Call it mixed-bag week here in our ‘This Week In Running’ column. With some fast races in Europe and North America both this weekend and next, we’ll globe trot our way around their results and previews. Ultra Pirineu and Kilian Jornet top the highlights, more Andrea Huser, and we unfortunately found another race paying unequal prize money among women and men. We also preview next weekend’s The Bear 100 Mile. Time to get at it, friends.
Ultra Pirineu – Bagà, Spain
The Ultra Pirineu race marked the conclusion of the Skyrunner World Series Sky Ultra division. The 110k (68-mile) race gained 6,800 meters (22,300 feet) of elevation on a giant loop.
Women
Didn’t UTMB just happen? Maite Maiora (Spain), second at UTMB’s sister race CCC, and Núria Picas (Spain), UTMB winner, were back at it. Maiora would win here in 14:22, and Picas, a many-time Ultra Pirineu winner, would finish second in 14:41.
Maite Maiora, 2017 Ultra Pirineu champion. Photo: Skyrunner World Series
Ekaterina Mityaeva (Russia) ran 15:41 to finish third.
Other notable results included:
- Judit Franch (Spain) – 5th, 16:42
- Gemma Arenas (Spain) – 6th, 17:15
- Manu Vilaseca (Brazil but lives in Spain) – 8th, 18:20
Series leader Ragna Debats (Netherlands) did not race, and with her only potential challenger Francesca Canepa (Italy) dropping here, Debats earned the Skyrunner World Series Sky Ultra crown. Hillary Allen, despite not racing any of the final four series races due to injury, still finished second, and Canepa stayed third.
Attention now shifts to the Skyrunner World Series Sky Classic finale on October 14 at the Limone Skyrace in Italy. Each of the Sky Classic, Sky Ultra, and Sky Extreme classes total to a greater Overall series winner. In that ranking, Maiora leads Debats by just 6.4 points. Both are, thus, expected to be at Limone to compete for that win and the extra prize money that comes with it.
Men
Apologies to the winner, but the story here was outside of the top five. Racing two days after his 40th birthday, Luis Alberto Hernando (Spain) finished just sixth in 13:12, citing knee and stomach problems. He still earned enough points to win the Skyrunner World Series Sky Ultra division.
Pablo Villa (Spain) edged Dmitry Mityaev (Russia) for the race win. The two finished in 12:30 and 12:33. Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz (France) closely followed in 12:44.
Pablo Villa, 2017 Ultra Pirineu champion. Photo: Skyrunner World Series
Other notable finishers:
- Jordi Gamito (Spain) – 4th, 1:45
- Ivan Camps (Spain) – 5th, 12:57
- Gerard Morales (Spain) – 7th, 13:14
- Emerson Trujillo (Peru) – 8th, 13:25
- Francesc Solé (Spain) – 9th, 13:26
- Pau Capell (Spain) – 10th, 13:40
Mityaev and Dunand-Pallaz finished just behind Hernando in the final series rankings.
Marató Pirineu – Bagà, Spain
It wasn’t part of the Skyrunner World Series, but Ultra Pirineu’s marathon-distance race was perhaps even more competitive than its namesake. The 45k (28-mile) race gained 2,400 meters (7,900 feet) of elevation, also on a single-loop course.
Women
Ruth Croft (New Zealand) won the ladies race in 4:19. She was chased by Laura Orgué (Spain) and Glykeria Tziatzia (Greece) in 4:25 and 4:32.
Ruth Croft, 2017 Marató Pirineu champion. Photo: Ultra Pirineu
Deeper results include Andrea Huser (Switzerland) in fifth at 4:53. Perhaps the only thing surprising here about the frequent racer is that she only contested the shorter distance.
Men
It was another weekend and another course record for Kilian Jornet (Spain). Already the course-record holder of the 110k race, he ran this one in 3:44. That finish was some 17 minutes better than the previous course best, but Jornet needed every bit of it to win this weekend.
Kilian Jornet, 2017 Marató Pirineu champion. Photo: Ultra Pirineu
Nico Martin (France) was only 26 seconds behind, also in 3:44, and third-place Bhim Gurung (Nepal) only fell back in the final kilometers for a 3:46 finish.
