St. Patrick’s Day weekend brought a few road races into the mix on top of longtime trail events like the Chuckanut 50k.
Earlier in the week, the Barkley Marathons had three finishers.
Chuckanut 50k – Fairhaven, Washington
It was the race’s 29th edition, run on a lollipop course with a technical middle 30 kilometers that goes up and over the Chuckanut Mountain Ridge. There was a $3,300 prize purse this year that gave $600 to each of the male and female winners and $300 to the first non-binary finisher.
Men
Adam Merry outran Seth Ruhling for the win in 3:33. Ruhling trailed 80 seconds later in 3:34.
Merry’s time looks to have missed Max King’s 2017 course record by 15 seconds. (Adam Peterman ran 3:24 on a different course in 2022.)
Third and fourth were really close together too. Kris Brown got to the line in 3:37, and Eric LiPuma followed in 3:38, but the two were only 11 seconds apart.
Mario Mendoza was fifth in 3:41.
Adam Merry, 2023 Chuckanut 50k champion. Photo: Tad Davis
Women
Clare Gallagher led the women’s race in 4:07, and it was pretty close too. Kat Drew chased to the line in 4:10 as runner-up.
As with men’s winner Merry, Gallagher, too, missed out on a $200 course-record bonus. Jodee Adams-Moore ran 4:01 here way back in 2013. However, Gallagher’s time was the second-fastest ever.
Andrea Lee, Katelyn Steen, and Devon Yanko were up next in 4:15, 4:21, and 4:24, respectively. The top seven women all finished under 4:30.
Clare Gallagher, 2023 Chuckanut 50k champion. Photo: Tad Davis
Non-Binary
Joey Sielen outran Sarah McHugh in 5:39 to 6:28.
French Trail Championships – France
Short and long races took place to name the French team for the June 2023 Trail World Championships in Austria.
Short 31k
It wasn’t until the end but Thibaut Baronian finally broke free from Loic Robert and finished first in 2:17. Robert was second in 2:18, 75 seconds behind the winner. The next three runners are also presumed to have earned team spots.
3 – Thomas Cardin – 2:21
4 – Arnaud Bonin – 2:21
5 – Simon Guignard – 2:21
Only 49 seconds separated the third through fifth runners.
Clémentine Geoffray led for the entirety of the women’s race and finished first in 2:41. Over two minutes back, Louise Serban-Penhoat followed in 2:43, and Lucille Germain was third in 2:44.
Noémie Vachon and Marie Goncalves were fourth and fifth in 2:50 and 2:52.
Long 68k
Only 11 minutes separated the front five men on the 42-mile course. Baptiste Chassagne won the men’s championship in 5:32. The rest of the top five included:
2 – Benjamin Roubiol – 5:34
3 – Romain Maillard – 5:36
4 – Clement Durance – 5:43
5 – Remy Brassac – 5:43
The women were a bit more spread out, with Anne-Lise Rousset and Manon Bohard Cailler gapping the field towards 6:29 and 6:36 first- and second-place runs. The rest of the women’s top five was:
3 – Jocelyne Pauly – 6:55
4 – Aurélie Grange-Paul Brismontier – 6:56
5 – Laure Paradan – 7:18
EcoTrail Paris – Paris, France
The 80k (50 miles) race was meant to showcase the city’s urban trails, and in its 16th year, it still finished partway up the Eiffel Tower. Finish times were pretty fast.
Yoann Stuck (France) led three men under the six-hour mark. He finished in 5:42, and Benedikt Hoffmann (Germany) and Nicolas Duhail (France) were second and third in 5:50 and 5:54.
Yoann Stuck, 2023 EcoTrail Paris champion. Photo: EcoTrail Paris
Women’s winner Katie Schide (U.S.) got to fifth overall in 6:23 and was way up on the rest of the women’s field. Maryline Nakache (France) and Sylvaine Cussot (France) were second and third in 7:03 and 7:22.
