It’s President’s Day in the U.S., and some of you might be home from work or school. And that’s good because we’ve got an extra large column this week with results as far off as Spain’s Seville Marathon, Thailand’s Amazean Jungle by UTMB event, and Alaska’s Susitna 100 Mile.
Black Canyon 100k — Mayer, Arizona
Anthony Costales and Keely Henninger set new course records at the Aravaipa Running race. The leaders finished in 7:33 and 8:45, and both earned Golden Ticket automatic entries to this year’s Western States 100. iRunFar earlier shared the greater race dynamics.
Men
Costales, just fifth a year ago, gained the lead late and pushed ahead of Tom Evans (U.K.). Behind Costales’s 7:33 finish, Evans followed in 7:37. Janosch Kowalczyk (Germany) was closing on Evans toward a third-place 7:40 finish.
Anthony Costales (right) on his way to winning the 2023 Black Canyon 100k. Jesse Ellis/@letswanderphotography
The rest of the top 10 included:
4 – Cole Watson – 7:59
5 – Noah Dusseau – 8:02
6 – Erik Sorenson – 8:03
7 – David Laney – 8:04
8 – Elliot Cardin (Canada) – 8:10
9 – Stephen Kersh – 8:15
10 – Matthew Seidel – 8:22
We’ll extend this a bit to close the gap on last week’s preview.
13 – Ryan Miller – 8:43
25 – Ryan Smith – 9:26
27 – Tyler Veerman – 9:47
Tim Freriks, Bobby Peavey, Eric Senseman, and Canyon Woodward were all drops. Makai Clemons did not start the race.
Women
Keely Henninger outdueled Heather Jackson for the women’s crown. Just over two minutes separated the pair, and only after Henninger’s late charge. The two finished in 8:45 and 8:47, respectively. Meghan Morgan was a surprise third in 8:53. Just 25 years old, Morgan was eighth at last year’s Canyons by UTMB 100k.
Keely Henninger (in red), the 2023 Black Canyon 100k women’s winner. Jesse Ellis/@letswanderphotography
The rest of the top 10 included:
4 – Anna Kacius – 9:05
5 – Ida Nilsson (Sweden, lives in Norway) – 9:07
6 – Shea Aquilano – 9:08
7 – Yngvild Kaspersen (Norway) – 9:17
8 – Georgia Porter – 9:24
9 – Jade Belzberg – 9:26
10 – Brianna Grigsby – 9:53
Just like with the men, we’ll close the gap on those highlighted in last week’s preview.
11 – Kaci Lickteig – 9:53
12 – Tara Dower – 9:56
15 – Blake Wageman – 10:11
Sarah Biehl and Ailsa MacDonald (Canada) did not finish.
The year’s final Golden Ticket race is the April 28 Canyons by UTMB 100k in California.
FOURmidable 50k — Cool, California
The top two men and women each earned spots on the U.S. 40-kilometer team that will compete at the June 2023 Trail World Championships in Austria.
Men
Jonathan Aziz earned his way back onto the U.S. national team with a first-place 3:29 finish. The mark took three minutes from Max King’s 2017 course record, and Aziz collected a $500 course-record bonus for that time. And Aziz was way up on everyone else.
Craig Hunt was second in 3:40 for the second team spot, and Jacob Grant was third in 3:45. Hunt’s a 2:18 marathoner that raced in the 2020 Olympic Trials Marathon.
The rest of the top 10 included:
4 – Cole Campbell – 3:46
5 – Talon Hull – 3:49
6 – Nick Handel – 3:51
7 – Adam Sjolund – 3:53
8 – Dylan Humberger – 3:56
9 – Drew Macomber – 3:57
10 – Jared Forman – 3:57
Women
As with men’s winner Aziz, Kimber Mattox also earned a return spot back on the U.S. team for 2023. Mattox took the women’s race in 4:06, also a new course record. This one bettered Stephanie Howe’s 4:10 from 2018.
EmKay Sullivan and Klaire Rhodes were second and third in 4:10 and 4:14, respectively.
The rest of the top 10 ran as follows:
4 – Allison Baca – 4:20
5 – Kristina Randrup – 4:32
6 – Laurel Moyer – 4:33
7 – Ruby Lindquist – 4:36
8 – Leandra Zimmermann – 4:38
9 – Julie Fetner – 4:47
10 – Mercedes Siegle-Gaither – 4:48
The Raven 24 Hour — Mount Pleasant, South Carolina
Men
Jacob Moss won the men’s race with 126.26 miles over 24 hours but fell well short of a qualifying distance for the U.S. 24-hour team.
