The 2023 Desert RATS (Running Across the Sand) Trail Running Festival Series by UTMB® took place over the weekend at the Hawkeye Trailhead in Fruita, Colorado Runners took on four demanding courses of 50K, 42K, 25K and 10K.
On Saturday, the 50K and 42K (marathon) runners took to the Desert RATS Trail Running Festival by UTMB® course. It was Brian Whitfield (Colorado Springs, Colo.) taking the victory in the men’s 50K race with a time of 3:31:19. Arnaud Bronin finishing in 3:35:06 came home second while Jeffrey Colt with a time of 3:39:15 finished third.
Meghan Cihasky (Durango, Colo.) finished first in the female 50K with a time of 4:14:35. Peyton Thomas led the race early but ultimately came home in second with a time of 4:15:09 and Gabriella Brinkley completed the course in 4:31:49 finished in third place.
“The race was awesome, it was super fun to have a competitive course and runners out there, including some young runners plus people from Europe. It was super fun to be out there,” said Brian Whitfield.
“The course was absolutely beautiful, just really lucky to be out there overlooking the river – it was magical,” said Meghan Cihasky.
A 100K distance was originally slated to take place on Friday of race weekend, however heavy rainfall in the area caused muddy and wet trail conditions. Out of an abundance of safety and the lack of accessibility to trails to deploy safety assets, race officials made the tough decision to cancel the Desert RATS Trail Running Festival by UTMB 100K. Participants that were scheduled for the 100K had the option to participate in a separate 50K race on Saturday.
Of the 100K registered runners that choose to run the alternative 50K event, Craig Hunt topped the males with a time of 3:39:45 while Jonathan Rea followed closely in second with a time of 3:41:27 and Yutaro Yokouchi rounded out the podium in third with a time of 3:52:53.
On the female side, Arden Young (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) finished first with a time of 4:41:19, Michele Yates finished second just over six minutes behind with a time of 4:47:26 and Elena Ormon finished third with an overall time of 5:08:12.
“The race was great! It went exactly to my plan where I wanted to stay in control and conservative. I let the leaders open a gap if they wanted too but keep them within reach and made a strong move with about 3-miles to go and rolled on my teammate [Jonathan Rea] but I knew he had 100-mile strength, I just didn’t know what he had left and it worked out in my favor, said Craig Hunt.
“I came in expected to run the 100K but for reasons no one can control it was disappointing but the 50K course was beautiful and the trails were in really good condition considering the rain we had so glad we got out and had a fun day,” said Arden Young. “All the Mesa overlooks were actually really beautiful; you couldn’t look up too much or you’d trip over the rocks but a few times I looked up just to get the view.”
Top 3 female and male finishers of the two 50K races earned automatic qualification into the UTMB OCC, the 50K category final for the UTMB World Series.