The Golden Trail World Series came to America, and prize-money-rich mountain races like the Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile and The Rut shined on a busy September weekend.
You can also check out our greater race coverage from earlier in the week:
Headlands 27k – Mill Valley, California
The roughly 18-mile race was part of the Golden Trail World Series (GTWS), and it happened on a course that gained 4,200 feet of elevation on some of Marin County’s most famous trails. The women’s and men’s races uniquely ran on separate days. The women starred on Saturday and the men raced on Sunday.
Women
Thirty minutes into the race, Madalina Florea (Romania) and Joyce Muthoni Njeru (Kenya) had opened a minute lead on the rest of the field. The 25-year-old Americans Lauren Gregory and Anna Gibson ran in third and fourth, each 20 seconds ahead of the next group of chasers.
Joyce Muthoni Njeru, the 2024 Headlands 27k women’s winner. Photo: Golden Trail Series/Headlands 27k/@Rising.Story /@MathisDecroux
By the time they reached Stinson Beach an hour later, 90 minutes into the race, Muthoni Njeru had gained a 13-second lead on Florea, and Judith Wyder (Switzerland) had overtaken Gibson for fourth. The 2024 OCC 55k winner Miao Yao (China) hadn’t yet found the faster pace and was back in 10th.
Muthoni Njeru stretched that lead further the rest of the way and the top three stayed in that order to the finish. Muthoni Njeru won in 2:17:36, and it was her second GTWS victory of the year. Florea was second in 2:18:23, and Gregory finished third at 2:19:16.
Wyder and Yao, the 2024 OCC runner-up and winner just two weeks ago, finished fourth and sixth, respectively.
The women’s top 10 was:
- Joyce Muthoni Njeru (Kenya) – 2:17:36
- Madalina Florea (Romania) – 2:18:23
- Lauren Gregory (U.S.) – 2:19:16
- Judith Wyder (Switzerland) – 2:22:21
- Oria Liaci (Switzerland) – 2:24:27
- Miao Yao (China) – 2:25:26
- Anna Gibson (U.S.) – 2:25:40
- Julia Font (Spain) – 2:25:54
- Allie Ostrander (U.S.) – 2:27:05
- Rachel Tomajczyk (U.S.) – 2:27:33
(In 2023, Ostrander was suspended for four months after testing positive for canrenone, a metabolite of spironolactone, after it was determined that she mistakenly took the drug without first obtaining a World Anti-Doping Agency Therapeutic Use Exemption.)
Men
Early on it looked like a revenge run for Philemon Ombogo Kiriago (Kenya) and Rémi Bonnet (Switzerland). Ombogo Kiriago, this year’s Sierre-Zinal runner-up, was only sixth at last weekend’s Cirque Series race. And Bonnet dropped from the OCC 55k two weeks ago. Those two led 24 minutes into the race at the Dipsea Peak timing point alongside Elhousine Elazzoui (Morocco).
That three-man group stayed together for the next hour and only Patrick Kipngeno (Kenya) was close, but even he’d lost a few more seconds and now was 19 seconds behind in fourth.
Ombogo Kiriago and Elazzoui dropped Bonnet in the final miles and Elazzoui outsprinted Ombogo Kiriago for the victory. Elazzoui won the race in 1:55:27. Ombogo Kiriago was second in 1:55:29, and Kipngeno overtook Bonnet for third. Kipngeno finished in 1:56:01 and Bonnet faded to a fourth-place 1:57:58.
Elhousine Elazzoui, the 2024 Headlands 27k men’s winner. Photo: Golden Trail Series/Headlands27k/@SODSTUDIOS
The men’s top 10 was:
- Elhousine Elazzoui (Morocco) – 1:55:27
- Philemon Kiriago Ombogo (Kenya) – 1:55:29
- Patrick Kipngeno (Kenya) – 1:56:01
- Rémi Bonnet (Switzerland) – 1:57:58
- Christian Allen (U.S.) – 2:01:39
- Miguel Corbera (Spain) – 2:02:12
- Frederic Tranchand (France) – 2:02:46
- Cesare Maestri (Italy) – 2:03:31
- Bartłomiej Przedwojewski (Poland) – 2:04:01
- Cade Michael (U.S.) – 2:04:34
The Rut Mountain Runs – Big Sky, Montana
The three-day Montana mountain running celebration paid out a $3,500 prize purse for the Vertical K, and $9,000 in each of the 28k and 50k. The races were highlighted by double and returning winners from earlier races and earlier years.
