The first-year lululemon FURTHER event, the USATF 50k Road National Championships, and the SkySnow World Championships were the weekend’s top draws.
We’re talking about all of it, so settle in for another Monday recap.
Lululemon FURTHER – La Quinta, California
They’re still running, and, dang, Camille Herron has been great so far. The six-day event started on March 6 and runs through March 12, overlapping with International Women’s Day, which was on March 8. The 10-woman field is running an approximately 2.5-mile mostly dirt road path.
Camille Herron’s setting records fast. I can barely keep up, but let’s run down the numbers as of when this article was written on Sunday evening U.S. time. I don’t believe these intermediate marks are earmarked in the tracking, but thankfully there’s a passionate following of these multi-day efforts online and so hat tip to their record-keeping, and you can join them in this Facebook group.
First of all, let’s start with how the records Herron’s setting are managed. The 48-hour mark is recognized as a world record by the governing body International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU) and, in the U.S., an American record for this time-based event is managed by the governing body USA Track and Field (USATF) and divided into track and road surfaces.
The six-day mark is considered by the IAU as a world best performance.
All the other records are tracked by the nonprofit Global Organization of Multi-Day Ultramarathoners (GOMU).
- Herron split 247.73 miles at 48 hours. That was a new USATF American 48-hour road record. Her IAU world record and USATF American track record still stand at 270.50 miles from her 2023 effort at the time-based event.
- Next came the 300-mile fixed-time record. Herron hit that GOMU mark in 59 hours, 54 minutes, and 58 seconds.
- The GOMU 500-kilometer mark was reached in 62 hours, 50 minutes, and 45 seconds.
- And then Herron toppled Stine Rex’s GOMU 72-hour record from 2023 along the way. Herron hit 341 miles and Rex’s former best was 314 miles.
- For the GOMU 600k mark, that one was in 81 hours, 23 minutes, and 38 seconds.
- In 88 hours, 34 minutes, and 26 seconds, she reset the GOMU 400-mile record.
- Her GOMU four-day (96 hours) split was 429.8 miles.
- Onto the GOMU 700k record, which she reset in 98 hours, 33 minutes, and 59 seconds.
The six-day marks are still on the board and include Sandra Barwick’s 549-mile women’s world record, and Dipali Cunningham’s 475-mile women’s American record. On the men’s side, we’re still watching for the possibility that Herron could surpass Yiannis Kouros’s 644-mile world record and Joe Fejes’s 606-mile American record.
The event is scheduled to finish on Tuesday, March 12, at roughly 10:05 a.m. U.S. PDT.
Camille Herron breaking records at the 2024 lululemon FURTHER event. Photos courtesy of lululemon.
SkySnow World Championships – Tarvisio, Italy
Did the Skyrunner World Series and the World Snowshoe Championships meet up last weekend? Seems like something happened. Both that series and that event were last weekend, and now we’ve got the the offshoot SkySnow World Championships. In reality, this event is managed by the International Skyrunning Federation.
The SkySnow discipline is run at altitude and on snow with micro crampons. This was the second year for the world championships event. Some 22 different countries had runners take part.
Vertical
The Friday night Vertical race climbed 974 meters over 3.6k in the dark.
Raise me up. Tadei Pivk (Italy) led the men to the top in 36:04 and Diego Díaz (Spain) was second in 36:54. Luca Del Pero (Italy) got on the podium in 37:36 for third.
Women’s champ Tove Alexandersson (Sweden) charged up in 42:28. Madlen Kappler (Germany) and Corinna Ghirardi (Italy) were second and third in 42:44 and 43:39, respectively.
Tadei Pivk getting after it on his way to winning the 2024 SkySnow World Championships Vertical race. Photo: ISF/@DamianoBenedettoPhoto
Classic
A day later much of the field came back to race on a 15k course with 515 meters of elevation gain. Martin Nilsson (Sweden) outdueled Luca Del Pero, and Timotej Becan (Slovenia) was third. The frontrunners finished in 69:59, 71:56, and 72:26. Del Pero won both the Vertical and Classic races at the inaugural championships in 2022.
The women’s Vertical podium stayed intact. Alexandersson won, Kappler was second, and Ghirardi was third for the second day in a row. The trio came through in 82:18, 82:44, and 84:52.
Tove Alexandersson in the groove on her way to winning the vertical race at the 2024 SkySnow World Championships. Photo: ISF/@DamianoBenedettoPhoto
Heckscher State Park 50k – East Islip, New York
The 10-lap race was again the USATF 50k Road National Championships but men’s winner Brandon Talisesky looks to have come out of the open field and not the USATF group. Talisesky finished in 3:22, and Rich Power and Aaron Heath followed in 3:36 and 3:39. Power, age 60, and Heath must’ve been the first USATF finishers. Whatever the finish order was, Rich Power absolutely won the name game. Homer Simpson came close to that in 1999 when he changed his name to Max Power.
