It’s solely mid-April, however this was a blockbuster weekend! Within the U.S., there was the prize-money-rich Gorge Waterfalls and the USATF 100k Highway Nationwide Championships. Overseas, there was the Two Oceans Marathon and the Marathon des Sables. And much more. Settle in for the entire high outcomes.
It’s also possible to try our extra protection from the weekend:
Gorge Waterfalls – Cascade Locks, Oregon
100k
The entire Gorge Waterfalls races paid prize cash, however the Saturday 100-kilometer race had essentially the most. Race winners earned $15,000, and $7,000 and $4,000 went to the second- and third-place finishers.
Again the, ahem, Brinks truck up for Lotti Brinks. She ran away with the ladies’s crown and the $15,000 first-place prize. Working towards June’s Western States 100, Brinks ran 9:06. That was eight minutes higher than Shea Aquilano’s year-old course file.
Second- and third-place Liz Hogan and Erin Moyer ran 9:58 and 10:05. Aquilano was on this yr’s race too, however didn’t end.
The ladies’s high 5 was:
- Lotti Brinks – 9:06
- Liz Hogan – 9:58
- Erin Moyer – 10:05
- Cecelia Williams – 10:31
- Grace Phair – 10:36
It was a very good tune-up for the Western States 100 for Jeshurun Small, too. Small gained huge in 8:07. He didn’t get the course file, as a substitute ending virtually eight minutes again of Adam Peterman’s 2025 course file run.
Drew Holmen was second in 8:22, and Rob King was third in 8:44. Though little-known on the nationwide stage, King ran 12:16 finally yr’s Tunnel Hill 100 Mile and gained final yr’s San Diego 100 Mile.
The lads’s high 5 was:
- Jeshurun Small – 8:07
- Drew Holmen – 8:22
- Rob King – 8:44
- Jordan Perry – 8:58
- Colton Gale – 9:08
50k
Sunday’s 50k race had a $15,000 money purse, with $5,000 to the winners, and the ladies’s race was maybe essentially the most aggressive of the Gorge Waterfalls weekend races.
Jennifer Lichter gained a showdown versus Miao Yao (China). Lichter had simply smashed the Black Canyon 100k course file in February, and Yao is the two-time defending OCC champion. The 2 have been roughly collectively via midway earlier than Lichter gained some separation within the second half and gained in 4:08. Yao was second in 4:11.
Tara Dower chased to 3rd in 4:17, and the entire girls’s podium bettered Keely Henninger’s former 4:19 course file from 2022.
The ladies’s high 5 was:
- Jennifer Lichter – 4:08
- Miao Yao (China) – 4:11
- Tara Dower – 4:17
- Bailey Kowalczyk – 4:17
- Caroline Alcorta – 4:24
Koken Ogasawara (Japan) and up to date Large Alta 50k winner David Norris led the lads’s race via midway, after which Norris acquired dropped, and Anthony Costales moved up. Ogasawara, maybe a brand new identify to this column, gained convincingly in 3:40. Costales was second in 3:48, and Norris simply held onto a podium spot in 3:56.
The lads’s high 5 was:
- Koken Ogasawara (Japan) – 3:40
- Anthony Costales – 3:48
- Davis Norris – 3:56
- Liam Meirow – 3:57
- Jacob Banta – 3:58
30k
The 30k race was the occasion’s first contest on Friday, and it paid $2,000 for the win.
Lauren Gregory outdueled Tayler Tuttle for the ladies’s win. The 2 have been simply over two minutes aside in 2:13 and a couple of:15, and Riley Brady was third in 2:20. (Brady identifies as non-binary and competes within the girls’s race.)
The lads’s race had an identical breakaway entrance two, with third place just a little additional again. Mason Coppi acquired forward of Liam Meirow for the first-place prize cash in 1:58. Meirow was 43 seconds behind in 1:59, and Grant Colligan was third on the rostrum in 2:03. Meirow raced the 30k on Friday and the 50k on Sunday.
Marathon Des Sables Legendary – Sahara Desert, Morocco
It was the fortieth version of the famed self-supported desert stage race. The race went for six levels over seven days, and with virtually 270k (168 miles) of sand operating.
