:29, followed by Amy Sproston (153:03:00) and Céline Rouquié (156:02:11). Franco Collé led the men in 122:01:57, ahead of Volker Fohrmeister and Alessandro Roncato. In the TOR130, Stephanie Howe finished first woman and seventh overall in 25:35:47, with Fangyuan Wen and Tatiana Mitkina next. Nicolas Francesco Lemoine won the men’s race in 20:53:03, followed by Ke Li and Giulio Vettori.
Careth Arnold earned her first world medal, a bronze in Saturday’s SkyUltra in La Gomera. Her 8:03:00 was just nine seconds behind Mireia Pons Torres; Shangave Balendran won in 7:27:16. Cristian Minoggio took his third SkyUltra world title in 6:12:12, with Julen Calvo Vigara and Samuel Ponce completing the men’s podium. After winning CCC three weeks earlier, Minoggio told the ISF: “my body wants to go on holiday!” Fair enough.
Philemon Kiriago took the series lead in the Golden Trail World Series with second at Japan’s Myoko Trail, moving ahead of Elhousine Elazzaoui, 860 points to 824. Patrick Kipngeno won in 2:07:12, with Michael Selelo Saoli third. Hanna Gröber earned her first series win in 2:30:19 ahead of Marie Nivet and Barbora Bukovjan.
Maya Rayle finished second on debut in the WMRA World Cup at Poland’s Rollercoaster 21, behind first-time winner Arianna Dentis and ahead of Céline Aebi. Martin Nilsson won the men’s race, followed by Finlay Grant and American Paul Knight. Tayte Pollmann’s ATRA profile of Rayle fills in the person behind the result: after moving to Missoula for ecology work, she found trail running through friends and joined The Trail Team. Its mentorship helped her learn how to build a season in a sport she was still figuring out.

Also worth a look:

Phil Gore says he won’t run the Backyard Satellite Championships. He is home after surgery to drain an infected hematoma and reports less pain and more movement, but says even recovering in time would not leave him ready for 100-plus hours. Jason Rantall has taken his place; Gore says he’ll be there to support the team.
Two Colorado mountain marks worth catching up on: Michael Reese reported a 7:51 ascent of Boulder’s First Flatiron on Monday. He says breaking eight minutes once felt impossible; it took roughly 800 laps and five years. Jane Maus ran 2:39:01 on Longs Peak via Cables on September 9, setting the women’s unsupported record for a car-to-car trip by any route. In her Sunday reflection, Maus calls it a welcome-back after an injury-disrupted season, grateful for alpine running she hadn’t expected this year.
Jessica Quinn and Katie Adams finished first and second overall at Mountain Lakes 100, in 18:38:56 and 19:28:41. Shawn Ross, third overall in 19:56:45, was the first man.
Hillary Gerardi finished the GR20 in 38:42:11. Her finish post describes an effort that began with a record in mind and became a tribute to her friend Kalie McCrystal and a shared adventure with her crew.
Joe McConaughy was roughly 135 miles into his John Muir Trail attempt in a Tuesday morning update on his account, which reported him ahead of record pace despite snow and wind on Muir Pass. Follow the attempt on Corsa’s live tracker.
Lastly, Coree Woltering’s essay The In-Between, in Coffee with Coree, makes room for the quiet around big adventures: ordinary runs, coffee in Kosovo, and thousands of Alaska photographs he hasn’t been ready to sort through. “But a story is not late just because it needed time.”

The most viewed links from our last issue:

Ken

The Ultra Minute: Hartmuth Becomes Tor’s First Woman on the Overall Podium

Ken Seals — Wed, 16 Sep 2026 22:27:35 GMT

Hey y’all, we scrolled through 250+ IG posts and checked 30+ articles, newsletters, podcast episodes, and videos since Monday’s issue so you could catch up without living on your phone. Here’s your Wednesday Ultra Minute:

Hartmuth’s Record Run at Tor

Katharina Hartmuth took half a day off her own 2024 Tor des Géants record. Her 67:10:09 put her third overall, the first woman ever on the race’s overall podium. Twelve hours faster than her previous best, and only two runners ahead of her.

Speaking with TORX in Courmayeur after her finish, Hartmuth said she’d thought 75 hours was achievable. Seventy-two would be “super cool,” but she wasn’t sure she could do it. To get substantially faster than her 2024 performance, she knew she might need to measure herself against the men’s field.

That became part of how she raced. Trading places and seeing the same runners at aid stations kept her motivated. Watching another runner leave was a reminder to get moving herself.

Her larger ambition had been to narrow the gap to the men’s record. Even with Jiaju Zhao lowering that mark to 65:55:22, she finished just 1:14:47 behind him.

Asked what the podium meant, Hartmuth looked beyond her own result. She saw it as part of a year of women winning outright or racing close to the front, and hoped it would encourage other women to try these races with confidence in themselves.

“Dare to dream.”

Jiaju Zhao won the 336.1-kilometer race in 65:55:22, exactly 13 minutes faster than Victor Richard’s 2025 record. Jonathan Schindler finished second in 66:55:06, and Weiqiang Zhang completed the men’s podium in 71:53:56, according to the official results.

Zhao told AostaSera that seeing Schindler’s headlamp helped persuade him to accelerate with less than 50 kilometers left, after midday exhaustion had pushed the record out of his thoughts.

