The idea of a standard competitive season hardly applies in today’s trail and ultrarunning world. Instead, top-level races in the U.S. and around the world have the sport’s stars fighting for championships and chasing victories each month of the year. What can we expect in the first six months of 2015? We take a look at a few of the highlights below.
January
Ian Sharman (Walnut Creek, Calif.) will return to Rocky Raccoon 100 in Texas. Sharman holds the course record at 12:44, set in 2011, and finished second a year ago. “I feel I still have more to do on the course so wanted to try one more time to go a little faster, just to see if I can,” he says. Liza Howard (San Antonio, Texas) is favored in the women’s race, which also serves as the USATF 100-mile trail championship. Howard won December’s Rock ‘n’ Roll San Antonio Marathon in 2:55 and has won Rocky Raccoon twice.
February
New Zealand’s Tarawera Ultramarathon will again be the second race of the Ultra-Trail World Tour. Sage Canaday (Boulder, Colorado) is a two-time winner, but will not compete in this year’s event. In his absence, a strong American field that includes Michael Wardian (Arlington, Virginia), Jason Schlarb (Missoula, Montana), Jorge Maravilla (Vallejo, California), Dylan Bowman (Mill Valley, California), Darcy Piceu (Boulder, Colorado), and Meghan Arbogast (Cool, California) is expected. Add a strong international presence and race director Paul Charteris calls it, “easily the strongest trail ultra field New Zealand has ever seen.”
March
Now in its seventh year, the La Sportiva Mountain Cup begins its national 10-race series at Washington’s Hillbilly Half Marathon. Ryan Woods (Boone, North Carolina) and Megan Kimmel (Aspen, Colorado) won the 2014 series. Throughout the season, athletes total the score of their best five races for a shot at the $25,000 prize package. For Woods, last year was his second cup win, adding to a 2010 crown. Kimmel has won each of the cup’s women’s awards since the series began in 2009. “It’s the true ‘trail’ style and quality of the races that have brought me back (to the Cup) year after year,” she says. “Most of the races are hilly, singletrack courses, and all of the races are in the most beautiful part of their state.”
April
California’s Lake Sonoma 50 will again be an early season highlight. Rory Bosio (Soda Springs, California), Kaci Lickteig (Omaha, Nebraska), Pam Smith (Salem, Oregon) and Stephanie Howe (Bend, Oregon) are scheduled to challenge past winners Cassie Scallon (Boulder, Colorado) and Joelle Vaught (Boise, Idaho). The men’s race includes elite runners like Dylan Bowman (Mill Valley, California), Max King (Bend, Oregon), Seth Swanson (Missoula, Montana), Tim Tollefson (Mammoth Lakes, California), Chris Vargo (Flagstaff, Arizona) and Alex Varner (San Rafael, California), among others.
May
Ellie Greenwood (North Vancouver, British Columbia) won last year’s Comrades (Ultra) Marathon and will return to the point-to-point 56-mile South African classic. Greenwood says Comrades is absolutely the place to be, with its 16,000 participants and high-level competition. “To me Comrades is THE ultra race in the world. It is 90 years old so has so much history and traditions around it,” she says.
June
Nine of last year’s top-10 men and nine of last year’s top-10 women are expected to return to California’s Western States Endurance Run, including 2014 champions Rob Krar (Flagstaff, Arizona) and Stephanie Howe (Bend, Oregon).
Kim Dobson (Grand Junction, Colorado), nicknamed “Queen of the Uphill,” is planning to return from year-long maternity break and compete at New Hampshire’s Mount Washington Road Race. Dobson won the race in both 2012 and 2013 and says that it’s the race’s unique course that will draw her back, as well as a quest to better her sub-1:10 finish in 2012. “Mt. Washington’s 7.6 paved miles of 12 percent grade is perfect for those, like me, who love an uphill grind. I hope to someday run a new personal best on the course, and perhaps chase down the course record,” Dobson says.
July
Anton Krupicka (Boulder, Colorado) finally gets his shot at the Hardrock 100. “I guess what I’m most looking forward to is being able to fully join the tradition and history at such an iconic event by actually finishing the race, rather than just pacing and crewing,” Krupicka says.
DAA Industry Opt Outth year, only Colorado and New Hampshire have previously hosted the race. Max King (Bend, Oregon), the 2011 world champion, designed the course on Mt. Bachelor and says it is a mostly singletrack climb through old growth Douglas fir forest into a dirt doubletrack descent. “Runners should be prepared for some elevation—the base of the course is at 6,300 feet,” he says. Women will complete two laps of the 4K loop and men will complete three. The event also includes the second-ever Collegiate Running Association Mountain Running Championship, with $6,000 specifically earmarked for these runners.
