Articles by UltraRunning Magazine

UR: Looking back at 2018, how do you feel your year went?Courtney: It was a pretty cool year and I’m very grateful for the opportunities I’ve been given, the races, the friends who crewed and paced me, the people I got t...

Four Golden tickets were up for grabs at this year’s Black Canyon 100K in Mayer, AZ, on February 17. Canada’s Ailsa MacDonald avenged last year’s excruciating third-place finish with a blistering fast 8:53 for the win, n...

On February 10 the Tarawera ultramarathons celebrated their 10th anniversary and continued their growth. Tarawera continued its growth as a global bucket list destination ultra event for North Americans, and why not? New...

UR: So now you have the FKTs for the two longest and most iconic trails in North America, the PCT and the AT. Can you give us a little background on how this happened? McConaughy: Well, when I grew up my dad always en...

Camille Herron is the female Ultra Runner of the Year for 2017. Herron’s spectacular year included winning the prestigious Comrades Marathon in South Africa and setting a world record for 100 miles with a stunning 12:42:40 clocking at the Tunnel Hill 100. Four weeks after the 100 mile record, she doubled back to set another world record for 12 hours with a 92.665 total, breaking Ann Trason’s 1991 mark. She also showed her versatility in winning the Tarawera 100K in New Zealand and placing second at the Bandera 100K. She lives in Warr Acres, Oklahoma and currently works as a Research Assistant in Osteoimmunology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.

Tim Freriks is the number two ranked male for 2017. Freriks year included two major wins – Transvulcania in Spain and The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 in San Francisco. He showed his versatility by winning the Flagstaff Sky Race and placing second at the Broken Arrow Sky Race. The former Northern Arizona University track standout recently he finished his nursing degree. He lives in Flagstaff.

Magdalena Boulet is the number 3 ranked woman for 2017. Boulet, who was Ultra Runner of the Year in 2015, placed second at the Western States 100, Lake Sonoma 50, and Tarawera 100K. Born in Poland, Boulet became a U.S. citizen on September 11, 2001 and was on the 2008 U.S. Olympic team. She lives in Oakland, California where she is Vice President of Research and Innovation for GU Energy Labs.

Hayden Hawks of St. George, Utah checks in as the number 4 ranked man for 2017. Hawks strong year included a win at Courmayeur-Champex-Chamonix (CCC), the 100K race in the UTMB series. He also won the Red Hot Moab 55K, placed second at Chuckanut and third at The North Face Endurance Challenge Championships in San Francisco. Hawks took to the trails after a stellar track career at Southern Utah University, where he posted school records in the 5000 meters (13:51) and 10,000 meters (28:53).

Cat Bradley of Boulder, Colorado is the fifth ranked woman for 2017. Bradley won the prestigious Western States 100 in her debut race there. She excelled on the Western States course, winning both the “big dance” and The Canyons 100K. She burst into the elite ranks in late 2016 with a course record win at the Rio del Lago 100. A kindergarten teacher who was laid off in March, Bradley took full advantage of the extra time to train and good fortune – she got into Western States via the lottery, with only one ticket and a 2.5% chance of getting drawn.

Olivier Leblond of Alexandria, Virginia is number 6 in the voting for Ultra Runner of the Year. Leblond set an American Record at 48 hours, posting 262.181 miles at the Icarus Ultra. He also won the Umstead 100 and the Yeti 100 and was seventh at the IAU 24-Hour World Championships.

YiOu Wang is the number 7 ranked woman for 2017. Wang won the highly competitive Lake Sonoma 50, placed second at Chuckanut and set a course record while winning the Quicksilver 50K. She is currently on a yearlong sabbatical from her job as Dean of Curriculum at a private school in Marin County, California.

Jeff Browning is ranked number 8 for 2017. Fourth at Western States and 20th at UTMB, “Bronco Billy” doubled back to win the Bear 100. A graphic artist and running coach, he moved from Bend, Oregon to Logan, Utah during the year.

Gina Slaby is the #9 woman for 2017. Slaby won six races during the year and placed fourth at the World 24-Hour Championships in Northern Ireland.  A Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy, Slaby lives in Seabeck, Washington.

Patrick Reagan is the 10th in the voting for Ultra Runner of the Year.  Reagan, who lives in Savannah, Georgia, won the Javelina 100, breaking Zach Bitter’s course record in the process. He was second at Ultravasan, a highly competitive 90km race in Sweden, and 12th at Comrades in South Africa.

But Marshall’s unique, groundbreaking, Hall-of-Fame-ranking contribution to the sport of ultrarunning consists primarily in his role as organizer, correspondent, journalist, statistician, archivist. If Ted Corbitt was the father of American Ultrarunning, Nick Marshall was its caretaker.

Tarawera 100 Mile Endurance Run : Official. Kia ora, welcome to New Zealand’s ultimate endurance challenge. Feb. 10-11 2018. A tour of 8 lakes in Rotorua NZ. Join us for…

The Grand Slam of Ultrarunning award ceremony is held after the Wasatch Front 100 Mile Endurance Run. The Grand Slam consists of completing three of the following races: Old Dominion, Western States, Vermont, Leadville;...

