Running News Daily

Inside the spectacle of ultrarunning’s most festive top-tier 100-mile race

It’s a hot, sunny Saturday afternoon in the desert northeast of Phoenix, and Lindsay DesRochers is being chased by a dinosaur—as if 85-degree heat, a creaky left knee, and a hot spot on her right big toe aren’t enough to worry about during her first attempt at running 100 miles.

The 44-year-old senior creative recruiter from Scottsdale is 41 miles into the Javelina Jundred, and she also has to contend with a Tyrannosaurus rex who’s making her giggle. The dinosaur is, in fact, local trail running legend, Jerry Bloom, who is sweating and gasping for air inside an inflatable costume that’s kept afloat with a tiny battery-operated fan. He is dressed up as the dino-in-residence and runs alongside DesRochers briefly as she finishes the second loop of the five-lap course before sitting down to refuel and rehydrate in her crew tent.

“The problem with this thing isn’t the heat. It’s just that there’s no oxygen in here. If you run very far, you get oxygen deprivation,” says Bloom, 70, a three-time Western States and Hardrock 100 finisher who’s also run Javelina twice. “For me it’s all in good fun to support Lindsay. I’ve given up trying to be fast a long time ago. But what I’ve learned is that it’s not how far you go and it’s not how fast you go, it’s how you look while you’re doing it.”

Welcome to the Javelina Jundred—the biggest, wildest party in the trail running world.

It’s pretty obvious that the Javelina Jundred is the zaniest event in trail running and, to be frank, nothing even comes close to this dusty desert cavalcade of curiosities. It’s not quite the Burning Man of running, but it might just be better because, first and foremost, it’s a legit ultrarunning event.

More than 850 enthusiastic runners toed the starting line at 6 A.M. to begin the five-lap 100-miler, and about 400 more began the three-lap 100K an hour later. There’s also a single-loop, 19-mile nighttime race called the Jackass Night Trail for about 200 runners that includes a wild DJ’ed party at the Jackass Junction aid station and finishes as the Saturday night revelry is still going strong back at the race compound.

But because Javelina always happens on the weekend before Halloween, there’s a natural party vibe and a non-mandatory-yet-compelling reason for runners, pacers, and support crew to wear costumes. And, let’s face it, Halloween gives everyone license to fly their freak flag, so when you mix that with ultrarunning, just about anything goes. Only here it’s known as Jalloween.

This year’s most popular dress-up themes seem to be tropical and western, but, almost predictably, there are quite a few Barbie and Taylor Swift cosplayers, as well as a few heavy metal rock stars, glow-in-the-dark skeletons, and several very creepy clowns. Dozens more runners race through the desert wearing bunny ears, fox tails, and devil horns.

“This is a safe space for everyone to have fun in their own unique way,” adds Dan Gampon, a Hoka sports marketing representative from Hawaii. “It’s a fun way to give the people a chance to be weird and bring a part of themselves that they might have been wanting to bring out, and give them the opportunity just to have fun anyway they want to.”

Some crew tents are decorated with accouterments to match a particular theme, but most feature colorful holiday twinkle lights, camping chairs, sleeping bags, and coolers full of adult beverages. While there’s a stash of fancy engineered nutrition supplements and electrolyte drinks in every tent, there’s also the widest range of healthy and not-so-healthy snack food you can imagine. (I’m looking at you, guy simultaneously drinking a Red Bull and eating a handful of marshmallow Peeps.)

The Javelina staff and volunteers are fully into the Jalloween theme, too, especially race director Jubilee Paige, who dons several costumes during the 30-hour event—including getups she calls Race Director Barbie, Weird Barbie, The Dude, Cousin Eddie, Chef’s Kiss, and A Macaroni Penguin. She once again ends the event dressed as the Pope—a.k.a., “her Joliness”—because she considers Sunday “Jallelujah Javelina,” a day of celebration.

The Javelina Jundred was founded in 2003 by Phoenix ultrarunner Geri Kilgariff as an irreverent, party-oriented run on a multi-loop course, and gradually gained regional and then national popularity as word spread through the ultrarunning community about how much fun it was. Local ultrarunner Jamil Coury took over as race director in 2008. The next year he started Aravaipa Running, a Phoenix-based company that bought and now owns 75 other running events in Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and New Hampshire.

Despite increased popularity and significant growth, Coury, Paige, and the rest of the Aravaipa crew have been able to maintain Javelina’s grassroots experience while growing it to about 1,500 runners in three events with at least that many pacers, crew, and family members hanging around the race compound. In many ways, it represents the best of both where trail running has been, but also where it could be heading.