Other notable results included:
- Patrick Smyth (USA) – 4th, 3:56
- Andy Wacker (USA) – 5th, 3:58
- Miguel Caballero (Spain) – 6th, 3:58
- Marc Pinsach (Spain) – 7th, 3:59
- Tom Owens (U.K.) – 8th, 4:00
- Tòfol Castanyer (Spain) – 9th, 4:02
NACAC Mountain Running Championships – Golden, British Columbia, Canada
The 14th North American Central American and Caribbean Mountain Running Championships took place on an up-and-down 10.5k loop that gained 387 meters (1,270 feet) of elevation. The races look to have been exceptionally thin with just seven women’s finishers and not too many more men. There was no Caribbean or Central American in the race!
Women
Susana Bautista (Mexico) gained the individual crown, finishing in 40:50. Former NACAC winner Megan Roche chased to second in 41:39, and Colleen Wilson gave the host country a bronze medal in 42:41.
High-schooler Soleil Gaylord also raced for the U.S., finishing sixth in 44:57.
With what must be two runners scoring, Canada won team gold, the U.S. silver, and Mexico bronze.
Men
Mexico swept the podium’s highest position. Juan Carlos Caiera led everyone in 35:18. U.S. runners Mike Popejoy and Josh Eberly were second and third in 35:21 and 35:24.
Also competing for the U.S., David Fuentes ran 36:35 for fifth.
In the team race, the U.S. won gold, ahead of second-place Mexico and third-place Canada.
Full results (including results for the Golden Ultra 10k race that included the NACAC event).
Other Races and Runs
Maroon Bells Four Pass Loop FKT
The Maroon Bells Four Pass Loop outside of Aspen, Colorado is a roughly marathon-distance loop around the iconic Maroon Bells. Now local to Aspen, Morgan Elliott ran 4:16:17 to cut some 11 minutes from Sage Canaday’s former trail best.
Aspen Golden Leaf Half Marathon
Point to point and net downhill from neighboring Snowmass to Aspen in Colorado, the Aspen Golden Leaf Half Marathon was led by Madeline McKeever and Ryan Phebus in 1:35 and 1:25, respectively. Full results.
Whistler Alpine Meadows 55k
Up in British Columbia, Canada, Jeanelle Hazlett and Mike Murphy won the Coast Mountain Trail Series Whistler Alpine Meadows 55k with 7:06 and 5:59 finish times. Full results.
Berkeley Trail Adventure 35k
Amy Leedham and Scott Trummer revved through the Berkeley Trail Adventure 35k in the San Francisco Bay Area of California with 2:59 and 2:26 winning times. Trummer won by over 30 minutes. Full results.
Noble Canyon 50k
In southern California, Michelle Mead and, for the third year in a row, Fern Blanco won the Noble Canyon 50k. Full results (when available).
The North Face Endurance Challenge – Utah
At The North Face Endurance Challenge – Utah, snow and a resultant course reroute kept runners from reaching the course high point for the second-straight year. In the 50-mile race though, Jax Mariash and Blake Zufall won in 9:47 and 8:29, respectively. Gretchen Hurlbutt and Andrew Knapik led the 50k in 5:05 and 4:37, and in the marathon, Jenny Smith and Gabe Small were victorious in 4:11 and 3:20. Full results.
Stagecoach 100 Mile and 55k
Jess Mullen was victorious in the women’s Stagecoach 100 Mile in 22:12 in Arizona, while Ron Hammet won the men’s race in 18:08. Kristina Pham triumphed the 55k distance in 5:21. Jim Walmsley, Jared Hazen, and Cody Reed finished together in 4:17 for the men. Did they hold hands? Full 100-mile and 55k results.
Table Rock Ultras 50k
North Carolina’s Table Rock Ultras 50k celebrated Anne Wheatly as a two-time champ, winning this year’s race in 5:03. It was a 10-minute improvement on 2016. Men’s winner Eli White earned his podium position in 4:22. Full results.
Next Weekend – The Bear 100 Mile – Logan, Utah
The point-to-point Bear 100 Mile runs from Utah to Idaho. Celebrated as an old-school race lacking the size and scope of some of today’s mega events, it also is a Hardrock 100 qualifier, which also keeps it attractive–and competitive.
Women
- Kelsey Bingham – 1st at 2017 El Vaquero Loco 50k
- Missy Gosney – 4th at 2015 Hardrock 100 Mile
- Hannah Green – 7th at 2017 Hardrock 100 Mile
- Alyson Kirk – 1st at 2017 Never Summer 100k
- Janessa Taylor – 4th at 2017 Sinister 7 100 Mile
Green just finished thru-hiking the nearly-500-mile Colorado Trail. Is she recovered?