The Run, Rabbit, Run 50 and 100 Mile Endurance Runs Presented by Altra is pleased to announce the creation of the inaugural $100,000 Run, Rabbit, Run “Rabbit Cup” to be held in September 14 and 15, 2018 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado to be run at the distance of 100 miles. Coupled with the Run, Rabbit, Run’s existing $65,000 purse, Altra’s Run, Rabbit, Run 100 mile run will offer a total purse of $165,000, making it by far the largest trail ultra purse in the world.

As with many ultrarunner origin stories, Brandon Miller’s running career started as a cross country speed demon in his home town of Barrie, Ontario. After high school, as he began a demanding college course load in Mechanical Engineering at Queens University in Ontario, priorities shifted and running took a far second to his studies.

Ultrarunner Caroline Boller and her husband, Robert, released the Robie Point® Pinot today to celebrate the 2017 Western States® 100 Endurance Run. 10% of the proceeds will be donated to the Western States® Endurance Run Foundation.

The Western States Endurance Run has released a “Drug Testing Policy and Protocols” document to all runners entered in this year’s event, with the purpose of conducting drug testing for the first time in the Run’s 44-year history on June 24-25, WSER President John Medinger announced today.

Clare Gallagher and Brian Rusiecki have won the UltraRunning Race Series Overall Ranking for the 2016-2017. The Series applied a formula to score every ultra finisher at every ultra race in the 12 months ending April 30, 2017. Top scores for four races – one at each classic ultra distance – were added to tabulate every ultrarunner’s score. The talented and experienced Rusiecki and Gallagher took different paths to the top of the rankings.

This past weekend marked the final week of racing for the 2016-2017 UltraRunning Race Series. So far this season, results for over 1,300 North American ultras have been posted and scoring for 53,294 runners have been calculated.

How many times have you gone out for a long run, only to come back sore or injured for no obvious reason? You haven’t pulled a muscle or twisted an ankle, yet you get a feeling of pain the next morning that suggests you got hit by a truck?

“Anish” now holds the Overall Self-Supported (backpacker) records for the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and the AZT. She stands alone (and ahead of all men too) in her specialty, with her AZT being two days faster than the Men’s Self-Supported FKT, and was on track to be the quickest AZT ever until Michael Versteeg set a quicker faster (Supported) time a few days previous. Anderson covered the 800 mile route in 19 days, 17 hours and 9 minutes.

The best ultrarunner in the US knocked this one out of the park and was recognized for it. Records have been kept on this uber-route for decades, recently including Anton Krupicka, Dave Mackey, and Dakota Jones, with Jim taking 25 minutes off Rob Krar’s 2013 time. In the process he blazed South-North Rim in 2:46 which is an FKT itself. Walmsely covered the 42.2 miles in 5:55:20.

The Sawatch Range in Colorado has 14 summits over 14,000’ high – somewhat lined up in a row, with few trails, continuous rough terrain, navigation challenges, and of course, serious vert. The cutoff time to ascend and descend all 14 is 60 hours. Meghan was the 17th finisher and first woman to tag all 14 peaks over the roughly 100-mile route in that time (Anna Frost and Missy Govney earlier had reached the 14th summit within that time but paused on top). Meghan’s effort was Supported and she completed it in 59 hours and 36 minutes.

The man who knows the Sierra’s better than anyone now has the FKT on both the John Muir Trail and the much harder and higher SHR, which roughly parallels it. This is its first “serious” effort, taking a huge three days off the previous time. This terrific route sees a tiny fraction of attention compared to the JMT, presumably because it requires much more navigation and ability to move efficiently on 3rd class terrain. Pantilat covered the 195-mile route Unsupported in 4 days, 16 hours, 21 minutes.

Joelle Vaught is a Boise, ID ultrarunner who has a special fondness for running trails with her dogs. The 42-year old Vaught has an extraordinary ultrarunning resume, with 63 ultras completed, and 28 wins – including many large high-profile races in the west, among them, the Way Too Cool 50K, the Lake Sonoma 50-miler and Waldo 100K.

We have listed the top graded performances for each commonly run ultra distance. These rankings are determined by using the Comparative Difficulty Ratios developed by Gary Wang at RealEndurance.com.

Each year a few races attract a large number of elite runners. In this analysis, we have examined the races in which those who received votes for Runner of the Year competed. Giving the runners of the year 40 points, the runners-up 39 points, and so on, we have devised a system for determining which races had the most competitive fields.

Jim Walmslsey and Kaci Lickteig are the Ultra Runners of the Year for 2016. Both were nearly unanimous choices, with Licketig garnering 38 first-place votes and Walmsley 37 from the 39 voters.

Magdalena Boulet Magdalena Boulet of Oakland, California, last year’s ultra runner of the year, placed second in the 2016 voting. Boulet, who is the Vice President of Innovation and Product…

Zach Miller Zach Miller of Manitou Springs, Colorado is the third ranked ultra runner for 2016. Miller won the Madera Island 115km race in the spring and then led UTMB,…

Caroline Boller Caroline Boller is ranked number four among the women for 2016. Boller finished the year with a bang, placing second at the JKF50 and then running the fastest…

The inaugural year of the UltraRunning Race Series was a big success, with the overall series being won by Paul Terranova and Devon Yanko in equally dominant – but dramatically different – fashion. After focusing on a...

UROY Interview: David Laney At age 27 you are the youngest Ultrarunner of the Year ever, dating back to 1981, how does it feel to earn this distinction? So many guys have had a great year, I was really surprised to b...