Helen Huang became a national champ in the women’s race at age 54. She finished in 4:18 and was way out front. Second-place Indira Schwarting followed in 4:43, and from the open race Seada Abagaro was the third woman to finish in 4:46.
Helen Huang winning the 2024 USATF 50k Road National Championships. Photo: Elite Feats/Jordan Chong-Gayle
Additional Races and Runs
Trail Du Ventoux – Bédoin, France
The 46k race is a longtime early season highlight in France, and this year runners met lots of fresh snow. Just 29 seconds separated men’s leader Thomas Cardin and Thibaut Garrivier, both finishing in in 3:30. Loïc Rolland was third in 3:37. The women weren’t as close as Adeline Martin (before known as Adeline Roche) got away in 3:57. Marine Quintard and Sabine Ehrstrom followed in 4:11 and 4:17. Full results.
Chanoko Trail Runs 50k – Rocklin, California
Race winners Jeffrey Klahn and Debra Mangalin finished in 4:30 and 4:59. Full results.
Marin Ultra Challenge – Sausalito, California
The event is the flagship of Inside Trail’s group of races and it was the its 11th year. Kevin Stewart and Natalie Chirgwin were the fastest over 50 miles in 7:05 and 8:45. Full results.
And the 50k winners Patrick Rabuzzi and Lindsay Allison finished in 3:51 and 4:16, respectively. The first four women were separated by only five minutes, and the first five all finished under 4:30. Full results.
Patrick Rabuzzi (yellow top) on his way to winning the 2024 Marin Ultra Challenge 50k. Photo: @Estherramosphoto
Mesquite Canyon – Waddell, Arizona
The races were at the White Tank Mountain Regional Park and it was a close in the men’s 50 miler. Nick Coury edged Jeff Browning for the win, 7:47 to 7:51. The top women were close too. Zuzana Trnovcova finished in 8:46 to Cindy Shephard’s 8:59. Jordan Bramblett and Ailsa MacDonald won the 50k in 4:18 and 4:27. Trnocova set a new course record and MacDonald was just seconds away from one too. Full results.
Antelope Canyon Ultras – Page, Arizona
Drew Francis and Ashley Paulson won the 100 miler in 20:23 and 23:23. Paulson’s on a hot streak. It was her third 100 miler since December 28, 2023. This one was a lot slower than the first two, but she’s won all of them.
[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).]
The 50-mile winners Ryan Behunin and Amy Wearne came through in 8:08 and 9:36, and Hudson Billock and Megan Longinotti won the 55k in 5:24 and 5:46. Full results.
The Hunt Trail Race 50k – Cody, Wyoming
It was the race’s sixth year and Loren Davis and Indiana Peters were crowned winners in 4:55 and 6:28. Full results.
Run Through Time Marathon – Salida, Colorado
Taylor Stack rallied past Jeshurun Small for the men’s win in 3:00. Small chased four minutes later, and Ryan Smith was third in 3:19. Imogen Ainsworth outpaced the women’s field toward a 3:56 winning time. Alison Rudy and Rebecca Hodgetts were second and third in 4:11 and 4:20. Full results.
Land Between the Lakes – Grand Rivers, Kentucky
The races were run on an 11.3-mile loop inside the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. Kyle Hummel and Brooke Gibbons led the 50 miler in 6:44 and 8:27. Jason Teitloff and Rachel Schack won the 60k in 4:55 and 5:36. Full results.
Super Bull Trail Championship 50k – Wooster, Ohio
The race gave away $1,300 in prize money. Run on a 7.75-mile loop, each lap totaled about 1,000 feet of elevation gain. That’s pretty good for Ohio. Jeremy Pope and Becky Nussbaum won the 50k in 4:31 and 5:35. Full results.
Stumpjump 50k – Chattanooga, Tennessee
The longtime race around Signal Mountain had Brandon Sullivan and Rachel Vedder in first at 5:33 and 6:32. Full results.
The 2024 Stump Jump 50k women’s podium (left-to-right): 1. Rachel Vedder, 2.Emily Rollins, 3. Caitlin Duggan. Photo courtesy of race.
Bel Monte – Waynesboro, Virginia
The 50 miler and 50k both ran on out-and-back courses mostly in the George Washington National Forest. Danny Mathieson and Isabelle Danforth were out front in the 50 miler at 9:20 and 10:17, and Jesse Spangler and Harmony Fisher topped the 50k field in 5:37 and 5:45. Full results.
Call for Comments
- Are we all having fun following lululemon FURTHER?
- What else caught your eye over the weekend?