Huiping Zhang finished second woman in 80:35:31, and Manuela Vilaseca completed the women’s podium in 82:31:56.

More from Tor

From our preview watchlist, Mike McKnight finished in 81:49:12, 15th man and 17th overall.
Lisa Borzani says intestinal problems ended her race at Cogne. Avery Collins promises to return: “This race has my number.” Mika Thewes and Sabrina Verjee have also withdrawn, while Simone Corsini was among the early withdrawals.
In Tor des Glaciers, Franco Collé led through Mont de la Saxe, 432.2 kilometers in, at 2:22 p.m. Central Wednesday. Kaitlin Allen led the women’s race through Ristoro Place Moulin, 357.8 kilometers in. Amy Sproston was second, last recorded at Hotel Lo Stambecco, 326.3 kilometers in. No one had finished yet.
Nicolas Francesco Lemoine won TOR130 in 20:53:03. Stephanie Howe still led the women’s race at 2:22 p.m. Central Wednesday, last recorded at Rifugio Bonatti, 124.2 kilometers in. Victor Richard has withdrawn, according to the organizer.

Around the Sport

Kalie McCrystal’s family is mourning her loss. They say the evidence suggests she fell while descending the Matterhorn, but the search has not found her. Her mother and sister remember someone who moved through life with “equal parts determination and fun,” and thank the friends around the world who mobilized to find her. “For our family, things will never be the same again,” they write. Her friend Hillary Gerardi plans to attempt Corsica’s GR20 later this week, weather permitting, as a way to honor McCrystal. Our hearts go out to her friends and family.
Stieg Bertram, 17, completed the Whites 100 this past weekend in 31:58, which Run The Whites calls the route’s second-fastest time. Jack Kuenzle holds the supported FKT at 26:09:25. The roughly 95-mile Appalachian Trail traverse through New Hampshire’s Whites packs about 34,000 feet of climbing. Run The Whites provides transport and resupply: rides to the start and from the finish, plus supply-bin deliveries to five road crossings. There’s no race timing or awards, and participants handle their own navigation and pacing.
Sarah Ostaszewski won the women’s race at Wasatch 100 in 25:18; Kevin Stewart won the men’s in 20:41. In her race reflection, she recalls feeling relaxed and flying through the first 70 miles, with Ann Trason’s training-camp advice in mind: “Don’t fight the trail!” She describes a long road of finding her way back to herself, with racing a celebration of that work. She’s grateful for the community and proud of showing up with courage.
In Borderlands’ The Trail Races We Can’t Afford to Lose, host Josh Rosenthal contrasts Wasatch’s improvisation, including volunteers giving runners their own jackets, with the polish of Snowbasin by UTMB. He wants both to thrive. His question: how can volunteer-led races preserve their culture while surviving their founders?
Monday’s Freetrail Rest Day Live with Megan Eckert and co-host Rachel Entrekin spends an extended stretch with the data visualizations we made for Eckert’s six-day run. They use the charts to explore her big first day, sleep strategy and difficult final day. It was super cool of them to feature the work, and really awesome to hear Meg say she’d already been digging through the site after the race and enjoying all that data.
Western States gave trail manager John Catts its Little Cougar Award, its highest honor. A four-year Granite Chief Wilderness project he’s helped lead is nearing completion, with more than six miles of new trail and three rehabilitated.

Also worth a look:

One from Sunday that we missed Monday: Joseph Gray (41:33) and Amber Ferreira (50:32) won Race the Cog’s Summit Climb, a 2.75-mile, 3,500-foot ascent beside the Cog Railway to the top of Mount Washington.
Megan Roche won the women’s race at Saturday’s Ned Ned Half in 1:41:35, her first race finish in almost 10 months while navigating heart issues and rebuilding trust in her heart.
Sean McCauley won Snowbasin’s 58K in 4:35:36, earning direct entry to OCC 2027 and a chance to race during UTMB week, a dream since high school.
Anna Gibson’s mountain photo journal captures a rugged 48-mile north Teton Center Punch traverse that she says felt like truly meeting the mountains she grew up beneath.
Foresthill Basecamp, the Western States mile-62 cabin project, cleared its $25,000 crowdfunding goal in 1 hour 49 minutes and is preselling stays for a targeted June 2027 delivery.
Skier Caite Zeliff and mountain runner/physical therapist Hilary McCloy launched The Caite & Hil Show, a podcast about what they’ve learned from each other in New Hampshire’s mountains.
Phil Gore says surgery went well and he’s glad he sought a second opinion. Eric LiPuma says his meniscus has been repaired and he’ll head back to the U.S. soon. Wishing both a smooth recovery.
Applications for Women In Ultrarunning’s two $750 grants for transgender women close today, September 16, with recipients to be notified by October 1.
Lastly, Petter Engdahl and Nora Serres got married on Saturday. Congratulations, Petter and Nora!

The most viewed links from our last issue:

Ken

The Ultra Minute: Olympian Jessie Diggins Wins Her First 100-Miler

Ken Seals — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 22:32:27 GMT

Hey y’all, we scrolled through 500+ IG posts and checked articles, newsletters, podcast episodes, and videos since Friday’s issue so you could catch up without living on your phone. Most of it didn’t make the cut.

