We’ve got track and singletrack, Gran Trail and the Buckeye Trail, Silver Rush and Silverton.
It’s another fun mashup of the best from the past weekend.
Ultra Trail Côte d’Azur Mercantour – Cote d’Azur, France
There were three ultra distances races at the event, but the 30k race was part of the Skyrunner World Series and ran as the most competitive. Both 30k race winners set new course records.
Leire Fernández (Spain) edged out Maria Christen (Switzerland) to win the women’s race in 3:30. Christen was 62 seconds back in 3:31. The pair broke away from everyone else and Martina Cumerlato (Italy) was a distant third in 3:39.
Leire Fernández on her way to winning the 2023 Ultra Trail Côte d’Azur Mercantour 30k. Photo: Christian Retaggi
The men sprinted it out with both Damien Humbert (France) and Shoma Otagiri (Japan) finishing in 2:46. They were only six seconds apart, with Humbert in first. Sebastian Poesy (France) was just over a minute back in third at 2:47. Poesy won last year’s race and was the former course-record holder.
Damien Humbert, the 2023 Ultra Trail Côte d’Azur Mercantour 30k men’s winner. Photo: Christian Retaggi
Silver Rush 50 Mile – Leadville, Colorado
Almost 800 runners raced 50 miles on the high-altitude course. The course ran out and back, mostly on dirt roads, and collected 7,503 feet of elevation gain.
Devon Yanko outran Alisyn Hummelberg at the front of a close women’s race. Barely three minutes split the pair at the finish with Yanko winning in 7:55 to Hummelberg’s 7:58. Third-place Barrett Gray finished in 8:29.
The men were even closer. The first four were less than three minutes apart. Brad Miles escaped the group to win in 7:01, and Will Murray was only 54 seconds back in second at 7:02. And then Joel Shores was 66 seconds behind Murray in 7:03 for third.
Mount Marathon Race – Seward, Alaska
It was the race’s 95th year, always on July 4 for a 5k trip up and down Mount Marathon. This year’s run was especially rainy and muddy.
Women
Christy Marvin was second to the top, 38 seconds behind then-leader Meg Inokuma, but then ran her down on the way back to town. Marvin finished in 52:52, her third win at this race, and Inokuma was second in 53:07. Marvin also won in 2013 and 2016. Denali Strabel had the day’s best downhill and that pushed her to third in 54:21. All three of the podium finishers were from Palmer, Alaska, three hours north.
In June Klaire Rhodes was 21st at the Trail World Championships 40k race, and she finished fourth here in 54:52.
The 2023 Mount Marathon Race top-five women (l-to-r): 5. Sophie Wright, 3. Denali Strabel, 2. Meg Inokuma, 4. Klaire Rhodes, and 1. Christy Marvin. Photo: Matias Saari
Men
On July 1, David Norris was second at the Cirque Series race in Utah. He made it to Alaska in time for the July 4 Mount Marathon Race and won for the fourth time. Norris, who set the course record at 41:26 in 2016, won this year in 44:51. Norris also won in 2018 and 2021.
David Norris takes the win at the 2023 Mount Marathon Race. Photo: Mick Dees
Darren Thomas and Lars Arneson were second and third in 46:35 and 46:44, respectively.
Taylor Turney finished ninth overall but set a new downhill course record at 9:54. It was six seconds better than Eric Strabel’s old downhill record from 2013, and it was 68 seconds faster than anyone else coming down this year.
Among lower 48ers, Andy Wacker got to the top fifth and finished sixth in 48:27. Zach Miller was 11th up, but finished 22nd in 51:25, and Paddy O’Leary was similarly challenged on the downhill toward a 23rd-place 51:52 run.
Badwater 135 Mile – Death Valley, California
Some 100 baddies chased the white line through Death Valley, and 89 got to the finish at the base of Mount Whitney.
Women
Ashley Paulson was sensational. Paulson was the race’s overall winner, and a repeat women’s winner. She gained the ultimate lead late and finished in 21:44. That’s way better than the 24:09 old course record she ran last year. Only 2019 men’s winner Yoshihiko Ishikawa (Japan) has ever run faster, and his 21:33 is only barely faster than what Paulson ran this year.
Second-place Sonia Ahuja finished in 25:42, a time that would win this race most years, and third-place Maree Connor finished in 27:49.
[Editor’s Note: Ashley Paulson served a six-month doping sanction, in 2015 and 2016, due to a doping violation in triathlon for a positive test for ostarine, a selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM).]
Men
Longtime leader Simen Holvik (Norway) won the men’s race in 22:28. The aforementioned Ishikawa was second in 23:52 and Harvey Lewis was third in 27:06. It was Lewis’s 12th consecutive Badwater finish.
Trail Verbier St. Bernard by UTMB – St. Bernard, Switzerland
It was the race’s 14th year and there were some 3,000 runners across its multiple different races.
The 140k (87 miles) race went off at 10:00 p.m. Among the 350 starters of this longest distance, only 208 finished the challenging course. Corine Kagerer and Mathieu Clément, both of the host country, won in 25:30 and 20:16. Clément won the Canyons by UTMB 100 Mile in April in a sprint. He had time for a more leisurely finish here, 61 minutes better than anyone else. Kagerer was even further ahead, winning by 64 minutes.
Katarzyna Solińska (Poland) and Thibaut Garrivier (France) won the 76k race in 10:34 and 9:00.