Men
- Rod Bien – 3rd at 2017 Elkhorn Crest 50 Mile
- Jeff Browning – 4th at 2017 Western States 100 Mile
- Mark Hammond – 2nd at 2017 Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile
- Jeremy Humphrey – 3rd at 2016 Gorge Waterfalls 100k
- Luke Jay – 3rd at 2016 Leadville Trail 100 Mile
- Lars Kjerengtroen – 7th at 2017 Speedgoat 50k
- Luke Nelson – 2nd at 2014 The Bear 100 Mile
- Timothy Olson – 1st at 2017 Penyagalosa Trails 115k
- Sam Reed – 3rd at 2016 The Bear 100 Mile
- Gennadii Tertychnyi – 2nd at 2014 Plain 100 Mile
Browning just raced UTMB. Hammond just raced Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile. Nelson just finished the Nolan’s 14 line. More recovery questions, though not surprising at this point in the season: can these guys recover quickly enough to perform to their potential here?
Other News – Golden Ticket Races
The Golden Ticket series, recently a qualifier series for Western States, announced their 2018 events. Back are the Bandera 100k (January 6), the Sean O’Brien 100k (February 3), the Black Canyon 100k (February 17), the Georgia Death Race 74 Mile (March 31), and the Lake Sonoma 50 Mile (April 14).
Missing from this year’s series will be the Gorge Waterfalls 100k, a race that is unfortunately cancelled for 2018 after wildfire wrecked the national treasure that the race took place within. A replacement race was not named. Instead, the automatic two men’s and two’s women’s qualifying spots are being made available to Ultra-Trail World Tour runners, though limited to North American-based runners.
Call for Comments
- Greece’s Spartathlon is also among the races next weekend. 2016 and 2015 winner Katalin Nagy is a late scratch. What international runners are instead expected to challenge for the win?
- The World Mountain Running Association’s Hochfelln-Berglauf race in Germany was the Cup’s sixth race. We couldn’t locate results–if anyone has them, leave a comment to share–but we did unfortunately see that the race was set to pay men’s prize money 10 deep, but only six deep for the women. Just putting it out there!
[Editor’s Note: Columnist Justin Mock and editor Meghan Hicks spend many hours per week compiling this article, and often doing so well ahead of races posting their results online–that is, by combing social media. We simply cannot cover all the trail and ultra races that take place each week, so we do our best to provide results of the most competitive races as well as a spectrum of additional events from around the world. Please feel absolutely welcome to leave comments with the results of races not covered in this article, and to leave additional information about the races from which we have shared results. Thank you for your understanding.]
http://www.hochfellnberglauf.de/pressemitteilungen/ergebnisse
I came across the Marji Gesick 100M and 50M, held in Marquette County, MI, in a mountain bike forum. The trail looks tough, great, and beautiful https://youtu.be/4LHU_tuXrbQ . Sub-30 hour runners in the 100 (and sub-12 hour bikers) get a hand-forged belt buckle. Last year there was a single 100 mile runner finisher in the then second year race, though he was over 30 hours. This year, there was one female 100 finisher, Lisa Thompson, in 31:54:19.1, and one male DNF. So no belt buckles earned by runners yet in the 3 year history of the race. Among cyclists in the 100 miler, the finish rate was 107/280, so it’s a tough course. Thought this race was worth mentioning because it seems like it has potential. http://my5.raceresult.com/82699/results?lang=en
The Vermont 50 took place on Sunday, with temps hovering around 90 degrees causing epic DNS/DNF rates and winning times (if memory serves correctly) nearly an hour behind CRs for the 50-mile event. Larisa Dannis won for the women in 7:55 and Colton Gale edged out Brian Rusiecki (avenging last year’s reverse order) in 7:10. In the 50k, Sarah Burke won in 5:04 and Keith Lundquist in 4:11.
Thanks Ute
@Justin: less prize money for the 2nd or 3rd place women, compared to the same placed mens? Okay, let´s talk about that. Why is that? What does the race organizer say about it? More important, how can we change that in the future?
But complaining about “prize money 10 deep for men and only 6 deep for women” with a finisher ratio of 201 men to 41 women? That is ridiculous and doesn´t help a meaningful discussion.
Agreed. Assuming those participant numbers are correct, prize money goes to men in the top 5 percent of their race and women in the top 15 percent of theirs. Taking it further, $250 goes to the 2nd place woman (top 5 percent of her race) and 6th place man (top 3 percent of his). That’s hardly prima facie evidence of injustice. Just putting it out there :)
The numbers of men and women participating in the race don’t matter. That is logically not part of the argument of the inequality at hand. There are two separate races: A men’s race and a women’s race. To say a race is more “competitive” misses the point as well. There could be two dozen super fast women in the 41 women who entered and the entire men’s field 201 could be a bunch of mid-to-back of packers. Does that change anything? No. There needs to be equal payout in both the men’s and women’s fields.