Lone Peak Vertical Kilometer
After a start at the Big Sky Resort base area, the race climbed 3,632 feet to the 11,166-foot summit of Lone Peak, all within 2.8 miles, and there was snow at the top.
Jennifer Lichter hit the high point finish first in the women’s race at 56:59. Klaire Rhodes was second in 58:30, and Caitlin Patterson climbed up in 60:28 for third.
Men’s winner Cam Smith started his weekend with a 46:08 race to the top. Meikael Beaudoin-Rousseau and Ryan Becker were second and third at the summit in 47:41 and 48:40.
28k
Make it three in a row for Bailey Kowalczyk. After a second-place finish in 2021, Kowalcyzk has ruled the women’s race. This year marked her third straight victory. Kowalcyzk won this year’s race in 3:35. Doubling back from the Vertical K, Jennifer Lichter was a close second in 3:37, and Denali Strabel was third in 3:55.
And make it two in a row for Cam Smith. After winning Friday’s Vertical K, he won Saturday’s 28k too. Smith won in 3:03. He earlier won this race in 2022. Scott Patterson and 2023 race winner Johnny Luna-Lima were second and third in 3:10 and 3:11, respectively.
50k
Vertical K runner-up Klaire Rhodes scored a new women’s 50k course record in 5:45. Jazmine Lowther (Canada) was second in 5:53, a bounce-back run after dropping at the CCC 100k two weeks ago, and Hannah Osowski finished third in 5:56.
Michelino Sunseri won the men’s 50k for the second straight year. He finished in 5:01. Behind the race winner, Ryan Becker and Scott Patterson earned their second podium finishes of the weekend with second- and third-place 5:09 and 5:20 runs. Patterson was fourth in the Vertical K too in his three-race weekend.
Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile – Steamboat Springs, Colorado
The race was again North America’s richest ultra. Race winners earned $15,000, and had the chance for even greater cash with prime and two-person team bonuses. The total winnings totaled over $100,000 and prize money was paid down to the seventh-place women’s and men’s finishers.
Women
Emilie Mann (Canada) took down Michele Yates’s longstanding course record in the women’s race. Mann became the race’s first sub-20 hour women’s finisher with a 19:48 run. It appears to have been Mann’s debut 100-mile race too, though she’d earlier covered the distance in a backyard ultra. The former 20:16 course best dated to 2013 and was run as part of Yates’s “UltraRunning Magazine” (North American) Ultrarunner of the Year campaign.
Emilie Mann, 2024 Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile women’s champ, on the first climb. Photo: Kellie Thompson/Hidden Antelope Photography/@hiddenantelope
Second-place Leah Yingling was barely behind that old course record too. Yingling finished in 20:19. Shea Aquilano crossed the line next, but was later disqualified when it emerged that she had accidentally gone off the course, and so Barrett Gray claimed the third podium spot.
Eleven years after that course record run, Yates was the seventh-place woman in 22:29.
Men
Richard Lockwood ran away from the field late and became a two-time Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile winner. His 17:24 finish this year was way faster than his 18:01 winning time from 2022, and it was the race’s third-fastest finish ever too.
Richard Lockwood, 2024 Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile men’s champion, greeted at the finish by race director Fred Abramowitz. Photo: Kellie Thompson/Hidden Antelope Photography/@hiddenantelope
Second- and third-place Adam Loomis and Christopher Hammes finished in 18:12 and 18:56, respectively. Loomis overcame a drop at last year’s race, and Hammes earned his fourth finish at the race.
World Masters Mountain Running Championships – Canfranc, Spain
The 23rd World Masters Mountain Running Championships brought 1,400 runners from 35 different countries to the Pyrenees. It was the event’s first time hosting Uphill, Classic, and Long Distance races. The competition was open to runners aged 35 and older. As with other races in Central Europe on the weekend, colder temperatures moved into the area and even brought snow to the high peaks.