Holy cow, Marcela Vašínová (Czech Republic) likes to race. She raced the Trail World Championships 80k on June 9, won the Minotaur Skyrace in Canada two weeks later, and then won the 50k here in 5:29. Daniel Antonioli (Italy) led the men in 4:38.
Marcela Vašínová wins the 2023 Trail Verbier St. Bernard by UTMB 50k. Photo: Trail Verbier St. Bernard by UTMB
Daniel Antonioli takes the win at the 2023 Trail Verbier St. Bernard by UTMB 50k. Photo: Trail Verbier St. Bernard by UTMB
Val D’Aran by UTMB – Lleida, Spain
The 100-mile race was stopped before anyone finished due to adverse weather.
The 110k cut short too, but 47 runners got to the finish before it was stopped. The first four women were among the finishers group, and Azara García (Spain) triumphed in 14:14. Mari Klakegg Fenre (Norway) and Núria Picas (Spain) were second and third in 14:38 and 15:32, respectively. Raul Octavian Butaci (Romania) was the men’s winner in 12:45. Alban Berson (France) was second in 12:57, and Sebastian Krogvig (Norway) was third in 13:12.
The entirety of the 55k podiums was filled with Spanish runners. Oihana Kortazar covered the track in 6:32, 15 minutes faster than second place, and men’s winner Raúl Criado finished in 5:41.
Gran Trail Courmayeur – Courmayeur, Italy
The race’s 11th edition hosted 1,500 runners from 40 countries for its races in front of Mont Blanc. Italian runners, however, won every race.
Lisa Borzani and Simone Corsini won the 100k race in 17:28 and 15:02.
Lisa Borzani breaks the tape to win the 2023 Gran Trail Courmayeur 100k. Photo: Alessandro Zambianchi
Simone Corsini, the 2023 Gran Trail Courmayeur 100k men’s champion. Photo: Alessandro Zambianchi
The 55k winners Giuditta Turini and Gianluca Galeati finished in 6:36 and 5:35.
Fabiola Conti and Mattia Reggidori triumphed in the 30k at 3:22 and 2:57.
Restonica Trail by UTMB – Corte, France
These races were all on Corsica, a mountainous French island in the Mediterranean Sea.
The 100-mile winners Eva Marie Sperger (Germany) and Lambert Santelli (France) finished in 20:59 and 15:15. Santelli was 85 minutes better than his closest pursuer.
Louise Serban-Penhoat (France) and Thibaut Baronian (France) won the 50k in 3:59 and 3:11, respectively.
Additional Races and Runs
Brisbane Trail Ultra – Brisbane, Australia
The race was part of the Spartan Trail World Championships. Cecilia Mattas (Australia) and Piotr Babis (Poland) won the 100-mile race in 22:23 and 18:59, and Courtney Gilfillan (Australia) and Ben Duffus (Australia) won the 30k in 3:02 and 2:36. Full results.
Sinister 7 Ultra – Crowsnest Pass, Alberta, Canada
Rugged and remote in the Canadian Rockies, the race celebrated 100-mile winners Claudia Blandford and Scott Cooper in 25:58 and 19:16. The 50-mile winners Mandi Goudie and Tristan Chart finished in 10:15 and 8:57, and Emilie Mann and Brandon Miller won the 50k in 5:22 and 4:15. Full results.
Knee Knackering 50k – North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Chessa Adsit-Morris and Brandon Gardiner won the longtime race in 5:20 and 4:42. Full results.
Ultramook 50k – Tillamook, Oregon
Madalyne Staab and Kyle Peterson set new course records in 4:47 and 3:39. Full results.
Siskiyou Out Back – Ashland, Oregon
Official results aren’t yet out, but social media points to Timothy Olson turning back the clock to win the 50-mile race. Can someone share who won the women’s race? Full results (when available).
U.S. Track and Field Championships – Eugene, Oregon
There was a little bit of crossover with trail running.
It was just three weeks ago that Anna Gibson won the Broken Arrow Skyrace Vertical Kilometer and took second in the 23k. And now, Gibson, who also just signed with the Brooks Beasts track club, ran a 4:11 1,500-meter in the prelims and followed it up with a 4:09 personal best in the final round, placing 10th.
That same weekend three weeks ago, Marybeth and Sam Chelanga were both second at the Mount Washington Road Race. The married couple finished 14th and ninth in the 10,000-meter track race here in 34:01 and 28:52.
Silverton Alpine 50k and Marathon – Silverton, Colorado
The Aravaipa Running event crowned Corinne Shalvoy and Nicholas Parton as 50k winners in 5:15 and 4:35, and Jaycie Thomsen and TJ David were the marathon’s best in 3:53 and 3:41. Full results.
Kendall Mountain Run – Silverton, Colorado
Also an Aravaipa Running event, this one goes 12 miles up and down 13,066-foot Kendall Mountain. Lara Hamilton won the women’s race in 2:03, and Noah Williams repeated as men’s champ in 1:45. Full results.
Whiterock Ultra 50k – Coon Rapids, Iowa
Lindsey Burton and Kevin Tiffany were the 50 miler’s fastest in 11:17 and 7:59, and Elizabeth Krupicka and Jason Downing won the 50k in 5:34 and 4:13. Full results.
Buckeye Trail 50k – Brecksville, Ohio
Stacy Billig went just under five hours with a 4:59 winning time, and Israel Merkle was just over four hours with a 4:00 men’s winning time. Full results.
Call for Comments
Tuesday, July 4 was of course Independence Day in the U.S., and a lot of fireworks shows were being replaced by drone shows across the country. I’ve never seen a drone show. Are they worth checking out the next time I have a chance?