Here’s your Monday Ultra Minute:

Olympic champion cross-country skier Jessie Diggins, who retired in March, won her first 100-miler. Superior completes the three-race plan she chose to celebrate retirement: Broken Arrow, Sierre-Zinal and a first hundred. She finished in 25:09:46, fifth overall, ahead of Andrea Patten and Kelby Land in the official results. Diggins credits her crew and pacers with getting her through lows when she couldn’t string together a coherent sentence. Tyler Morey won the men’s race in 19:54:13, followed by Tyler Kobilarcsik and John Vallez; Anna Grace Tiede Hottinger won the nonbinary division. Morey was also making his 100-mile debut. Two first hundreds, two wins.
Katharina Hartmuth is third overall, past halfway through Tor des Géants, the roughly 209-mile Alpine race. At 3:17 p.m. Central Monday, the official tracker showed her leading the women through Bléckéné-Lòò, 196.2 kilometers in, at 35:54:23 elapsed. Jiaju Zhao led overall at Gressoney IN, 203.3 kilometers in, with Jonathan Schindler second at Bléckéné-Lòò, 196.2 kilometers in. Galen Reynolds was third man through Niel-La Gruba, 190 kilometers in. Huiping Zhang was second woman through Rifugio Coda, 166.9 kilometers in; Claire Bannwarth was third at Coda, too. Sabrina Verjee has dropped. In the 450K Tor des Glaciers, Franco Collé and Kaitlin Allen led on day four as of 3:17 p.m. Central, last recorded at Ristoro Sitten (295.2 kilometers) and Donnas OUT (223.9 kilometers), respectively.
Selene Mallone won the SOO 200 outright, finishing the 200-mile race through Sault Ste. Marie and Ontario’s Algoma region in 68:12:33, according to Sinister Sports. “The Soo” is Sault Ste. Marie’s nickname. The official splits show her arriving at Stokely with one 47-mile loop to go nearly nine minutes behind men’s winner Rémi Letendre, then finishing more than two hours ahead. Emma Costa and Helen Francis completed the women’s podium.
At Wildstrubel in Switzerland, Gian Marchet Schicktanz and Agnieszka Dygacz won the Wild 110, with Andreas Reiterer second man. Wildstrubel says Elhousine Elazzaoui broke away in the final few hundred meters to win the Wild 55. He ran 4:49:05, just 22 seconds ahead of Tibère Debizet, with Gaspard Ravaux-Ouvray third. Julie Lelong won the women’s race in 5:41:24, ahead of Rea Iseli and Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet in the official results.
In the shorter race, Maximilian Meusburger won the Wild 25 in 1:53:57, beating Roberto Delorenzi by 25 seconds, with Gabin Ageron third. Axelle Genoud won the women’s race in 2:13:31, ahead of Vivien Bonzi and American Courtney Coppinger. Coppinger said ending her European race tour on the podium “feels extra sweet” after a tough early summer racing in the U.S. Wildstrubel’s two-kilometer Adaptive Run was won by Thaïs Proton and Tobias Cordonier.
Jenny Tough chose Ultra Tour Monte Rosa, a 170-kilometer Alpine race, as a celebration of her recovery from an eating disorder. In her race essay for The Ultra Trail, she writes about the vulnerability of sharing that goal publicly, then having to let go of the finish time she’d imagined. In the final three hours, she ran alone, holding imaginary conversations with earlier versions of herself who never believed they belonged in those mountains.
Rose Vigneault won Harricana’s 65K in 2024 and 80K in 2025. This year, she stepped up again and won the 125K in what the race credits as a women’s course record of 16:06:43. Audrey St-Jean and Mylene Sansoucy completed the women’s podium. Antoine Jolicoeur Desroches won the men’s race, followed by Dévrig Bouillet and Philippe Poulin in the official results. Just nine seconds separated the men’s 80K podium: Jonathan Bourret, Pierre-Marc Doyon and John Cole.
Kilian Jornet says the injury behind his UTMB withdrawal had troubled him for three years. In a new hour-long conversation with Olympic triathlon champion Jan Frodeno, recorded during UTMB week, Jornet admits that improving training times let him put off addressing the neuromuscular changes he was noticing as he aged. The Frodeno Going Mental podcast also revisits Jornet’s memory loss while descending Everest, with Frodeno pressing Jornet on whether a successful descent can disguise having taken too much risk.
Hillary Allen finished third in the Rut’s Vertical Kilometer in her first running race back after injury. She’d turned toward Unbound Gravel 200 while sidelined, a pivot we covered in May. At the Rut, she went in without expectations, concentrating on trusting her effort and letting her legs climb. Camila Noe and Olivia Amber finished ahead of her; Cam Smith won the men’s VK. Smith and Noe then both won the 28K. Sunday’s 50K winners were Nichole Abma, Forrest Barton and nonbinary champion Zachary Moon. Ben Saelens, 22, finished second overall in 5:28:06. Also at the Rut, Paralympic swimming medalist Sophia Herzog completed a 13-mile mountain run with 4,000 feet of climbing, representing adaptive athletes with the Inclusive Outdoors Project.
Moriah Carty took the lead in the final 25 miles of Mogollon Monster 100 and won in 27:45:00. Susan Oh and Sarah Dasher followed her home. Andy Chrysler won the men’s race in 21:26:35, ahead of Charlie Detar and Bronson Fiore, according to Aravaipa’s results.
Heather Jackson made a last-minute decision to race and won Bachelor Ascent’s 28K in 2:13:30, 70 seconds ahead of Erin Storck, with Lauren Beltramo third. Early winter-like weather meant Bachelor Ascent used an alternate course that stayed out of the summit zone. Jackson’s win follows her Tour Divide withdrawal in July, when she said neck-control problems and hand numbness made braking unsafe.
Jeff Browning is home with his family in Flagstaff and recovering after the heart attack during TDS. Welcome home, Jeff.
A difficult update on Kalie McCrystal: ANSA reported Friday that a day of helicopter and drone searches on the Matterhorn found no trace and that searches would again be suspended. That followed the narrowed search area we reported in Friday’s issue.
After winning UTMB, Ben Dhiman argued that better preparation and less conservative pacing could take 100-mile racing out of its “stone age”. Dakota Jones directly challenges that framing in his Substack essay The Stone Age: “He is not innovating. He’s just improving.” He criticizes what he sees as Dhiman’s narrow focus on results, then extends that argument to the sport’s emphasis on winners over the shared work of preparing and trying. To be clear, he says he admires Dhiman and still wants to win himself. Perhaps expectedly, the comments are worth reading too.
On the topic of Ben, I really enjoyed his new WE DID IT film and ended up on a bit of a late night Ben Dhiman binge afterward. As a fan of the sport, his methodical pursuit of performance excites me. In Rémi Ferodet’s 17-minute film, he walks us through what he was thinking at each stage of UTMB, from start-line anticipation through pacing decisions and deep fatigue to the finish. Near the end, he wonders whether he could be the same athlete without his family and the pressure of everything happening at once, which I find relatable as a dad of three young kids myself. At the end he also teases “what’s next” without revealing it, which has me quite curious. What is next for Ben Dhiman?

