The eighth race of the 2024 Golden Trail World Series, and the last before the final, the Mammoth Trail Fest 26k kicked off in Mammoth Lakes, California, at 10 a.m. on Sunday, August 22. The 16.1-mile course, starting and ending in Mammoth Village, has more than 3,900 feet of climbing and tops out at 11,053 feet, making it a proper high-altitude race.
Racers were greeted with cool, clear, and sunny conditions on race morning. The women started 20 minutes ahead of the men, providing them with their own race. Golden Trail World Series leader Joyce Muthoni Njeru of Kenya took the early lead and never gave it up, finishing nearly three minutes ahead of Romania’s Mădălina Florea. In the men’s race, the top four in the series standings ran together earlier on before Elhousine Elazzaoui of Morocco and Patrick Kipngeno of Kenya pulled away over the summit of Mammoth Mountain and ran together for the rest of the race to a sprint finish, where Elazzaoui came away with the win.
The event is the queen event of the three-day Mammoth Trail Fest event. With a $21,000 prize purse up for grabs and prize money going 10 deep — as well as points leading into the Golden Trail World Series final up for grabs — the field was filled with some of the best shorter-distance trail racers vying for the top spot on the podium.
After leaving the village, the single-loop course climbs steeply to the top of Mammoth Mountain in the first 7.5 miles, gaining nearly all of its elevation in the span of three miles along the Dragon’s Back. From the summit, it drops steeply to the McCoy aid station, tackling the new Bullet downhill, before starting a more gradual descent on mountain bike trails back into the village for a final romp through the streets to the finish line.
2024 Mammoth Trail Fest 26k Women’s Race
Joyce Muthoni Njeru of Kenya, the current leader of the Golden Trail World Series, didn’t waste any time, taking off from the start to establish an early lead in the women’s race. By the first aid station at Twin Lakes, 3.6 miles and 25:21 in, but before any of the steep climbing, she’d already opened up an 18-second gap on second-place Mădălina Florea of Romania and a 39-second gap on third-place Lauren Gregory.
Joyce Muthoni Njeru, the 2024 Mammoth Trail Fest 26k women’s winner. Photo: Sarah Attar
Muthoni Njeru reached the summit of Mammoth Mountain, 7.5 miles into the race, at 1:14:29, leading Florea by more than two minutes. But coming over the top, Florea opened up her stride, not ready to surrender the race.
Behind them, on the steep, rocky, and switchbacking climb up to the summit of Mammoth Mountain, Rachel Drake put in a huge effort to move into third over the summit, two and a half minutes behind Florea and with a 17-second lead on Anna Gibson in fourth place. Gregory was just another 30 seconds back in fifth, the spots for the podium still up for grabs on the long downhill.
Florea held a fast pace on the initial miles of the downhill, looking to be running much more aggressively than Muthoni Njeru on the wider open sections on the ski resort, but was unable to close the gap. Coming into the McCoy checkpoint at 11.1 miles in 1:37:24, Muthoni Njeru held a 2:09 lead on Florea, while Drake and Gibson ran together another 4:38 back. Gregory was only a minute back from the duo, still within reach of third.
After McCoy, racers faced the Bullet downhill, a newly added section of steep and technical downhill on the course. The steeper sections didn’t slow anyone down, and as the race reached the flatter mountain bike trails, Muthoni Njeru continued to hold a strong pace in the lead, reaching the Garage checkpoint at mile 14.8 in 1:56:45. Florea was 1:56 behind with a significant six-minute gap over third-place Drake and fourth-place Gibson, who continued to run together.
Joyce Muthoni Njeru cruised into the finish without any pressure with a time of 2:11:56, taking her third win in the series and further padding her overall series lead, and Mădălina Florea finished second in 2:14:51, after taking a fall and cutting her knee. Anna Gibson used her background in the track to pull away from Drake on the gradual downhill to take third.
2024 Mammoth Trail Fest 26k Women’s Results
- Joyce Muthoni Njeru (Kenya) – 2:11:56
- Mădălina Florea (Romania) – 2:14:51
- Anna Gibson – 2:20:03
- Rachel Drake – 2:20:40
- Tabor Hemming – 2:21:47
- Lauren Gregory – 2:21:57
- Oria Liaci (Switzerland) – 2:22:31
- Allie Ostrander – 2:23:15
- Emkay Sullivan – 2:23:39
- Miao Yao (China) – 2:24:39
2024 Mammoth Trail Fest 26k Men’s Race
It didn’t take long for the top four men in the Golden Trail World Series standings to separate themselves from the rest of the field. Philemon Ombogo Kiriago of Kenya and Rémi Bonnet of Switzerland pushed the pace on the relatively flat early miles, with Elhousine Elazzaoui of Morocco and Patrick Kipngeno of Kenya chasing. The group came through the first aid station at Twin Lakes around 22 minutes into the race within 10 seconds of each other, and 15 seconds clear of the rest of the field.
Last year’s winner and course-record holder, Bonnet, was just 48 hours clear of winning the vertical kilometer (VK) race and had stated in a pre-race interview that he planned to stay with the leaders early on before launching an attack on the climb, hoping to create a gap big enough to hold off the rest of the field before the downhill. But when the climbing started, Elazzaoui, Kipngeno, and Ombogo Kiriago pushed the pace and opened up a gap on the defending champion.
Kipngeno was the first to the summit in 1:01:50, just three seconds up on Elazzaoui, who is known for his descending prowess. The duo had opened up a significant 1:40 gap over Bonnet, who looked to be struggling, potentially dealing with fatigue from his VK effort two days prior, and Ombogo Kiriago, who also dropped off the pace, another 40 seconds back.
In the early miles of the downhill, Elazzaoui let Kipngeno set the pace on the twisting singletrack, and the two came into the McCoy checkpoint at 11.1 miles together in 1:21:38. Elazzaoui continued to stay behind Kipngeno, letting small gaps open before cutting the apex of the corners, taking slightly shorter routes to repeatedly close the gap. When the two came to the new, and steep, Bullet Downhill section, Elazzaoui, who had been clearly biding his time, made his move and quickly opened a significant gap with only a few miles to go.
At the Garage checkpoint, Elazzaoui, who is not known for liking to lead alone, was back with Kipngeno with 2.3 miles to go, setting the pair up for a sprint finish. Behind them, Bonnet was three minutes back.
In the final streets, Elazzaoui opened up the sprint first, and when Kipngeno tried to get by on the inside of a corner, he found himself blocked by the Moroccan and had to hit the brakes. Elazzaoui took the win in 1:49:35 and also took the overall lead for the Golden Trail World Series going into the final. Ombogo Kiriago came in third ahead of last year’s winner Bonnet.
Elhousine Elazzaoui wins the sprint finish with Patrick Kipngeno, to take victory at the 2024 Mammoth Trail Fest 26k. Photo: Sarah Attar
2024 Mammoth Trail Fest 26k Men’s Results
- Elhousine Elazzaoui (Morocco) – 1:49:35
- Patrick Kipngeno (Kenya) – 1:49:36
- Philemon Ombogo Kiriago (Kenya)- 1:52:30
- Rémi Bonnet (Switzerland) – 1:52:59
- Daniel Pattis (Italy) – 1:59:31
- Marco Filosi (Italy) – 2:00:00
- Garrett Corcoran – 2:00:27
- Cesare Maestri (Italy) – 2:00:47
- Jonas Soldini (Switzerland)- 2:01:57
- Rémi Leroux (Canada) – 2:02:46
