King Metropolis, Ont.’s Selene Mallone simply crushed a monster of a race. On Tuesday, she received the ladies’s race on the Arizona Monster 300, ending fourth general and setting a brand new course report within the course of. She crossed the road in 99:55:02, chopping roughly 5 hours off final yr’s profitable girls’s time. This was solely Mallone’s second race past 200 miles.
A formidable beast
The Arizona Monster 300, hosted by Vacation spot Path Races, is a 304-mile point-to-point journey via southern Arizona’s Sonoran Desert, beginning within the city of Patagonia. “The Sonoran is probably the most biodiverse in North America, dwelling to towering Saguaro forests, rugged peaks, and the legendary Gila monster—the venomous lizard that impressed this race’s identify,” the race web site says. Runners climb greater than 12,400 metres and should navigate excessive temperature modifications over a number of days of operating.
In it for the long term
Mallone, 30, works as a firefighter and took up operating a few decade in the past after competing in rugby, wrestling and powerlifting via highschool and college. She accomplished her first 100-miler in 2024, and rapidly upped her distance to win the ladies’s race at Sinister Sports activities’ The Divide 200, held in Crowsnest Cross, Alta., in September. She is signed up for a brand new Canadian 200-miler, The Ribbon 200, in June.
Early indicators of greatness
Mallone has been working with coach Amanda Nelson, who holds the girls’s 24-hour Canadian report, for about two and a half years, and their relationship goes past a typical coach-athlete setup. The 2 prepare collectively commonly, and Nelson says she realized that Mallone was particular early on.
“I noticed her potential simply three months in,” Nelson says. “I joked that I used to be coaching her to be my pacer someday—and now that’s truly taking place.” Mallone is about to tempo Nelson at Quebec Mega Path (QMT) 135K later this summer time. The 2026 version of QMT additionally options distances of 1K, 15K, 25K, 30K, 50K and 80K, in addition to a nighttime 15K occasion and two stage races.
For full outcomes of the Arizona Monster 300, head right here.