Also worth a look:

David Sinclair won Kismet Cliff Run’s Beast of the East Half-Marathon in a course-record 1:58:05, 54 seconds faster than Dan Curts’s 2024 mark. Caitlin Patterson won the women’s race in 2:26:16.
Ruth Croft announced her Grand Raid plans after personal reasons took her home to New Zealand before UTMB. On Réunion, she’ll join Marianne Hogan, whose return we covered Friday.
CCC third-place finisher Hans Troyer confirmed he’s taking his Golden Ticket to Western States in 2027.
Heading to Mammoth Trailfest? Emma Wagner, the mental performance consultant whose Western States work we featured, is leading a mental-fortitude workshop on Friday, September 25 at 4 p.m. Pacific in the main Village Plaza. The session turns a sport-psychology model into practical steps for preparing mentally for the trails.
The USDA extended the comment deadline on its proposed repeal of the 2001 Roadless Rule from September 21 to October 6. The notice includes instructions for commenting.
Save Public Lands is seeking one million signatures before September 26 for its letter opposing public-land sell-offs, giveaways and backroom deals, with delivery planned to Washington, D.C., and statehouses.
Tonight at 7 p.m. Central, Rachel Entrekin interviews Megan Eckert about her six-day effort and multiday racing on Freetrail’s Rest Day Live. Catch up with our six-day race explorer before tuning in.
Lastly, speaking of Rachel, she is engaged to Will Anderson. A ring for The Queen. Congratulations, Rachel and Will!

The most viewed links from our last issue:

Ken

The Ultra Minute: Chamonix Plans Tighter Rules for UTMB Week

Ken Seals — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 18:18:01 GMT

Hey y’all, we scrolled through 200+ IG posts and checked articles, newsletters, podcast episodes, and videos since Wednesday’s issue so you could catch up without living on your phone. Most of it didn’t make the cut.

Here’s your Friday Ultra Minute:

Chamonix’s mayor wants tighter rules for UTMB week. In Doug Mayer’s Trail Runner interview, François-Xavier Laffin describes DJs at mountain refuges, pop-up shops in residential chalets and brands using public space without permission. His office documented violations this year, and he promises stricter guidelines and enforcement in 2027: “After the education, there will be controls and sanctions.” He wants to work with UTMB and will discuss its size, format and duration with the organizers in September and October. Race director Isabelle Viseux-Poletti shares many of his concerns, while pointing out that cutting runner numbers alone wouldn’t proportionally reduce the crowds and pressure on town.
The PCT’s northern terminus is accessible again. The trail between Harts Pass and the Canadian border has reopened after fire closures, though surrounding lands and trails remain closed. The Trek explains the logistics: it’s roughly 30 miles from Harts Pass to the monument, and hikers still can’t continue into Canada. Reaching the end means turning around for the trip back.
In a Women of Distance interview, Wieke De Boer revisits August’s Grand Canyon flood and the first solo backpacking trip it interrupted. She knew the canyon well and had prepared mainly for heat; at first, the rain felt welcome. She describes turning back as the weather worsened, then evacuating camp on the rangers’ instructions. She wanted to hike out herself, but had to wait for a helicopter. The next morning, she finally cried when an older hiker she’d worried about arrived at the hotel. She still wants another solo trip, while acknowledging how much ranger help she needed. For current conditions, NPS lists Bright Angel Trailhead water as off; South Kaibab Trailhead water is on. Inner-canyon water remains off. The entire North Kaibab Trail, all of Phantom Ranch and lower sections of the South Rim corridor trails remain closed.
Jeff Browning has begun the journey home, sharing a grateful Thursday update from Geneva and thanking everyone keeping his family in their thoughts. So good to see this.
ANSA reports that phone records have arrived, helping investigators narrow the search for Kalie McCrystal on the Matterhorn to an area between Pic Tyndall and the Carrel hut. Aerial searches, including drones, could resume today if the weather allows.
Salomon is becoming the title sponsor of the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona. Its five-year agreement with IRONMAN runs from 2027 through 2031 and includes exclusive performance footwear, apparel and technical-bag rights across the IRONMAN ecosystem. The brand will also put its name on the run courses at IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 races.
For weekend watching, Wildstrubel has live coverage planned Saturday for the Wild 55 race and Wild 110 finishes, followed by Wild 25 coverage Sunday. Saturday’s Wild 55 is 55 kilometers with 3,300 meters of climbing, starting at 7:50 a.m. in Switzerland, or 12:50 a.m. Central. The 2026 UTMB Live page is the place to watch and follow the timing.
Tor des Géants starts Sunday, September 13, in Courmayeur, with waves at 10 a.m. and noon local time. Finn Melanson and Will Peterson preview the field on Singletrack. Their episode also inspired us to build a TUM preview microsite, with an interactive course explorer, athlete profiles and a look at how Tor compares with the American 200s.

