This weekend was the 2021 Bandera 100k in Texas, and this event marked the current iteration of this column’s anniversary! We’ve been going at it for seven years now, and still love bringing the fun every Monday morning.
We also look at the winter edition of the Spine Race in the U.K., the Spartanion in Israel where two new ultramarathon world records were set by Aleksandr Sorokin, and a bunch more races. This column is a big one, so buckle up!
Bandera 100k – Bandera, Texas
Men
Jonathan Rea has been racing ultramarathons since 2013 when he started at just 23 years old, and years of steady improvement culminated with a 2022 win at the Bandera 100k, which he won in 8:10. He split 4:00 for the first 50-kilometer lap, five minutes back from eventual second-place finisher Tyler Fox. Fox, the race leader at halfway, finished second in 8:14. Both accepted their Western States 100 Golden Ticket entries.
iRunFar also reported on Bandera in a separate news article.
The start of the 2022 Bandera 100k. Photo: Mike McMonagle
The rest of the top 10 included:
3 – Joseph McConaughy – 8:17
4 – Rod Farvard – 8:28
5 – Jimmy Elam – 8:33
6 – David Hedges – 8:45
7 – Tracen Knopp – 8:46
8 – Austin Horn – 9:02
9 – Gabriel Kline – 9:05
10 – Dmitri Journist – 9:06
Defending champion Ryan Miller did not finish.
Tyler Fox, who would finish in second place, running at the halfway mark of the 2022 Bandera 100k. Photo: Mike McMonagle
Women
Marianne Hogan (Canada) went to the front early and gapped the women’s field, winning in 9:17. The win marked a peak after four years of injury challenges.
Ellie Pell raced ahead of Leah Yingling in the race’s second half to finish runner-up in 9:49. Yingling trailed in third at 10:05. Both Hogan and Pell accepted their Golden Tickets, and Pell was beaming, “this one is for the [U.S.] Beast Coast” proudly afterward on social media.
The rest of the women’s top 10 ran as:
4 – Meghan Morgan – 10:12
5 – Brianna Grigsby – 10:15
6 – Riley Brady – 10:20
7 – Arden Young (Canada) – 10:28
8 – Michelle Magagna – 10:40
9 – Randi Jensen – 10:40
10 – Katrina Miller – 10:56
Pre-race favorites Sarah Biehl and Taylor Nowlin were among the drops.
The next Golden Ticket race is the February 12 Tarawera Ultramarathons 102k in New Zealand.
Leah Yingling in second place around mile 57. Yingling eventually finished in third at the 2022 Bandera 100k. Photo: Mike McMonagle
Montane Spine Race – Pennine Way, United Kingdom
An all-time best field has assembled for the race’s 10th anniversary. The winter edition of the run is underway on its always-challenging 268-mile, one-way course. Runners have seven days to complete the extreme weather and terrain challenge.
Damian Hall (U.K.) has a near two-hour lead on the rest of the field as of Monday, January 10. Kim Collison (U.K.) was hot on his tail till now, but he dropped out at Malham early Monday morning. Hall is a two-time finisher and former Pennine Way fastest-known-time-(FKT)-holder, and Collison similarly holds an FKT in the area. Past winner Eugeni Roselló Solé (Spain) is currently second.
Runners climb a slope in a greener stage of the 2022 Montane Spine Race. Photo: Mick Kenyon
Past winner and course-record holder Sabrina Verjee (U.K.) was leading the women’s race by over an hour, but dropped out at Horton-in-Ribbsdale. Debbie Martin-Consani (U.K.) now has a small lead on the rest of the women’s field.
The concurrent Challenger race runs as 108 miles and Josh Wade (U.K.) won, by almost five hours, in 24:54. Kendra Wedgwood (U.K.) took the women’s win by 2.5 hours. She was one of only three female participants.
The event has two other races, the Spine Sprint which is 46 miles long and the Spine Challenger North which is 160 miles long and a new race for the 2022 event.
