I was already rolling my eyes at yet another can’t hack it professional road runner deciding to “take on the trails” but then I saw her satisfy gear and immediately wanted to donkey kick her.
Really? She gets the bronze medal for the Marathon in Tokyo. Only the third woman to ever medal in that event for the US. Everything after that is a victory lap.
The thing that triggered me most about your post is that last part of it.
There is a thread about why good posters are leaving. This is a good example.
BTW, what have you done in your life that sets you apart from others? I know what it is and it is not good.
Comrades is the most competitive ultra in the world. Period. Any Surface Any Distance. It might not be the cleanest though....and if you're talking about relative paces you simply can't compare a "downhill year" vs an "uphill year." Or obviously road to trail to mountain terrain for that matter....
Across the MUT (Mountain-Ultra-Trail Running) Running spectrum the next most competitive ultra these days is then the UTMB (106-miler) and probably then on World Champs years, perhaps the World Long Distance challenge (80km-100km) maybe instead.
Then the World 100km Road Champs. Then Western States 100 imo.
After that you have all other ultras. For trails in general more competitive races are actually often "sub ultra" (Sierre-Zinal, Zegama, World Mountain Running Champs, Golden Trail Series Races, etc).
Then you have races like OCC and CCC and other UTMB world wide series events.
Objectively on paper, I just wouldn't put too much stock in Molly's Bandera 50km result at this time. It can certainly be seen as a good experience and "long and hard training run." But keep in mind that the Women's CR at Black Canyon on the new course (61.5 miles maybe 62) is 8:16. Black Canyon is net downhill, but still has over 5000' of climb and a few little "techy sections" with some punchy hills like Bandera. It's mostly smooth and runnable, but it can be a bit on the warmer side later in the morning and going into the afternoon (like 70s and sunny) depending on the year.
And she'll be going against runners like Anne Flower who just ran a 5:18 for 50-miles at Tunnel Hill (flat, road-like course).
What are most competitive in USA? She should definitely do pikes peak
Pikes Peak isn't really one of the most competitive races anymore; it's similar to Bandera, or Angeles Crest, or Grindstone 100k (all races that used to attract elite fields but no longer do).
In the US trail scene, everything ties into Western States (WSER). That's the biggest and most prestigious one with the highest level of competition. Most years, this is far and above the most competitive ultra in the country, and one of the most competitive in the world. Everything builds up to WSER, all the narratives and storylines revolve around WSER, almost every elite US ultrarunner wants to win WSER.
Then there are the races with automatic qualification spots for WSER -- these are colloquially grouped together as "golden ticket" races. There are three in the US: Black Canyon 100k, Canyons 100k, and Javelina Jundred.
Outside of those Western States tie-in races, there are a few US races that reliably attract quite a bit of elite competition, at various distances. The most prestigious such American 100mi race is Hardrock, in Colorado (it has a difficult and arcane qualification process, so some years are less competitive, though it looks like it will be very competitive this year).
At the 100k distance, Gorge Waterfalls 100k is the main one I can think of that has attracted an elite field without being a golden ticket race? But it was a US qualifier for the World Champs last year, so TBD on whether that remains to be the case.
At the sub-100k distance, the most competitive races are the JFK 50 miler, Canyons 50k, Black Canyon 50k, Broken Arrow 46k, then a gap, then maybe Gorge Waterfalls 50k, Chuckanut 50k, Lake Sonoma 50 miler and Big Alta 50k... all in roughly that order.
At the sub-ultra distance, Broken Arrow 26k and Broken Arrow Ascent by a long shot.
There are plenty of other ultras that have a solid history and are regionally competitive, or have blown up and attrated mainstream popularity without truly having elite fields (Leadville, Badwater, Cocodona all come to mind), but those are the list of the most competitive ultras in the US at the moment.
What are most competitive in USA? She should definitely do pikes peak
Pikes Peak isn't really one of the most competitive races anymore; it's similar to Bandera, or Angeles Crest, or Grindstone 100k (all races that used to attract elite fields but no longer do).
In the US trail scene, everything ties into Western States (WSER). That's the biggest and most prestigious one with the highest level of competition. Most years, this is far and above the most competitive ultra in the country, and one of the most competitive in the world. Everything builds up to WSER, all the narratives and storylines revolve around WSER, almost every elite US ultrarunner wants to win WSER.
Then there are the races with automatic qualification spots for WSER -- these are colloquially grouped together as "golden ticket" races. There are three in the US: Black Canyon 100k, Canyons 100k, and Javelina Jundred.
Outside of those Western States tie-in races, there are a few US races that reliably attract quite a bit of elite competition, at various distances. The most prestigious such American 100mi race is Hardrock, in Colorado (it has a difficult and arcane qualification process, so some years are less competitive, though it looks like it will be very competitive this year).
