Trail Methods Last Runner Standing

With the ever increasing interest in Big's Backyard Ultra, there's been an uptick in events with the last runner standing (LRS) format. The general idea is that runners repeatedly complete a loop in a specified amount of time. The field is narrowed down as runners are eliminated when they miss cutoffs or refuse to continue for another loop. Eventually, the last runner who doesn't time out or quit is declared the winner.

Every October Big's Backyard Ultra in rural Tennessee takes the LRS format to the extreme. In 2018 alone, overall winner Johan Steene totaled 283 miles and took nearly three days to do so, narrowly outlasting perhaps the world's top female ultrarunner, Courtney Dauwalter. Until a few years ago, this race, along with the format, was widely unknown. The indefinite time limit, the lore of race director Lazarus Lake, and the resiliency of the race's top competitors have lead to more and more media coverage, and hence a surge in interest. Big's now has a series of qualifying races globally that mimic its format, with the winner from each granted an automatic entry into Big's.

There are a number of smaller, less extreme races that follow the LRS format, one of which is Trail Methods Last Runner Standing. Eric and Sheila Eagan, experienced RDs who also direct Many on the Genny and several other races, are the race directors for TMLRS. 2019 was the third edition of the race.

Frozen Branch 50k

The Frozen Branch 50k & 25k is put on by Scott McGee and Jeff Darling, architects of the increasingly popular Twisted Branch 100k. Frozen Branch runs from miles 42 to 58 on the TB 100k course, stopping in Urbana at the location of Twisted's final aid station. Frozen Branch 25k-ers finish here, with loads of hot greasy food at their disposal, while 50k-ers have the pleasure of slogging it another 16 miles back to the start at the Evangeline Shelter in Urbana State Forest.

This race is about as old school as an ultra can get these days. The event was capped at 40 entrants between both distances, with 12 finishers in the 50k and 18 in the 25k. (It's an increase from the two and seven finishers, respectively, in the inaugural 2018 race.) The entry fee was low, there were no fancy prizes, sponsors, or swag, and there were no course markings aside from the permanent orange and white blazes along the Finger Lakes Trail. Upon check-in, each runner was randomly given a playing card from a standard deck in lieu of a bib. At the 25k turn-around, we'd be given another card to match the one we started with in order to prove we completed the whole course. Runners lined up and the lucky SOB in front of me received the Ace of Spades, while I had to settle for the jack of the same suit.

Snowshoe Racing Debutante

Wintertime in Upstate New York can be conducive to a number of outdoor activities. Cross-country and downhill skiing are abound, along with winter hiking. With the volume of snow dumped across the region this winter, one thing that became difficult is trail running. With that in mind, I signed up to race in snowshoes for the first time.

The Finger Lakes Runners Club holds a snowshoe race on Hammond Hill annually, always the day before the Super Bowl. The Super Frosty Loomis Snowshoe Race 10k course is essentially the FLRC's Thom B course run in reverse, minus a 1.5-ish mile section of red-blazed singletrack on the forest's southeast side. The event has a 5k race concurrently with the 10k. At 1,700 to 2,100 feet elevation, Hammond Hill always has more snow than the surrounding valley at this time of year.

I was originally hoping to run Goose AR's Cast-a-Shadow 6-Hour race on this day instead, thinking there might be little enough snow west of Rochester that it would become a trail race sans snowshoes. (As it was when I ran Cast-a-Shadow in 2017.) But nope—it was full-on snowshoe season this year at CAS and I was unable to find a pair to rent or borrow on short notice. I instead