A runner makes their way across the snowy trail in the U.K. during the 2022 Montane Spine Challenger North. Photo: Adam Jacobs
Spartanion – Tel Aviv, Israel
Aleksandr Sorokin (Lithuania) smashed the 11-hour mark for 100 miles, and set a new 12-hour world record too. Running on a flat 1,460-meter park course, Sorokin incredibly ran 10:51 for 100 miles, improving his former 11:14 world record. He kept going for a full 12 hours, totaling 110.24 miles, and that also bettered his own former world record of 105.82 miles.
Sorokin also holds the 24-hour world record and he’s just been absolutely amazing over the last two years. iRunFar also covered Sorokin’s world=record performance in this news article.
Over 12 hours, Shimrit Shulman (Israel) ran 72 miles to lead the women’s race.
Aleksandr Sorokin at the 2022 Spartanion race in Tel Aviv, Israel, on his way to breaking the 100-mile and 12-hour world records. Photo: Tomer Feder
Additional Races and Runs
USATF Cross Country Championships – San Diego, California
Checking in on trail runners, mountain runners, and ultrarunners racing national-level cross country, we had Renee Metivier who just turned 40 and won the women’s master’s 6k race, finishing in 21:50. She was nearly two minutes ahead of everyone else. Andy Wacker was 29th in the men’s 10k race in 34:14. Does anyone spy any other crossover athletes in the results? Full results.
Avalon Benefit 50 Mile – Avalon, California
Racing on Catalina Island, Anthony Fagundes beat past race winner Ruperto Romero for this year’s crown. Fagundes came in at 6:01 and Romero at 6:52. Jade Belzberg won the women’s race in 7:21. Robert Webber and Alexi Pappas, an Olympic marathoner for Greece crossing over into ultra-distance racing for the first time, won the 50k in 4:07 and 4:21, respectively. “I braved something new and won,” Pappas said at the start of her fun social media report on the race. Full results.
Del Dios 50k – Escondido, California
Kent Green and Janel Zick won “The Race of the Gods” with 4:30 and 4:59 finish times. Full results.
San Tan Scramble 50k – Queen Creek, Arizona
Adam Dalton and Corinne Shalvoy won the Aravaipa Running San Tan Scramble 50k in 4:02 and 4:30. Full results.
Wildcatter 50k – Graham, Texas
Racing around the private, 1,500-acre Wildcatter Ranch and Resort, Travis Prater and Elizabeth Hingley won in 5:29 and 6:41. Full results.
Great Scorpion 50k – Meridian, Mississippi
Jonathan Faryadi and Natalie Halapin led the race in 4:39 and 5:26. Full results.
Frozen Gnome 50k – Crystal Lake, Illinois
It was all snow on the course at the Frozen Gnome 50k, and Keegan Parrott and Rachel Burke raced to 5:14 and 6:17 winning times. Full results.
Salem Lakeshore Frosty Fifty 50k – Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Racing over four laps, Jeremy Bush and Ariana Bevilacqua topped the field in 3:47 and 4:12. Full results.
Harbison 50k – Columbia, South Carolina
Jeff Fabian and Lauren Henderson championed the 50k race in 5:07 and 6:04, respectively. Full results.
2022 World Mountain Running Association World Cup
The World Mountain Running Association just released its 2022 World Cup calendar. The 12 Gold Label races will happen across six countries and nine locations (KV meaning a Vertical Kilometer Race).
- June 19 – Montemuro Vertical Run (Portugal)
- July 10 – Grossglockner Berglauf (Austria)
- July 16 – La Montée du Nid d’Aigle (France)
- July 30 – Giir di Mont KV (Italy)
- July 1 – Giir di Mont (Italy)
- August 13 – Sierre-Zinal (Switzerland)
- September 3 – Vertical Nasego (Italy)
- September 4 – Trofeo Nasego (Italy)
- September 9 – Canfranc-Canfranc Vertical (Spain)
- September 11 – Canfranc-Canfranc (Spain)
- October 2 – Zumaia Flysch Trail (Spain)
- October 10 – KV Chiavenna-Lagunc (Italy)
There are an additional five Silver Label races on the calendar too. Full release.
Call for Comments
- Same time, same place each week. What race results can you add to this week’s column in the comments section?
- Are there any other big races coming up in the winter months that you’re looking forward to?