“The race was born from a fun spirit of running with friends and looping in the desert—shout-out to Geri Kilgariff for her creation of the event in 2003,” Paige says. “But as it’s evolved, we saw opportunities to elevate the race to an ‘event’ experience for runners and crews—an ultra festival—the music and lights and entertainment just enhances that experience. However you experience Javelina, I just want you to have fun!”

As the sun begins to set, several top competitors in the 100-miler are scattered out on the remote sections of the course in hot pursuit of four Golden Ticket entries into next summer’s Western States 100. (Two tickets each for the men’s and women’s races.) That includes Boulder, Colorado, runner Jonathan Rea, who is back after a second-place finish a year ago, and—with newfound confidence from a fourth-place finish at the CCC 100K in Chamonix, France—is tearing up the desert trails on course-record pace. Triathlete-turned-ultrarunner Heather Jackson, who splits time between Bend, Oregon, and Tucson, Arizona, also takes it out hot, hoping to make up for a frustrating fifth-lap fade last year after unbearable quad pain reduced her to a walk and forced her to settle for a fifth-place finish in her 100-mile debut.

Earlier in the day, Denver’s Rajpaul Pannu and San Francisco’s Anna Kacius made quick work of the less-competitive, three-lap 100K race, finishing first and second overall, respectively, and setting new men’s (7:15:53) and women’s (8:13:07) course records in the process, while winning by more than an hour over their nearest competitors.

Ultrarunning GOAT Courtney Dauwalter from Leadville, Colorado, is out there, too, but she’s not racing for the win. She’s running the 100K with her mom, Tracy, a 66-year-old avid trail runner from Edina, Minnesota. They attempted a 50-miler in Minnesota last fall, but were timed out before the finish, so this year they chose the big party race in the desert where Courtney set a course record in 2016 before she became a household name. They’re not in costumes, but they’re running as Team Bucket List and wearing matching white shirts, cactus-themed socks, and olive-green-and-black shorts.

Because runners constantly revolve through the turnaround point at the start/finish area, everyone else is always on the move throughout the race compound. Some are drinking craft beers and mingling as they wait for their runners, while others are watching the race livestream on their phones or from the jumbotron in the Javelina Jeadquarters circus tent. Still others are devouring freshly cooked artisan pizzas made to order in the Freak Brothers Pizza mobile brick wood-fired oven.

Rousing cheers and applause catch everyone’s attention every few moments as an elite runner arrives—including the ever-smiling Jackson, who quickly heads out on her fifth and final lap with a 30-minute lead in the women’s 100-miler.

“Heather is just amazing,” says Troy Brown, 48, a trail runner from Coto de Caza, California. “She’s always smiling. I’m just a fanboy, but I like anyone who can smile that much through pain.”

After Jackson runs out of sight, Brown quickly shifts his focus to getting his feet into an inflatable T-Rex costume so he can participate in the costume contest, an informal event that brings out a sheriff riding an inflatable rooster, Minnie Mouse, a foursome of Teletubbies and, of course, several dinosaurs. There’s also a guy dressed as Aladdin wearing a large golden lamp around his waist who is joined by a scantily clad Jasmine character who not-so-discreetly rubs the lamp in a Not Suitable for Work (NSFW) scene that draws both raucous laughs and shocked gasps from the crowd.

One of the best dressed-up groups of the event is a foursome of women from California’s Healdsburg Running Company: Dominique Chevalier (“Western Barbie”), Krista Kappus (“Alien Barbie”), Saddie Alloway (“Rootin’ Tootin’ Diva Barbie”), and Susan Oh (“Disco Bob Ross”). But the costume contest winners are the Montana Mermaids, a bikini-and-grass-skirt trio from Bozeman—Lena Romeo, Kara Haskell, and Liv Bleskin—who were there to crew and support elite runners Rachael Norfleet of Montana in the 100K and Utah’s Ryan Montgomery in the 100-miler.

The sun begins to set, but the party’s just getting started as DJ Colter Stillwell pumps tracks through the sound system as a full moon rises in the eastern sky. One of the rowdiest dancers is Brendan O’Hara, a Colorado trail runner who’s dressed up in a red-and-white mouse outfit with flashing lights similar to what popular Canadian electronic musician Deadmau5 wears on stage. As lots of energized runners entered in the Jackass race are about to head out into the night, two professional fire dancers perform a mesmerizing routine adjacent to the start line.

Just after dark, Rea comes flying into the finish area, stopping just short of the finish line to pantomime deadlifting a colossal barbell before crossing the line in a new course record of 12:43:10. Seattle runner Blake Slattengren stopped the clock next in 12:58:07 to claim the second Golden Ticket, while Montgomery ran another strong race to take the final podium spot in 13:01:14.