At the 100k distance, Gorge Waterfalls 100k is the main one I can think of that has attracted an elite field without being a golden ticket race? But it was a US qualifier for the World Champs last year, so TBD on whether that remains to be the case.
At the sub-100k distance, the most competitive races are the JFK 50 miler, Canyons 50k, Black Canyon 50k, Broken Arrow 46k, then a gap, then maybe Gorge Waterfalls 50k, Chuckanut 50k, Lake Sonoma 50 miler and Big Alta 50k... all in roughly that order.
At the sub-ultra distance, Broken Arrow 26k and Broken Arrow Ascent by a long shot.
There are plenty of other ultras that have a solid history and are regionally competitive, or have blown up and attrated mainstream popularity without truly having elite fields (Leadville, Badwater, Cocodona all come to mind), but those are the list of the most competitive ultras in the US at the moment.
Pikes Peak is not an ultramarathon.
Otherwise great list of races which shows exactly what the problem is. The US is a big country and the most famous races Western States and Hardrock have complicated lotteries and there are hard to get into.
There are no 50 mile and 100 mile national championship races which move around and Americans ignore the classic 100k road distance unfortunately.
Ideally there should be one top 50 and 100 mile race in each time zone and the best qualify for a sponsored top level race but I am dreaming here. That will never happen of course.
What are most competitive in USA? She should definitely do pikes peak
Pikes Peak isn't really one of the most competitive races anymore; it's similar to Bandera, or Angeles Crest, or Grindstone 100k (all races that used to attract elite fields but no longer do).
In the US trail scene, everything ties into Western States (WSER). That's the biggest and most prestigious one with the highest level of competition. Most years, this is far and above the most competitive ultra in the country, and one of the most competitive in the world. Everything builds up to WSER, all the narratives and storylines revolve around WSER, almost every elite US ultrarunner wants to win WSER.
Then there are the races with automatic qualification spots for WSER -- these are colloquially grouped together as "golden ticket" races. There are three in the US: Black Canyon 100k, Canyons 100k, and Javelina Jundred.
Outside of those Western States tie-in races, there are a few US races that reliably attract quite a bit of elite competition, at various distances. The most prestigious such American 100mi race is Hardrock, in Colorado (it has a difficult and arcane qualification process, so some years are less competitive, though it looks like it will be very competitive this year).
At the 100k distance, Gorge Waterfalls 100k is the main one I can think of that has attracted an elite field without being a golden ticket race? But it was a US qualifier for the World Champs last year, so TBD on whether that remains to be the case.
At the sub-100k distance, the most competitive races are the JFK 50 miler, Canyons 50k, Black Canyon 50k, Broken Arrow 46k, then a gap, then maybe Gorge Waterfalls 50k, Chuckanut 50k, Lake Sonoma 50 miler and Big Alta 50k... all in roughly that order.
At the sub-ultra distance, Broken Arrow 26k and Broken Arrow Ascent by a long shot.
There are plenty of other ultras that have a solid history and are regionally competitive, or have blown up and attrated mainstream popularity without truly having elite fields (Leadville, Badwater, Cocodona all come to mind), but those are the list of the most competitive ultras in the US at the moment.
Are you new to the MUT Running scene?! Did you use Chat GPT to write this or something?!
While I agree on Pikes for the most part (and I wouldn't even mention it because it's not an ultra), the years it was a "Golden Trail Race" certainly made it more competitive. I mean this guy named Kilian Jornet even showed up! But yeah not super deep and not an ultra.
Bandera used to be a Golden Ticket race, but was probably the easiest to get a Golden Ticket at when it was. Lake Sonoma 50 drew a bigger crowd and more competitive depth around that time. But both are not Golden Ticket races anymore. Lake Sonoma changed ownership. Totally changed the competitive dynamic.
So now Black Canyon 100km is way, way more competitive and deep. Canyons has been a bit closer on some years and for sure deeper since it's been a UTMB major some years and a Golden Ticket race.
But for 50km distance I wouldn't discount or ignore The Speedgoat 50km with depth (which you totally missed). Totally blows the Gorge 50km out of the water.
WS100 has always been traditionally deep and a pinnacle event....it helps that if you're top 10 there you get an auto entry to return (although on some years maybe only 5-8 out of the top 10 actually choose to return).
I'd actually argue that back when there was The North Face 50-mile Endurance Champs in San Francisco in December that that race had more overall competitive depth than WS100 on many years. It brought in Western States champs and international runners as well as had $10,000 for the winner in open prize money. That race/event ended a long time ago though....
I won't even get into the "sub ultra distance mountain running" as i can get into pages of writing about that...but you've got to give Broken Arrow way more credit since it's been a Golden Trail Series Race and it made that event way, way deeper and more competitive.