Women
Camille Herron totaled 93.47 miles at the 12-hour mark and reached 100 miles in 12:52. Herron, 41 years old, set new age group world records with the marks and broke her own track 100-mile record but missed her overall 100-mile world record. Herron’s a lock on these track ultras and set so many records that it’s easy to under-appreciate just how fast this is. She’s got a trail calendar ahead with the Western States 100, Leadville 100 Mile, and Javelina 100k all on the calendar for later this year.
Camille Herron at the 2023 Raven 24 Hour. Photo courtesy of Jacob and Riley Moss.
For the 24-hour race, Nikki Harvey was the winner, though she too stopped short of 24 hours and totaled a distance just slightly longer than Herron’s 100 miles.
Amazean Jungle Thailand by UTMB — Thailand
The event included three ultra distances near the Thailand-Malaysia border.
100 Mile
The technical track was so demanding that no one got in under 24 hours. There were just 48 finishers among 73 starters.
Sangé Sherpa (Nepal, lives in France) was first in 25:03. Xiao Lin (China) followed in 26:05, and Somyot Puangjit (Thailand) was a distant third in 31:21.
Chinese runners Wen-Fei Xie and Rong-Rong Chen led the women’s race in 29:12 and 31:01, and Siok-Har Lim (Malaysia) was third in 35:41.
100k
This one, too, showed a robust drop rate. There were 135 starters, but over half dropped, and only 63 finished the race. Gediminas Grinius (Lithuania) and Anita Rai (Nepal) were the race winners in 13:53 and 17:29, respectively.
50k
Michal Lesniak (Poland) and Jo Meek (U.K.) championed the 50k race in 6:37 and 7:14, respectively.
Additional Races and Runs
Seville Marathon — Seville, Spain
The top 44 men all ran under 2:13, and the top 82 all under 2:20. Just outside of that mark was occasional ultrarunner Fernando Cabada (USA) in 2:20:53. More frequent ultrarunners Aleksandr Sorokin (Lithuania) and Robert Hajnal (Romania) stepped down in distance, and for Hajnal, a change of terrain too. Sorokin ran 2:25:33, and Hajnal ran 2:36:10. Ida Nilsson’s brother David Nilsson (Sweden) is in here too in 2:31:20. That was certainly a disappointing result for him after splitting 1:04 for half. In the women’s results, Ann Ashworth (South Africa), the 2018 Comrades Marathon winner, ran 2:39:47. Full results.
Vibram Hong Kong 100k — Hong Kong
China dominated the men’s and women’s podiums. Pei-Quan You (China) and Jia-Ju Zhao (China) ran 10:37 and 10:44, and Guo-Min Deng (China) and Can-Hua Luo (China) tied for third in 11:07. The top women were Man-Yee Cheung (Hong Kong), Anna Li (China), and Qin Lu (China) in 13:49, 14:18, and 14:32, respectively. Full results.
Susitna 100 Mile — Big Lake, Alaska
There are ski, bike, and run races, and the run wins went to Haroldas Subertas and Meg Inokuma in 26:16 and 31:27. Full results.
Little Su 50k — Big Lake, Alaska
Simultaneous to the 100-mile race, Alaska’s own Nick Schollmeier and Denali Strabel won the 50k in 5:43 and 7:13. Full results.
Woolley Trail Runs 50k — Sedro-Wooley, Washington
Ryan McKnight and Kristen Simerson went 4:23 and 5:26 for the wins. Full results.
Hagg Lake Mud Runs 50k — Forest Grove, Oregon
Jason Smith and Leah Brown were the fastest in 3:48 and 4:14. Full results.
Black Canyon Ultras 60k — Mayer, Arizona
A day after the 100k race, Joshua Park and Mimmi Kotka (Sweden, lives in France) won the shorter race in 4:37 and 4:55. Full results.
Holiday Lake 50k — Appomattox, Virginia
Nicholas DiPirro dipped under the four-hour mark, running 3:59 for the win, and Jennifer Fleming was second overall and set a new course record in 4:13. Full results.
Call for Comments
I don’t follow just trail running and ultrarunning, and so I had eyes on both the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Australia and the U.S. Indoor Track and Field Championships this weekend too. I couldn’t find a pull from either of those events, though, into this column. Can any readers draw a link from those events to trail running and ultrarunning?