The Ultra Minute is now supported by Altra. They reached out earlier this summer to say they’ve been longtime readers and were interested in supporting the project. I’ve been running in their shoes for well over a decade and am currently really enjoying their Experience Wild 3+. If you’re shopping Altra, you can shop here and use code TUM15 for 15% off. This lets Altra know we sent you and is a great way to support us.

Also worth a look:

In her UltraRunning essay, Linda Lindberg describes relearning technical trails after losing an eye to cancer, including the mental exhaustion of interpreting the ground with altered depth perception. Keeping UTMB on the calendar gave her something to work toward; she finished in August, nine months after surgery.
Marianne Hogan is returning to Diagonale des Fous. Last year’s DNF left unfinished business, but she says the technical trails, climbing without poles and terrain outside her comfort zone are also what pull her back. And, of course, Réunion itself.
In Raziq Rauf’s Running Sucks interview, Alyssa Clark talks crewing and pacing, including agreeing beforehand on what kind of encouragement helps. Her dad once said, “This one sucks!” on the last climb at Vermont 100. “He did not get asked back.”
Lastly, if you missed yesterday’s special, our Megan Eckert six-day interactive lets you explore her run lap by lap, follow the pace changes and see how it compares with the records. Would love to know what you think of this and our Tor des Géants preview site, and if you’d like to see us keep doing this sort of thing. Let us know in the comments below :)

The most viewed links from our last issue:

Ken

A closer look at Megan Eckert’s 636.5 miles

Ken Seals — Thu, 10 Sep 2026 19:20:33 GMT

Earlier this week Megan Eckert ran 636.5 miles in six days, winning the EMU Six-Day Race.

We covered the result in yesterday’s issue, but kept thinking about it all afternoon.. What does that actually look like? What was her pace? What was the course like? How did her pace change? How long and how often did she sleep or take breaks?

So I had fun and made something a little different for The Ultra Minute: an interactive story using the official lap data to explore her race.

My favorite view shows every completed lap across the six days, with indicators for day/night. There’s also a closer look at her pace, a comparison with the longest six-day performances, and a way to explore all 1,140 full laps, plus a little bit about the history of the six day event. Check it out here:

Explore Megan's six days

I thought her race deserved a closer look, and this seemed like a fun way to give it one. I’d love to hear what you think, and if you know someone who might find this interesting, please consider sending them the link.

Congrats on an incredible race, Megan!

Ken

The Ultra Minute: Megan Eckert Runs 636.5 Miles in Six Days

Ken Seals — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 18:48:53 GMT

Megan Eckert at the EMU 6 Day finish. Photo: Arcadi de Miguel / Mount to Coast.

Hey y’all, we scrolled through 300+ IG posts and checked articles, newsletters, podcast episodes, and videos since Monday’s issue so you could catch up without living on your phone. Most of it didn’t make the cut.

Here’s your Wednesday Ultra Minute:

Megan Eckert won the EMU 6 Day race in Hungary Wednesday with 1,024.319 kilometers, about 636.5 miles, finishing roughly 52 miles ahead of runner-up Simen Holvik. The U.S. 24 Hour Team reports she became the first woman past 1,000 kilometers in a six-day race and set a new women’s six-day world best, pending ratification. She also passed Joe Fejes’s American six-day benchmark, which the team says had stood for 11 years. Only ten other people are known to have cleared 1,000 kilometers in six days: eight modern runners and two back in 1888. Only four have gone farther than Eckert. Ivan Zaborskii tops the list at 1,047.554 kilometers in 2025, just 14.4 miles more. Holvik finished with 940.874 kilometers, followed by Mario Čeliković with 862.066 and Szabolcs Beda with 853.693 on the men’s podium. Tomomi Bitoh ran 802.927 kilometers and Zsuzsanna Maráz 754.558 to complete the women’s podium behind Eckert.
Lucy Gossage finished the Pennine Way in 70:47:15 Tuesday morning, nearly two hours inside Anna Troup’s women’s supported mark of 72:46:37 on FKT. Gossage says she’s the first woman to run it in under three days. Her immediate assessment: “Too tired to know what to think yet. Other than that I have amazing friends.” She also suspects she’s pretty hard to crew for.
We missed this in Monday’s issue: women swept the overall podium at this past weekend’s Dark Divide 100K in Randle, Washington. Thanks to @ms_rebecca_ann for flagging it in the comments on Monday’s IG post. Erin Wells won in 17:42:34, followed by Amanda Klebba in 18:44:54 and Nola Iwasaki in 19:08:54. Wonderland Running puts the technical course at about 16,500 feet of climbing. Justin McKell, Daniel Walsh and John Ost completed the men’s podium. In the 100-mile race, Kyle Moss ran 21:04:10 and Alexander Wang 21:44:15, the only two finishers under 24 hours on a course with over 26,000 feet of climbing. Adam Steidler finished third. Lauren Albert-Lebrun won the women’s race in 26:04:31, followed by Kaela Gaylord and Joanna Pisarski.
The four hosts of The Trail Network Podcast are back together for a UTMB debrief, with Rachel Drake, Leah Yingling and Katie Asmuth talking through their races with Hilary Yang. Rachel considered stopping at Courmayeur. Leah found an unexpected teammate in Amanda Basham for the final hours. Katie arrived with different expectations and left with renewed excitement for the sport. They also get into the start-line atmosphere, mid-race problem-solving, and feeling both proud and disappointed with a result.
Anna Gibson is revisiting a soggy return to the Teton Crest Trail, where she says a 2020 run with Sam Diaz first drew her into competitive trail running. On August 28, she covered the Wyoming route in a listed 7:24:23 FKT, 19:24 faster than Jazmine Lowther’s 7:43:47 unsupported mark from July 26. They’re separate categories: FKT classifies Gibson’s run as supported because friends were filming along the route, although she says she ran alone without their assistance. Lowther went on to finish fifth in UTMB’s women’s race. Gibson’s report describes all-day rain, slippery trails and deep, cold puddles. A film is planned for later this fall, which we’ll be awaiting eagerly.
Kilian Korth has called off his bike trip halfway through the 1,000-mile Colorado adventure we mentioned August 31. He says his backside has been hurting for days, and he woke up Wednesday with what he describes as relatively minor food poisoning. Still, he got “5 days of perfection” before the harder stretch. He’s hoping to recover and squeeze in a smaller adventure with a friend later this week (with a new seat).
Phil Gore says leg pain during his recovery from Project 168 sent him to the hospital, where he’s remained for tests and scans. He says he’s okay but doesn’t have answers yet. Hoping he gets some soon.
Kalie McCrystal remains missing on the Matterhorn. RAI reported Tuesday that helicopter searches had been suspended while investigators await Italian and Swiss phone records to help narrow the search area.

Also worth a look:

Women in Ultrarunning has named five recipients for the $1,000 grants we covered in July: Karla Estudillo Fuentes, CP Pruitt, Kathrin Baeza, Ash Tryba and Jameisha Washington. They were chosen from more than 430 applicants. Kathrin says she’s often raced without seeing other Black women or queer runners, sometimes near the back of the field. For her, this community means “a start line where I’m not the exception, and people who understand the distance before I explain it.”
Indigenous runner and artist Yatika Starr Fields ran the 2022 Western States to support Rising Hearts’ work to make land acknowledgments standard at races. In a new iRunFar profile, GU’s Celia Camargo reflects on crewing Fields and making room for Indigenous voices in the sport.
Working in healthcare with two weeks of vacation, Rachel Entrekin couldn’t just fly off to all the races people thought she should do. In her chat with Kilian Jornet, filmed before UTMB, she explains why Cocodona caught her imagination and why winning couldn’t be her only goal.
I thought this was such a fun idea from Mike McMonagle: a UTMB photo essay organized by time and place. From midnight in Courmayeur to the mountain passes, you can follow his week through the photos and see where each moment happened.
Running Up For Air says it’s been invited to join the UN-convened Climate and Clean Air Coalition. Jared Campbell and Leslie Keener plan to meet the team in Paris this month. RUFA wants your ideas for taking its clean-air work from local to global, to bring to that meeting.
Lastly, Zach Hauer and Caton Hauer are expecting a baby boy. Zach says they hope to teach him to care for the world and its creatures, and to dance through whatever life brings. Congratulations, you two.

The most viewed links from our last issue:

That’s it for today. If TUM helps you follow the sport without spending your whole day on Instagram, the best way to help it grow is to share this issue with one friend who’d get it. Or simply like this post. Thanks for reading.

Ken

The Ultra Minute: Entrekin on belonging at UTMB

Ken Seals — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 18:58:38 GMT

Hey y’all, we scrolled through 450+ IG posts and checked articles, newsletters, podcast episodes, and videos since Saturday’s issue so you could start the week without living on your phone. Most of it didn’t make the cut. Here’s your Monday Ultra Minute:

