After a quiet few weeks on the racing entrance, issues are selecting up once more. Two U.S. Nationwide Championships and the Winter Backbone Race spotlight the week. What else was taking place that we haven’t included?
Winter Backbone Race – Pennine Method, United Kingdom
The 268-mile one-way winter journey is underway in characteristically arctic circumstances. This occasion, the longest distance being contested over the weekend, began on Sunday, January 12. Robyn Cassidy gained an early lead within the ladies’s race, and a males’s group of race veterans that includes John Kelly, Eugeni Rossello-Sole, and Kim Collison lead their race.
Hannah Bruce and Paul Brennan received the 46-mile Backbone Dash race in 12:53 and 9:26.
The Backbone Challenger South race took on the famed path’s southernmost 108 miles. Alice Kershaw received in 43:14, and James Allen in 34:39.
Alice Kershaw, the 2025 Backbone Challenger South ladies’s winner. Photograph: The Backbone Race/Dave Wooden
James Allen, the 2025 Backbone Challenger South males’s winner. Photograph: The Backbone Race/Tom Hoyle
USATF Cross Nation Championships – Lubbock, Texas
With no 2025 World Cross Nation Championships, this yr’s nationwide championships had particularly small fields. A few path runners crossed over to compete.
Renee Metivier took the Grasp’s Ladies’s crown in 22:24 for the six-kilometer distance. Metivier has raced some shorter mountain races over time.
If it’s a USATF Nationwide Championship, you possibly can rely on Joseph Grey being there. He was once more the category of the grasp’s discipline, profitable the 8k by virtually two minutes in 25:31. He in all probability might’ve challenged for the win within the Open race, too.
Within the Open Males’s 10k, Andy Wacker was fourth in 30:13. He was solely 30 seconds behind the winner.
Wasatch Powderkeg – Solitude Mountain Resort, Utah
The occasion was the U.S. Ski Mountaineering Nationwide Championship for all disciplines, together with the brand new Blended Relay race, which is anticipated to be a part of the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Blended Relay
Hali Hafeman and Cam Smith teamed as much as win the four-day occasion’s opening race. The group completed in 34:54. Gwen Rudy and David Sinclair had been subsequent in 35:20, and Kelly Wolf and Griffin Briley skied 35:52 to complete third.
Dash
Jessie Younger topped Gwen Rudy and Hali Hafeman for the ladies’s crown. The three leaders completed in 3:48, 3:52, and three:57, respectively.
Males’s winner David Sinclair skied previous Cam Smith late for a 2:50 end. Smith was second in 2:53, and Ian Clarke was third in 3:03.
Particular person
Day three noticed an particularly shut ladies’s race. Martina Valmassoi (Italy) edged out Maria Lamb and Jessie Younger for the win. Valmassoi completed in 1:53:24, 16 seconds sooner than Lamb. Younger was third in 1:54:50.
John Gaston beat Cam Smith and David Sinclair within the males’s race. Gaston skied 1:34:34 and Smith and Sinclair had been in at 1:36:19 and 1:36:24, respectively.
Vertical
The occasion concluded on Sunday, January 12, and many of the earlier weekend podium-getters had been again. For the ladies, Hafeman acquired up in 28:40, Sarah Burke was second in 30:14, and Rudy was third in 30:26.
For the lads, Smith flipped it again on Gaston and received in 24:00. Gaston was second in 24:17, and Sinclair topped out in 24:33 for third.
Extra Races and Runs
Bridle Trails Winter 50k – Bellevue, Washington
Brittany Kealy and Aaron Haugen received in 4:17 and three:54. Full outcomes.
Avalon Profit 50 – Avalon, California
The longtime race is on Catalina Island off the southern California coast. Paige Clarke and Michael Ruf received the 50 miler in 8:18 and 6:28, and Lydia Van Hoff and Siqi Wu had been tops within the 50k in 4:41 and three:58. Full outcomes.
No Fingers 50k – Auburn, California
The Inside Path race was held on a part of the Western States path and over No Fingers Bridge. Peyton Bilo and Darren Thomas scored new course information in 4:58 and 4:09. Full outcomes.
Frozen Gnome 50k – Crystal Lake, Illinois
Rachel Reyes and Andrew Schroeder warmed up in 5:24 and 4:41. Full outcomes.
Rachel Reyes, the 2025 Frozen Gnome 50k ladies’s winner. Photograph: Frozen Gnome 50k
Andrew Schroeder, the 2025 Frozen Gnome 50k males’s winner. Photograph: Frozen Gnome 50k
Bandera – Rocksprings, Texas
The 100k winners Aimee Jacobs and Dany Racine took it in 11:33 and 10:20. Full outcomes.
Subsequent Weekend – Hong Kong 100k – Hong Kong, China
It’ll be the race’s fifteenth yr and the primary occasion of the second yr of the World Path Majors sequence. The marquee 100k distance will embrace some 2,800 runners from 60 completely different nations on a course that totals 5,800 meters (19,029 ft) of climbing.
The race is amongst Asia’s best, and the beginning lists embrace many previous winners and returning podium finishers.
The beginning of the 2024 Hong Kong 100k. Photograph: World Path Majors
Prime ladies:
- Sunmaya Budha (Nepal) – 4th 2024 Chiang Mai Thailand by UTMB 50k
- Lin Chen (China) – 1st 2024 Hong Kong 100k
- Ha Thi Hau (Vietnam) – 4th 2024 CCC
- Veronika Leng (Slovakia) – eleventh 2024 CCC
- Ying Li (China) – 2nd 2024 Hong Kong 100k
- Yuan-Yuan Wu (China) – third 2024 Hong Kong 100k
Prime males:
- Raul Butaci (Romania) – third 2024 Extremely Pirineu 100k
- Guo-min Deng (China) – 14th 2024 Western States 100
- Dani Jung (Italy) – eighth 2024 Chiang Mai Thailand by UTMB 100k
- Lengthy-Fei Yan (China) – 1st 2015 Hong Kong 100k
- Guang-Fu Meng (China) – 1st 2024 Hong Kong 100k
- Min Qi (China) – 1st 2018 Hong Kong 100k
- Jia-Sheng Shen (China) – 1st 2019 Hong Kong 100k
- Pei-Quan You (China) – 2nd 2024 Hong Kong 100k
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