Girls
It was a repeat win for Maryline Nakache (France) within the girls’s race, and it wasn’t in any respect shut. Nakache gained for the second straight yr, and her 25:54 whole was greater than three hours higher than everybody else’s.
Aziza El Amrany (Morocco) totaled 29:22 for second, and two-time Olympic marathoner Des Linden (U.S.) was third in 30:16.
Maryline Nakache, the 2026 Marathon des Sables girls’s winner. Photograph: Marathon des Sables/Ian Corless
The ladies’s high 5 was:
- Maryline Nakache (France) – 25:54:29
- Aziza El Amrany (Morocco) – 29:22:34
- Des Linden (U.S.) – 30:16:32
- Rajaa Hamdaoua (France) – 32:16:08
- Floriane Sabatte (France) – 32:33:20
Males
It’s at all times Rachid or Mohamed El Morabity (Morocco) on the high of the lads’s race. Older brother Rachid had gained the race 11 instances, however youthful brother Mohamed championed this yr’s occasion. It was Mohamed’s second win right here, alongside seven second-place finishes.
Mohamed gained 5 of the race’s six levels, and Rachid gained the opposite stage. Mohamed totaled 20:47 for the occasion, Rachid was second in 21:16, and Ludovic Pommeret (France) was third in 21:18.
Mohamed El Morabity, the 2026 Marathon des Sables males’s winner. Photograph: Marathon des Sables/Florent Fournier
The lads’s high 5 was:
- Mohamed El Morabity (Morocco) – 20:47:39
- Rachid El Morabity (Morocco) – 21:16:25
- Ludovic Pommeret (France) – 21:18:43
- Ahmed Ouikhalfen (Morocco) – 22:10:39
- Ryan Sandes (South Africa) – 23:21:05
Mad Metropolis Ultras 100k – Madison, Wisconsin
Girls
The race was the USATF 100k Highway Nationwide Championships, and the ladies’s discipline was small, with simply 4 entrants. They ran quick, although! Sarah Morrison gained in 7:17, and that reduce 9 minutes from Camille Herron’s previous file that had stood since 2015. Morrison gained $650 for the win plus a $1,200 course-record bonus.
Allison Mercer was second in 7:30. Each Morrison and Mercer earned Staff USA spots for the IAU 100k World Championships in September in Spain. Amber Arvidson was third in 8:00.
The 2026 Mad Metropolis Ultras 100k girls’s podium (left to proper): 3. Amber Arvidson, 1. Sarah Morrison, 2. Allison Mercer. Photograph courtesy of the race.
Males
Nobody acquired to Geoff Burns’s 6:30 course file from 2016, however the first 5 males all ran below seven hours.
Brogan Austin was the quickest in 6:34. Brogan was the 2018 USATF Highway Marathon Nationwide Champion and, extra just lately, ran 5:02 on the 2025 Tunnel Hill 50 Mile.
Second – and third-place Phil Younger and Anthony Fagundes got here subsequent in 6:45 and 6:47, respectively.
Brogan Austin, the 2026 Mad Metropolis Ultras 100k males’s winner. Photograph courtesy of the race.
Desert RATS by UTMB – Fruita, Colorado
50k
Solely 12 seconds separated girls’s winner Sarah Carter from runner-up Claudia Tremps (Spain). Each have been in at 4:09, and third-place Flannery Davis completed in 4:14.
Males’s winner Taylor Stack was additional forward of his chasers. Stack gained in 3:39, and Justin Grunewald and Preston Cates have been subsequent in 3:44 and 4:02.
100k
Identical to within the 50k, the ladies ran the 100k nearer than the lads. Heather Jackson led the race in 9:45, and Tay Cavett and Corinne Shalvoy have been subsequent on the rostrum in 9:52 and 10:20.
You needed to have an alliterative identify to get on the lads’s podium. Males’s winner Spencer Shellberg was approach forward in 8:19, setting a brand new course file by 38 minutes, and second- and third-place Michael Mitchell and Cody Cook dinner completed in 9:21 and 9:24.
Spencer Shellberg, the 2026 Desert RATS 100k males’s winner. Photograph: UTMB/Glen Delman
Heather Jackson, the 2026 Desert RATS 100k girls’s winner. Photograph: UTMB/Glen Delman
21k
The subsequent day’s half marathon had Janelle Lincks win for the ladies in 1:36, and Whit Blair led the lads in 1:23.