Thank you Sage
I understand that you try to present a politically correct opinion that would enhance your image among your twitter followers. However, the number of participants should matter when we create a prize structure since that generally is a good reflection of the competition. The chance that in this particular race it “could be two dozen super fast women in the 41 women who entered and the entire men’s field 201 could be a bunch of mid-to-back of packers” is literally equal to zero especially that super fast women do not come in bunches to chase $500. Pay equality between genders should follow an equal level of competitiveness among the participants. In a lot of trail races a guy who is 6th or 10th is still competitive and relatively close to the winner. On the women side, frequently a person who comes 8th or 10th tends to be more a hobby jogger. Nothing wrong with that but should those two individuals get paid equally only because they represent different gender? In road races we have a lot of “American-only” cash payouts and nobody screams that is is discriminatory to the Kenyans or Ethiopians who could otherwise win those money. So why do we treat gender disparity so differently?
No. This isn’t about me stating a “politically correct opinion that would enhance [my image]…among twitter followers.” That has nothing to do with this (again irrelevant for you to bring up). Injustices, prejudice and inequality grind my gears though…
It is simply what i believe is “right” vs what is “wrong” (Much like PED use in ultra running).
I’m glad you brought up road running actually. Your mention of “American-only” prize money is also not relevant and not a logical comparison to the gender inequality (again, try to think logically here instead of emotionally). Actually road races in the US are a very good example of equal prize money for both men and women. I can’t think of a single major road race in the US where there is a difference in prize money for the men’s v. women’s race. Road runners (which female participation dominates at the half marathon and marathon distance usually) generally see that as a no-brainer. There would be a huge outrage if a major Road race in the US had differences in prize money purses between the mens and womens fields. In a progressive 1st world country like the US it is embarrassing that there are still ultra-trail races that don’t see how differences in awards/prizes/recognition for the women’s v. men’s fields (regardless of size/participation) is a problem.
Females make up appx. 30% of finishers in trail races (https://www.irunfar.com/2015/04/women-and-trail-running-the-long-and-short-of-it.html). They account for over 50% in road races (http://www.runningusa.org/state-of-sport-us-trends-2015). I’m not even going to get into the argument here, but take that into account in your own points, Sage.
“Injustices, prejudice and inequality grind my gears though”… that´s like throwing around Franklin´s at the Penny Store.
My brother is a kindergarten teacher. Only one of two men, the other one being the school club guy for afternoons. Rest of the staff is female, 10 women in total. Men have to share one restroom, women share 3 restrooms. So you basically saying my brother should rally for a second toilet/restroom since it is totally “unequal” to have just one where the women have three? Or …(and please stay with me here and try to think logical) should he laugh out loud about this kind of non-sense – knowing that he has a far better chance to squeeze in some time in the loo?
I like your racing and watched plenty of your vids but it´s exactly these kind of wise-ass, gender-compliance, social-justice crap that spoils the experience…at least for me.
Would it be fair if prize money is based on percentage of each gender? If 75% of the field are women, they should get 75% of the prize money. And men would get 25% since they only comprise of 25% of the field. Is there an argument against that?
Stagecoach results go to tablerock.
Fixed, thanks!
Said it before and I’ll say it again, if elites can win entry to WS via a 50 mile race, the regular participants in that 50 miler should earn their lottery ticket. Why is LS50 the exception?
Hayden Hawks vs Joe Grey at the USATF Trail HM Champs in wisconsin.
This year’s Spartathlon looks like one for the ages, so far. Very atypically, it is cool, and there is a big tailwind. At 106 miles in, no less than five men are on pace to run under 22:00, a feat never accomplished before by anyone not named Kouros.
And 24-hour WR holder Patrycja Bereznowska is on pace to eclipse Katy Nagy’s course record, which would be an even bigger accomplishment. Nagy has run nearly two hours faster than any other woman there.
Wow, eight sub 22:00 finishers including the women’s winner!
I think you mean eight sub-25:00 finishers! Nobody broke 22:00, though Sorokin was very close with 22:04, the fastest time ever by anyone other than Kouros.
And Bereznowska did indeed set a new women’s CR, which is really astounding. Nagy’s performances there were the equivalent of Kouros’.
Yeah, must have read the chart incorrectly. Thought I was on the finish line results but must have been an earlier checkpoint. Oops!