Redeeming herself from last year, Jackson finishes strong to win the women’s race and finish sixth overall, thanks in part to the aggressive pacing of Devon Yanko. Jackson’s time of 14:24:47 is the second-fastest women’s time ever behind Camille Herron’s 14:03:23 course record from 2021. Spain’s Ragna Debats (14:55:27) outran Riley Brady (15:29:17) to earn the second women’s Golden Ticket.

Not long after midnight, the Dauwalters finish, too. Covered in dust, sweat, and even a little bit of blood—Tracy took a tumble on the first lap early the previous morning—they cross the finish line after 17 hours of running with big smiles and hug in a classic mother-daughter moment. Late Sunday morning, DesRochers makes it to the finish line, too, in 27:31:41, battling hard to overcome dehydration, an upset stomach, and nagging hip flexor pain at various points during the race.

“I was prepared for it to be hard, and I knew I was going to hurt. At some point, I was like, Oh, right, this is what running 100 miles feels like,” DesRochers says. “It was difficult, but I kept my positive mental attitude the whole way. I have a buddy who has a saying, ‘Forward is a pace,’ so I kept repeating that and kept putting one foot in front of the other and I didn’t quit.”

Something that’s especially apparent at Javelina is that everyone is celebrated as an equal, regardless of finishing times, trail running experience, athletic ability, age, or any other dissimilar details. The event goes out of its way to create an environment that promotes visibility and inclusion for everyone, and the community of participants seems to embrace it by cheering and encouraging for everyone the same.

It has partnered with Native Women Running, Latinos Run, and Black Men Run each of the past several years to bring their runners to the race, and it was also one of the first ultra events to offer a non-binary category. This year there were six non-binary runners racing over its three races, led by Willow Dolde in the 100-miler (20:01:29), Andreas Anderson in the 100K (13:54:30), and Tasha Hartwig in the Jackass 31K (6:42:07). (Although Brady, a non-binary runner from Boulder, was competing in the women’s division because they were racing for a Golden Ticket, they were also, unofficially, the top non-binary runner in the race.)

As the golden hour comes and goes early Sunday afternoon—and final finishers Holly Sitzmann,  Jim Buckley, Brittany Edmiston, and Leslie Astle squeeze under the 30-hour cutoff with help from their pacers and crew—it’s clear that everyone at Javelina is celebrated equally and enthusiastically. That also includes two unofficial finishers—Rayna Rodriguez and Tatiana Orozco—who complete the 100-mile course just outside of the time cutoff, but are welcomed by a scream tunnel of remaining spectators and the adulation of Paige even though neither will receive a finisher’s buckle.

“Javelina is a celebration, and the invitation to run and participate at Javelina extends to everyone,” Paige says. “I want to ultimately show how amazing the community is and that this sport is for everybody and every body—the spirit of ultra is diverse and should be celebrated.”

Jakob Ingebrigtsen brought his remarkable 2026 season to a fitting close on home soil, winning the men’s street 1500m at the inaugural Runfest Norway in Sandnes on Friday.

Competing in front of an enthusiastic hometown crowd, the Olympic and world champion took control of the race from the early stages and maintained his authority through the finish, stopping the clock at 3:40.7.

Andreas Fjeld Halvorsen followed in second in 3:43.3, while Sigurd Tveit completed the podium in 3:47.8.

The unusual street race added another dimension to the occasion, with 273 runners taking part on the same road and sharing the course with one of Norway’s most accomplished distance runners. For the recreational participants, it offered a rare opportunity to compete alongside Ingebrigtsen in an event that brought elite athletics and mass participation together.

The victory also provided a fitting final chapter to a season that began with significant uncertainty for Ingebrigtsen. After undergoing major Achilles surgery in February, the Norwegian was forced to miss a substantial portion of the summer campaign as he worked his way back to full fitness.

His return, however, quickly developed into another championship-winning chapter. In Birmingham, Ingebrigtsen captured European 5,000m gold before adding another major title at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, where he won the 5,000m.

Those performances transformed what could have been a disrupted season into another year defined by championship success and a determined return to the highest level.

Now, with the Sandnes victory added to his 2026 record, Ingebrigtsen closes the year exactly where it began in spirit — overcoming adversity, rebuilding his form and once again competing at the front.

From Achilles surgery in February to major championship victories and finally a 1500m win before his hometown crowd, the Norwegian has given his 2026 season a memorable final scene.