Istria by UTMB – Umag, Croatia
The UTMB World Sequence occasion had 5 completely different race distances on Croatia’s northwestern tip.
The lengthy course went 168k (104 miles), and race winners Marina Oana (Romania) and Bartosz Gorczyca (Poland) took it in 21:36 and 17:56.
Anna-Stiina Erkkilä (Finland) and Patrik Milata (Slovakia) gained the 110k (68 miles) race in 11:05 and 9:27.
The 69k (43 miles) race crowns went to Rosanna Buchauer (Germany) and Gianluca Ghiano (Italy) in 6:00 and 5:39.
Camilla Magliano (Italy) and Roberto Delorenzi (Switzerland) have been tops within the 42k (26 miles) in 3:21 and a couple of:50.
Calamorro Skyrace – Benalmádena, Spain
It was the yr’s fourth Skyrunner World Sequence race, held on a 30k loop within the Costa del Sol of southern Spain. The race had separate girls’s and males’s late-afternoon begins, with the ladies going at 5:00 p.m. and the lads beginning half-hour later.
Girls
Sara Alonso (Spain) dominated the ladies’s race and gained in 3:25. She was eight minutes higher than everybody else, and it was already her second sequence win of the yr.
American runners don’t usually characteristic within the Skyrunner World Sequence, however Jane Maus was second in 3:33. She gained the Black Canyon 50k earlier this yr. Shangave Balendran (Norway) was third in 3:36.
Males
Manuel Merillas (Spain) and Frederic Tranchand (France) are creating fairly a rivalry. For the second Skyrunner World Sequence race in a row, Merillas topped Tranchand. Solely 24 seconds separated the 2, with each in at 2:51.
Third-place Tom Spencer (U.Okay.) was solely a minute behind Tranchand in 2:52.
The subsequent Skyrunner World Sequence race is the Penang Skyrace in Malaysia on April 26.
Sara Alonso and Manuel Merillas, the 2026 Calamorro Skyrace winners. Photograph: Nacho Gimeno
Two Oceans Marathon – Cape City, South Africa
The well-known highway race went 56k (35 miles) on a backloaded course. Whereas not loads by trail-race requirements, the race’s second half featured difficult climbs up Chapman’s Peak Drive and Constantia Nek, totaling 700 meters (2,300 toes) of elevation achieve. The race had an enormous $158,300 (2.6 million South African Rand) prize purse, with 380,000 South African Rand paid to the winners. That’s simply over $23,000 to the champs.
Girls
South African legend Gerda Steyn gained the ladies’s race for the seventh time. Her 3:27:43 end was virtually six minutes higher than everybody else. It was, although, simply again of her personal 3:26:54 course file from 2024.
Margaret Jepchumba (Kenya) and Nobuhle Nobukhosi Tshuma (Zimbabwe) have been second and third in 3:33:31 and three:38:34, respectively.
Gerda Steyn, 2026 Two Oceans Marathon champion. Photograph: Two Oceans Marathon
The ladies’s high 5 was:
- Gerda Steyn (South Africa) – 3:27:43
- Margaret Jepchumba (Kenya) – 3:33:31
- Nobuhle Nobukhosi Tshuma (Zimbabwe) – 3:38:34
- Shelmith Muriuki (Kenya) – 3:39:14
- Rholex Jelimo (Kenya) – 3:40:38
Males
Twice a Two Oceans half marathon winner, Arthur Jantjies (South Africa) gained in his debut on the marquee, longer distance. Jantjies used the tougher second half to climb up the leaderboard. He completed in 3:09:25.
Second- and third-place Onalenna Khonkobe (South Africa) and Blessing Waison (Zimbabwe) completed in 3:10:00 and three:11:13.