Katie Schide winning the 2023 EcoTrail Paris in the Eiffel Tower. Photo: EcoTrail Paris
Barkley Marathons – Frozen Head State Park, Tennessee
The race started at 9:54 a.m. on Tuesday, March 14, and almost 60 hours later, there were three finishers. No one had finished since John Kelly in 2017. He was among this year’s finishers, completing the adventure in 58:42. Aurélien Sanchez (France) overtook Kelly on the final loop to arrive back to the start-finish at 58:23. Karel Sabbe (Belgium) finished the five loops in 59:53 to finish just inside of the 60-hour cutoff.
John Kelly beginning his fifth and final loop of the 2023 Barkley Marathons on his way to his second Barkley finish. Photo: John Fegyveresi
Jasmin Paris (U.K.) ran three loops in 35:40 but missed the time cutoff on the race’s fourth (of five) loop to keep going. Paris was the first woman to advance to the fourth loop since Sue Johnston in 2001.
iRunFar reported on the race earlier in greater depth.
Jasmin Paris being crewed in between loops of the 2023 Barkley Marathons. She made history by becoming the second woman ever to start loop 4 of the five-loop event, though she was unable to finish. Photo: John Fegyveresi
Additional Races and Runs
Ultra Trail Barcelona – Barcelona, Spain
It happened again — Pau Capell (Spain) tied for first! This time he finished alongside Jordi Comellas (Spain) in 3:42 for the marathon distance. Monica Pena (Spain) was first female in 5:02. Full results.
Crazy Lazy IX – Palmer, Alaska
Alaska’s only winter mountain race gained 3,000 feet on a looped course. Lars Arneson and Meg Inokuma took the wins in 1:04 and 1:14. Full results.
LA Marathon – Los Angeles, California
Taggart VanEtten went 2:29 for 10th, and Badwater 135 Mile course record holder Ashley Paulson ran 2:48 for fourth. (Ashley Paulson served a six-month doping sanction, in 2015 and 2016, due to a doping violation in a triathlon for a positive test for ostarine, a selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM).) Full results.
Oakland Marathon – Oakland, California
Ultrarunners Ryan Kaiser and Ian Sharman went 2:39 and 2:47 for second and fifth place in the men’s race. Full results.
Canyonlands Half Marathon – Moab, Utah
It’s been a few years since we’ve had Patrick Smyth’s name in the column, but the now 36-year-old is back in our Monday results article! He ran the point-to-point course in 1:04:41. That was over five minutes better than everyone else and almost three minutes better than the old course record. The course runs downhill, but not by much. The net loss is only 88 feet. Women’s winner Kara Roper finished in 1:21. Full results.
Patrick Smyth after winning the 2023 Canyonlands Half Marathon. Photo: Mad Moose Events
Ohio’s Backyard Ultra – Lucasville, Ohio
Light snow fell on the runners at time, and temperatures dropped to 20 degrees overnight. At the time of this article’s writing, Josh Laker, Mike Rowe, and Dave Kwiatkowski were still standing and into hour 48. Full results.
NYC Half Marathon – New York, New York
Zachary Ornelas got into the top 20 with a 1:07:21 finish and 50k world record holder (for a mixed race). Des Linden was the top American and fifth female finisher in 1:12:21. The race happened in cold conditions. Full results.
River Gorge Trail Race – Chattanooga, Tennessee
Jobie Scarborough and Lea Mulligan won the 10.2-mile race’s 23rd year. The pair went for 1:15 and 1:23, and Mulligan’s time was a new course record. The race happens on technical singletrack and gains 2,000 feet of elevation on its loop course. Full results.
Terrapin Mountain 50k – Big Island, Virginia
James Lum and Meg Landymore were quickest on the Blue Ridge Mountain trails in 4:30 and 5:12. Full results.
Badwater Cape Fear – Bald Head Island, North Carolina
Adam Kimble and Liza Howard won the 51.4-mile distance in 6:20 and 6:50, and Matthew Smith and Suzanne Tulsey were best over 50k in 4:25 and 4:38. The first 12 miles of each race were on car-free Bald Head Island before the course moved to sand beaches. Howard stated the 51.4-mile race was about one mile short due to beach erosion. Full results.
Liza Howard (left) on her way to winning the 2023 Badwater Cape Fear while sharing some miles with James Riedy, who was in the 50k race. Photo courtesy of Liza Howard.
Call for Comments
Did you find a pot of gold or otherwise celebrate the St. Patrick’s Day holiday?