Olympic 100m hurdles champion Masai Russell has announced her engagement to longtime partner Robert “Robbie” Springfield, adding a major personal milestone to the remarkable journey of one of America’s leading track and field stars.

Russell shared the news with her followers, revealing that Springfield had proposed and that she had accepted. Reflecting on their relationship, the Olympic champion described him as her best friend and expressed her excitement about spending the rest of her life with him.

The couple’s relationship dates back to their college years at the University of Kentucky, where both were student-athletes and competed in track and field. Russell established herself as a standout hurdler, while Springfield competed in the long jump, giving them a shared understanding of the demands, sacrifices and pressures that come with pursuing success in athletics.

Springfield has since transitioned from competition into coaching. A former collegiate long jumper, he is now part of the coaching staff at Morehead State University, where he works with the programme’s sprinters and jumpers.

Their relationship has developed alongside Russell’s rise to the top of the sport. The defining moment of her career came at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where she captured gold in the women’s 100m hurdles, securing her place among the sport’s Olympic champions.

Away from competition, Springfield has remained a familiar part of Russell’s journey, sharing in the demanding periods of training and competition that accompanied her pursuit of Olympic success. Their connection has consequently grown from a college athletics relationship into a long-term partnership.

The engagement now marks another significant chapter for Russell, this time away from the track. After reaching the pinnacle of her sporting career in Paris, the 100m hurdles champion is beginning a new phase of her personal life alongside a partner who has been part of her journey since their university days.

From competing on the same collegiate stage to building a future together, Russell and Springfield’s story has evolved alongside two careers shaped by track and field. The Olympic champion will now balance this new personal chapter with her continuing ambitions in athletics

The women’s race at the 2026 TCS Amsterdam Marathon is shaping up to be one of the most competitive editions in recent years, with a deep international field set to take on the fast Dutch course on Sunday, October 18.

At the centre of the contest will be four Ethiopian athletes who have already broken the 2:20 barrier, creating the prospect of a fascinating battle for victory and a possible assault on the course record of 2:16:52.

Defending champion Aynalem Desta will return to Amsterdam looking to retain her title after producing the biggest performance of her career at last year’s 50th edition. Desta won in a personal best of 2:17:37, establishing herself among the leading marathoners in the field and setting the benchmark for this year’s contenders.

Standing in her way will be fellow Ethiopian Meseret Belete Tola, a former Amsterdam champion who knows exactly what it takes to succeed on the course. Belete Tola captured the 2023 edition in 2:18:21, and her return adds another layer of experience and proven quality to an already formidable lineup.

The field also includes Mestawut Fikir Truneh, who arrives with an impressive marathon pedigree. Truneh finished runner-up at the 2024 Berlin Marathon in 2:18:48, demonstrating her ability to compete at the highest level on one of the world's major marathon stages.

Completing the quartet of sub-2:20 Ethiopians is Buze Diriba, whose personal best of 2:19:34 places her firmly among the leading contenders. With four athletes possessing credentials below 2:20, the race is likely to develop into a tightly contested battle from the opening kilometres.

The depth extends well beyond the leading quartet. Desi Jisa Mokonin, representing Bahrain, Yeshi Kalayu Chekole of Ethiopia and Nazret Weldu Gebrehiwet of Eritrea have all established themselves as serious marathon competitors with performances approaching the 2:20 mark.

Another major name to watch is Abeba Aregawi, the former 1500m world champion representing Sweden. Aregawi has successfully transferred her talents to the marathon and made headlines earlier this year by setting a Swedish national record of 2:23:12 on her debut. Her presence adds another intriguing dimension to an already high-quality field.

Amsterdam’s marathon course has consistently provided an opportunity for elite athletes to produce fast times, and this year’s women’s lineup has the depth to turn the race into a genuine test of both championship racing and outright speed.

With four athletes already inside 2:20, two former Amsterdam champions returning to the start line and several other accomplished marathoners ready to challenge them, the battle is expected to remain open deep into the race.

The ultimate target will be the Amsterdam women’s course record of 2:16:52. Whether the leading contenders can threaten that mark remains to be seen, but the quality assembled for October 18 ensures that the record will be firmly in the spotlight when the race reaches its spectacular finish inside the Olympic Stadium.

The 2026 Valencia Half Marathon is shaping up to be a thrilling contest of speed, endurance and tactical brilliance, with some of the world’s finest road runners set to converge in Spain on October 25.

Kenya’s Daniel Ebenyo and Alex Matata will be among the leading contenders, facing a formidable Ethiopian challenge spearheaded by Jemal Yimer and Tadese Worku. The field also features Rodrigue Kwizera, who boasts the fastest personal best among the leading entrants at 58:16.