Arthur Jantjies, 2026 Two Oceans Marathon champion. Photograph: Two Oceans Marathon
The lads’s high 5 was:
- Arthur Jantjies (South Africa) – 3:09:25
- Onalenna Khonkhobe (South Africa) – 3:10:00
- Blessing Waison (Zimbabwe) – 3:11:13
- Dennis Kipkosgei (Kenya) – 3:11:29
- Tumelo Moja (South Africa) – 3:12:07
Lake Sonoma – Healdsburg, California
100k
The entire girls’s podium acquired into the general high 10. Fiona Pascall (U.Okay.) was first in 10:13, and Emily Hawgood (Zimbabwe) was second in 10:31. Each are subsequent in for June’s Western States 100. Final yr, Pascall was fifth, and Hawgood was tenth at Western States. Behind these two, Audry Lawrence was third in 11:51.
Males’s winner Ryan Sullivan completely crushed his competitors in 8:36. Nick Reschetnikov and Kevin Walker have been second and third in 10:20 and 10:43.
50k
Hannah Allgood turned the ladies’s race right into a runaway. She was approach out entrance in 4:19. Taylor Nowlin and Lily Berwanger have been second and third in 4:59 and 5:07, respectively.
Robbie Simpson (U.Okay.) acquired previous Cole Campbell within the males’s race. The 2 ran 3:39 and three:42, and Marcel Hoeche (Germany) was third in 3:50.
Path Sisters Half Marathon
An identical twin sisters Evelin Ramirez and Jackie Ramirez have been first and second in 1:54. Evelin bettered Jackie by two seconds for the win. Novella Gentle ran 1:55 for third, and he or she was solely 18 seconds behind second place.
Extra Races and Runs
Paris Marathon – Paris, France
The highway marathon had Victor Kiplangat (Uganda) in twelfth at 2:08:29 and Matthias Kyburz (Switzerland) in thirteenth at 2:08:37. Kiplangat is the 2017 World Mountain Operating Champion, and Kyburz has run Sierre-Zinal prior to now. Full outcomes.
Diez Vista 50k – Port Moody, British Columbia, Canada
Race winners Elizabeth Hirsch and Jeremy Pelletant ran 5:09 and 4:33. Full outcomes.
Jeremy Pelletant, the 2026 Diez Vista 50k males’s winner. Photograph: Liam Dueck
Elizabeth Hirsch, the 2026 Diez Vista 50k girls’s winner. Photograph: Liam Dueck
Zion Ultras – Virgin, Utah
Simply outdoors the race’s namesake nationwide park, Lydia Oldham and Kevin Slider gained the 100 miler in 22:29 and 18:49. Sarah Edwards and Rafal Jura led the 100k in 11:18 and 9:56, and Sarah Gage and Johen Deleon gained the 60k in 5:51 and 5:04. Full outcomes.
Brazos Bend 50 – Needville, Texas
The flat-and-fast race had Krystine Beneke and Cole Jones run 8:31 and 6:53 over 50 miles, and Ana Escobar and James Romano have been the quickest within the 50k at 4:38 and 4:23. Full outcomes.
Cole Jones, the 2026 Brazos Bend 50 mile males’s winner. Photograph courtesy of the race.
Krystine Beneke, the 2026 Brazos Bend 50 mile girls’s winner. Photograph courtesy of the race.
Neglect the PR Mohican 50k – Loudonville, Ohio
At Mohican State Park, Rebecca Achey gained for the ladies in 5:38, and Jordan Lafreniere set a brand new males’s course file in 4:00. Full outcomes.
Jordan Lafreniere, the 2026 Neglect the PR Mohican 50k males’s winner. Photograph courtesy of the race.
Rebecca Achey, the 2026 Neglect the PR Mohican 50k girls’s winner. Photograph courtesy of the race.
Go One Extra Extremely – Liberty Hill, Texas
The backyard-style race had 5 runners go over 200 miles, and as of this writing on Sunday night, Harvey Lewis, Kim Gottwald (Germany), Kendall Picado Fallas (Costa Rica), and Mark Dowdle are all nonetheless going. Full outcomes.
Zumbro – Theilman, Minnesota
The race was on the Zumbro River Bottoms Administration Unit within the Bluff Nation in Southeastern Minnesota. Anna Twinem and Korey Konietzki gained the 100 miler in 26:33 and 22:07, and Kalin Johnson and Christian Corridor have been tops within the 50 miler in 11:19 and seven:56. Full outcomes.
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What different great things was there over the weekend?