Uphill
The first 10 women completed the 1,000-meter climb and its 6 kilometers in distance in under an hour, but Camilla Magliano (Italy) was nearly two minutes ahead of everyone else in 53:34, and that was just the start of her weekend. Viktoria Wilkinson (U.K.) and Sladjana Zagorac (Serbia) were second and third in 55:26 and 55:31.
Camilla Magliano, the 2024 World Masters Mountain Running Championships Uphill women’s winner. Photo: WMRA/Marco Gulberti
Eduard Hernandez (Spain) won a close men’s race against Thomas Roach (U.K.) by just 18 seconds. The two frontrunners hit the top in 43:45 and 44:04, and third-place Andrew Douglas (U.K.) came next in 45:04.
(Roach served a three-month World Athletics doping ban from October 2021 to January 2022 after testing positive for Carboxy-THC at the 2021 World Masters Mountain Running Championships in Stubai, Austria.)
Eduard Hernandez, the 2024 World Masters Mountain Running Championships Uphill men’s winner. Photo: WMRA/Marco Gulberti
Long Distance
The Saturday race stretched 34k in distance and with 2,000 meters of elevation gain across two big climbs. It was again Magliano leading the women. She won gold in 3:40. Frenchwomen Mylène Da Costa Reis and Maud Combarieu joined her on the podium in 3:54 and 3:59.
Roach doubled back from his silver in the Vertical race to win the men’s Long Distance event in 3:06. Daniel Remon Senoran and Antonio Alfonso Ruiz Rojo, both of Spain, were second and third in 3:16 and only 30 seconds apart.
Classic
The 17k race went up and down with 1,000 meters of ascent and who else would it be first at the finish other than Camilla Magliano. The Italian all-star completed an impressive three-race sweep of the weekend events with a 1:41 finish. Kealey Tideswell (Ireland) was second in 1:45 and Maria Rebeca Marino Torrado (Spain) finished third in 1:50.
The 2024 World Masters Mountain Running Championships Classic women’s podium: 2. Kealey Tideswell, 1. Camilla Magliano, 3. Maria Rebeca Marino Torrado. Photo: WMRA/Marco Gulberti
Third and first in the Vertical K, Andrew Douglas and Eduard Hernandez came for a rematch. On the up and down course it was Douglas that won in 1:22, barely 13 seconds ahead of second-place Hernandez. Xavier Tomasa Serrano (Spain) was third in 1:28.
Andrew Douglas, 2024 World Masters Mountain Running Championships Classic men’s winner. Photo: WMRA/Marco Gulberti
Tor des Géants – Courmayeur, Italy
Katharina Hartmuth (Germany) led all of the 205-mile run and set a new course record in 79:10. Hartmuth became the first woman to finish the adventure in under 80 hours. Second-place and former course record holder Sabrina Verjee (U.K.) was second in 84:03 and Claire Bannwarth (France) was third in 85:02. Bannwarth was 18th at UTMB two weeks ago.
François D’Haene (France) won a spirited men’s race in 69:08. Though four hours ahead of second, D’Haene didn’t gain the lead until late in the long haul race. Beñat Marmissolle (France) was second in 73:10 and Martin Perrier (Switzerland) finished third in 75:35.
Additional Races and Runs
Wildstrubel by UTMB – Valais, Switzerland
Winter weather cut the 50k race to just 23 miles. Yngvild Kaspersen (Norway) and Jon Albon (U.K., lives in Norway) won the reroute in 3:19 and 2:59, respectively. Full results.
Plain 100 Mile – Plain, Washington
The race mirrors its location. It’s plain with no course markings, no aid stations, and no pacers. Christine Mosley and Jeremy Douglas (Canada) won in 28:40 and 22:23. Full results.
Ouray 50 Mile – Ouray, Colorado
Isabella Poulos and Lucas Foreman ran away with wins in 16:55 and 15:18, respectively. The little sister of the Ouray 100 Mile, the 50-mile event covers the back half of the 100-mile course and has more than 20,000 feet of elevation gain through the San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado. Poulos led the overall race for the first half before handing the lead over to Foreman after the fourth of seven climbs and finished an impressive second overall. Full results.
Isabella Poulos, the 2024 Ouray 50 Mile women’s champion. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Lucas Foreman, the 2024 Ouray 50 Mile men’s champion. Photo: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Call for Comments
That was some good variety, but what else can you add to the mix?