Ebenyo arrives with a personal best of 59:04, placing him firmly among the athletes capable of sustaining a demanding pace over the 21.1-kilometre distance. Matata, who owns a 59:11 best, adds further Kenyan strength, while Andrea Kiptoo brings another sub-60-minute credential to the race.

Yimer has already established himself as one of the fastest athletes in the field with a 58:33 personal best, while Worku has clocked 58:35. Kenya’s Owen Korir, with a best of 58:58, further underlines the remarkable depth of the men's lineup.

Valencia Half Marathon 2026 Entries

1. Rodrigue Kwizera (Spain) — 58:16

2. Jemal Yimer (Ethiopia) — 58:33

3. Tadese Worku (Ethiopia) — 58:35

4. Owen Korir (Kenya) — 58:58

5. Daniel Ebenyo (Kenya) — 59:04

6. Alex Matata (Kenya) — 59:11

7. Andrea Kiptoo (Kenya) — 59:11

8. Thierry Ndikumwenayo (Spain) — 59:42

9. Said Mechaal (Spain) — 1:00:24

10. Adel Mechaal (Spain) — 1:02:30

Kwizera, who finished second in Valencia last year, leads the field on paper and will be seeking another standout performance on the famously fast Valencia course. With several athletes carrying sub-60-minute credentials, the race has the ingredients for an aggressive battle from the opening kilometres.

Beyond the headline names, the men’s field is deep and highly competitive, bringing together a strong collection of experienced international athletes with proven ability over the half-marathon distance. With so much quality packed into the lineup, the race promises an intriguing battle in which tactics, endurance, positioning and finishing speed could all play a crucial role in determining the eventual champion.

Yet personal bests will count for little once the gun goes off. The title could ultimately be decided by patience, positioning and the ability to respond when the pace begins to rise in the closing stages. Every surge, every tactical move and every second saved could prove decisive on the road to the finish.

With Kenya, Ethiopia and Spain represented by athletes of exceptional quality, Valencia promises a high-octane men's showdown in which the leaders are likely to be separated by only a handful of seconds. The final kilometres could provide the defining moments of a race packed with speed, ambition and anticipation.

On October 25, the question will be simple: who has the strength to command the streets of Valencia and claim the coveted half-marathon crown?

 

April 19, 1982. The Boston Marathon unfolded under unusually warm, sunny conditions, and by the closing stages, the race had become a private battle between two very different American runners: Alberto Salazar, already one of the biggest names in distance running, and Dick Beardsley, the Minnesota runner who had emerged as a serious marathon contender.

For roughly nine miles, from the Newton Hills toward the finish, Beardsley did much of the leading, with Salazar tucked close behind. Neither man could shake the other. They ran deep into Boston locked together, trading surges and refusing to surrender an inch as the crowds along the course grew louder.

Salazar finally made his decisive move with less than a mile remaining. He opened a small gap, but Beardsley refused to disappear. The Minnesota runner chased him through the final streets, closing again as they approached the finish.

Then came the final sprint.

Salazar held his form and reached the finish first in 2:08:52, with Beardsley only two seconds behind in 2:08:54. It was an extraordinary result: both men broke 2:09 in the same Boston Marathon, and both shattered the previous course record.

The race became known as the “Duel in the Sun,” and it remains one of the most celebrated head-to-head battles in Boston Marathon history. Beardsley had not won, but his performance established him as one of America's elite marathoners.

For Salazar, however, victory came at an enormous physical cost. Immediately after crossing the finish line, he collapsed and required emergency treatment, including several litres of intravenous saline. The combination of heat, dehydration and an all-out effort had pushed his body to the limit.

Salazar's marathon career would never again produce quite the same kind of performance. His celebrated 1981 New York City Marathon victory had produced what was initially considered a world record, although the course was later found to be short. His Boston triumph therefore became one of the defining victories of his career.

Beardsley's story would take an even more difficult turn. Injuries disrupted his career, and after returning to the highest level, he suffered a devastating farm accident in 1989. Further accidents, surgeries and severe physical pain followed, eventually leading to a long battle with painkiller addiction.

He eventually overcame that struggle and transformed the darkest chapters of his life into a story of recovery, resilience and redemption.

That is what makes the 1982 Boston Marathon more than a two-second victory.

For one extraordinary afternoon, Salazar and Beardsley produced a marathon duel in which neither man was willing to give way. One crossed the finish line first. The other finished only two seconds behind him.

Two seconds separated them at Boston. Decades later, their legendary duel remains one of the greatest chapters in marathon history.