Some people look forward to new product drops or film releases. We look forward to Rachel Entrekin’s post-race essays. Her UTMB recap just dropped on Substack, and it’s a must-read, as expected. She takes us inside an overwhelming start, falling behind on fueling and feeling spent by Saint Gervais, with Lucy Bartholomew urging her to keep going. We loved the room she makes for other women’s achievements, too, and her excitement about what becomes possible when women get support. She’s proud she didn’t quit, grateful to Emily Schmitz for making her dig deep to hold second, and full of thanks for the friends and crew who kept her moving. It’s a story of learning to trust herself in a race where she’d questioned whether she belonged. And she closes with a message for others who feel that way: “I did this for us. Make your space and don’t be afraid to take it up.”
Erin Ton reports two women’s FKTs on Kilimanjaro: 5:47 for the ascent and 8:33 round trip from Mweka Gate. Both are more than an hour faster than the listed women’s supported records, which allow any route. She describes 26.38 miles with about 14,000 feet of climbing, says the altitude slowed her above 15,000 feet, and credits local guides and runners who joined her along the way.
Megan Eckert is on day five of the EMU 6 Day race in Hungary. At 8:37 a.m. Central Monday, the official board had her at 734.727 kilometers, about 457 miles, leading the women and second overall. Simen Holvik led overall with 751.793 kilometers. Szabolcs Beda and Jean-Michel Terme followed Holvik in the men’s standings; Zsuzsanna Maráz and Marcela Bayerová followed Eckert among the women.
Nina Engelhard returned from injury to win Saturday’s Vertical Nasego in Italy, while Patrick Kipngeno won it for the fourth time. The official podiums: Engelhard, Kirsty Skye Dickson and Andrea Mayr; Kipngeno, Richard Omaya Atuya and Andrea Elia. Sunday, Philemon Kiriago broke Kipngeno’s course record at Trofeo Nasego by 38 seconds, using the descent to turn a close race into a 1:30:08 win. Kipngeno and Michael Selelo Saoli completed the men’s podium. Ruth Mwihaki Gitonga won the women’s race in 1:47:07, with Engelhard less than half a minute behind and Miriam Chepkirui third, according to the official results. Some return weekend for Engelhard.
Natalie Beadle set the women’s course record at Italy’s MAGA Skymarathon, with the Skyrunner World Series reporting she took about three minutes off the previous mark. She finished in 5:27:50 ahead of Eva Delafosse and Roberta Jacquin. William Boffelli won the men’s race in 4:25:28, followed by Lucien Mermillon and Daniel Antonioli. Official results here.
Jessica Parry finished second overall at Colorado’s 40-mile Grand Traverse, running 6:44:21 from Crested Butte. Oliver Bacharach won in 6:38:13, about six minutes ahead. Hannah Casey and Hannah Campbell completed the women’s podium; Isaac Overmyer and Weston Muench rounded out the men’s. Official results here.
Katie Schide is cautiously building her running back up. She says she’s averaged about 20 hours a week of running and biking since July, alongside strength and foot work. “Nothing is magically perfect but nothing is acutely bad either.” She has no race plans yet and is waiting another week to reach three months after her cortisone injection before testing the foot more. She’s still dealing with frustration and sadness, and credits Germain Grangier with helping her through it.
Canadian mountain runner Kalie McCrystal remains missing on the Matterhorn. She was last seen September 1 descending the Lion Ridge toward Cervinia while reconnoitering the route. RAI reported Sunday that helicopter searches had resumed without a sighting.
Grand Canyon National Park now lists all inner-canyon water stations as off, including Havasupai Gardens and Bright Angel’s 1.5- and 3-mile resthouses. The Bright Angel and South Kaibab trailhead taps are on. The inner-canyon closures we covered Saturday remain in place, with no reopening estimate.

Also worth a look:

Abigail West’s first postpartum ultra at Lake Z came seven months after giving birth. She’s trying to celebrate it for itself before thinking about the next race, and thanks the volunteers who took shifts holding her baby while she ran.
Dan Jones’s CCC recap in Lessons from the Long Run finds something encouraging and frustrating in his sixth-place finish: some splits matched or beat 2024 despite the mud, yet he lost the leaders earlier. He’s proud of the run, and sees more time in the mountains or more climbing in training as the next step.
Jeff Browning’s Monday update brings him closer to home: another appointment with his cardiac surgeon Tuesday, followed by a few more days of healing before he expects to travel.
Lucy Gossage is into day three of the Pennine Way FKT attempt we mentioned Saturday. At 1:40 p.m. Central Monday, her tracker had her past the A58 White House checkpoint, reached in 59:04:49, with Edale still ahead. Anna Troup’s listed women’s supported record is 72:46:37.
Lastly, Ann Trason has her 100-mile buckle from A Race for the Ages. She says the Tennessee heat and storms made for some of the hardest conditions she’s encountered, and credits the encouragement around her. “I got to find out what I had in me. Turns out, enough for 100 miles.”

The most viewed links from our last issue:

That’s it for today. If TUM helps you follow the sport without spending your whole day on Instagram, the best way to help it grow is to share this issue with one friend who’d get it. Or simply like this post. Thanks for reading.

Ken

The Ultra Minute: September 5, 2026

Ken Seals — Sat, 05 Sep 2026 14:10:48 GMT

Hey y’all, I know a lot of us have had Jeff Browning on our minds. Seeing him post a video this week, talking to the camera himself, felt like a collective sigh of relief. We’re pulling for you, Jeff.

I’ve also been catching up on everything coming out of UTMB. There’s a lot of honest writing in this one about what people love about trail running, what’s been hard, and what they’re still trying to figure out. A few good laughs, too.

We scrolled through 1,100+ IG posts and 110+ articles, newsletters, podcast episodes, and videos since Monday’s issue so you could enjoy the weekend without living on your phone. Most of it didn’t make the cut.

Here’s your Saturday Ultra Minute:

Jeff Browning checked in from France Thursday after nine days in the hospital. It was a relief to see him. He said he was moving to an apartment after two procedures and a surgery, with about another week in France ahead of him. He thanked the doctors who kept him alive and everyone who rallied around him. And yes, he signed off with “Giddyup.”

UTMB consumed Monday’s issue, and we missed a few results. Brooke Hill-Deans won Washington’s Backcountry Rise 50K in 5:18:28, second overall and just 6:37 behind the outright winner. Her women’s course-record run came on rugged trails with 7,600 feet of climbing. Journey Fleishman won Colorado’s Ouray 50 in 16:45:04, first woman and fifth overall, more than an hour and 17 minutes ahead of the next woman. She told TUM the fire-modified course still packed more than 20,000 feet of climbing into 50 miles, with a noon start sending runners through the night.

Grand Canyon National Park has expanded its inner-canyon closures after the August 29 flash flood. South Kaibab Trail is now closed below the Tip-Off and Bright Angel Trail below its Tonto Trail intersection, joining earlier closures around Phantom Ranch and the North Kaibab corridor. There’s no reopening estimate. The park’s September 1 update identified the two hikers who died as John Giusti and Brent Rosenkranz; one member of their group remains missing, and the search continues.

Liam Tryon’s post-UTMB number crunching covers everything from finish rates and podium gaps to aid-station stops and standout splits. He puts the finish rate at 69.8%, the highest he’s found for a full-loop edition, and notes record numbers of women starting and finishing.

Ben Dhiman’s UTMB race essay makes a case for letting go of our fear of 100 miles. His lead started almost by accident: he left the Les Contamines aid station alone, 32 kilometers in, and expected the others to catch up. At Col de la Seigne, he decided to push harder and extend his lead. Then this: “I reached Courmayeur in 7:50. Risky, perhaps, but I think we’ve been living in the stone age of performance over the 100-mile distance.” He argues that cautious starts and descents leave huge amounts of time on the table. In Running Sucks, Raziq Rauf shares his pride in seeing a runner with Indian heritage win UTMB. They talk about Dhiman’s Punjabi roots and American upbringing. Dhiman is moved to hear that others see themselves in him, and is figuring out what representing that community could look like.

Milly Young says she had an epileptic seizure heading into PTL’s second night and was evacuated by helicopter to a hospital in Sion. She’s grateful her brother Charlie was there, and devastated to lose the experience they’d worked toward together. Her post describes why she loves these races: the way the world narrows to eating, sleeping and moving through the mountains with someone she loves. “It’s just running. There will be more PTLs.”

Rod Farvard is relieved to have UTMB behind him. He writes about an exhausting month of trying to feel strong while grieving his friend Jake. A knee he’d managed since spring locked up after 40 kilometers; he says imaging identified distal quad tendinopathy. He still believes his day at UTMB will come. For now, he wants a healthy body and for running to feel enjoyable again.

Kilian Jornet says what made him successful also made him afraid of himself. COROS’s seven-minute film Transcendent follows that changing relationship with fear, and the idea that a race bib can be a consequence of what he loves rather than the reason for it.

Tina Muir left UTMB week conflicted. She was awed by the mountains and crushed by the contrast: people lamenting shrinking glaciers, then reaching for more free stuff. Her photos show bins overflowing in Chamonix. She also credits UTMB’s willingness to improve and acknowledges her own flight there. Her call to do better includes organizers, brands, runners and herself.

Also worth a look:

Amelia Boone has stopped putting life on hold until she can run again. She’s finding joy elsewhere and exploring other sides of herself. Another return-to-run program is underway, but she thinks she’ll be alright if it doesn’t stick.

Lucy Gossage is attempting a Pennine Way FKT. In her pre-start post, she wrote about heading south with friends and making memories together: “I didn’t think I’d go back. They knew I would!” Her tracker is live.

Jade Belzberg’s Full Stoke recap pairs three days of racing in Revelstoke, B.C., with the pleasure of exploring somewhere new, and learning to push when there’s nobody nearby to chase.

Clare Gunton’s iRunFar profile of Brian Reynolds returns to his Leadville finish and the people who kept bringing him back: “The buckle was never really the most important part. The people were.”

Western States’ Golden Ticket tracker marks CCC winner Cristian Minoggio “declined” and now lists fourth-place Luke Grenfell-Shaw; the other listed CCC athletes still have no acceptance status.

Miguel Arsénio’s post-CCC reflection traces his path from 700 euros a month and factory night shifts to the runner-up podium: “I didn’t have much. I had belief.”

Jazmine Lowther’s The Dragons of UTMB follows her from doubting she could finish to hunting down places, then looking back on a race that taught her enough to want another go.

Women in Ultrarunning opened applications through September 16 for two $750 Every Woman Belongs grants for transgender women, funded by Katie Burns’s 71-mile High Line Canal run.

Dakota Jones turns CCC bib pickup into a very funny tour of elite treatment and race bureaucracy in Chamonix Again. He doesn’t spare himself, either: after comparing the hospitality area to a Hunger Games party, he stays for coffee.

Rickey Gates, Andy Cochrane and Ian MacLellan opened book preorders for The 50 Classic Trail Runs of America, covering 50 routes in 25 states with a foreword by Kilian Jornet.

Lastly, Zoë Rom’s satirical UTMB press release announces the acquisition of Hell, whose selling points include “strong brand recognition, reliable year-round heat, and a huge captive audience.”

The most viewed links from our last issue:

Scott Jurek’s Jeff Browning update

Caitlin Fielder’s finish-chute post

Caleb Olson’s pre-UTMB letter

Ken