February 16, 2026 – iRunFar

It could’t all be enjoyable and video games, however this weekend was! There have been two Western States 100 Golden Ticket races and a bunch extra to speak about.

You too can try our race protection from the weekend:

Black Canyon 100k – Mayer, Arizona

The 62-mile point-to-point race was a brilliant Golden Ticket race with three ladies’s and three males’s automated entries to this 12 months’s Western States 100 up for grabs. It was the 12 months’s second World Path Majors race, too, and there was simply over $16,000 in prize cash.

Ladies

Whereas a small group of ladies ran collectively for the primary half of the race, it was a second-half duel between Jennifer Lichter and Anne Flower. Lichter stayed simply forward of her chaser for all the race’s tougher, hillier second half and completed in 7:57. Flower was solely 70 seconds behind at 7:58, and third-place Tara Dower got here via in 8:11.

All three of the ladies bettered Riley Brady’s 8:16 course report from final 12 months.

Lichter, Flower, and fourth-place Molly Seidel earned Western States 100 Golden Tickets. Dower was already in for this 12 months’s race.

The ladies’s prime 10 was:

1. Jennifer Lichter – 7:57:05
2. Anne Flower – 7:58:15
3. Tara Dower – 8:11:46
4. Molly Seidel – 8:25:13
5. Abby Corridor – 8:27:50
6. Shea Aquilano – 8:34:03
7. Ellaney Matarese – 8:56:27
8. Sydney Welch – 9:02:20
9. Riley Brady – 9:14:08
10. Carla Molinaro (U.Ok.) – 9:21:18

Riley Brady identifies as non-binary however competes within the ladies’s division.

Males

Hans Troyer was again on the Black Canyon 100k begin line for the primary time since a Tenth-place run on the 2024 race that ended with rhabdomyolysis. One after the other, the lead group fell off the quick tempo till solely Troyer remained. He ran the final 16 miles alone and gained in 7:20. It too was a brand new course report. Troyer chipped nearly 5 minutes off Seth Ruhling’s 7:24 mark from final 12 months.

An enormous second-half cost vaulted Anthony Costales clear to second in 7:24, additionally simply sooner than the previous course report, and it was sooner than the 7:32 that Costales ran right here when profitable in 2023.

Tracen Knopp adopted Costales onto the rostrum with a quick second half for a third-place end in 7:26.

Troyer and fourth-place Canyon Woodward are already entered on this 12 months’s Western States 100, and so the three Golden Tickets went to Costales, Knopp, and fifth-place Jordan Bramblett.

The lads’s prime 10 was:

1. Hans Troyer – 7:20:00
2. Anthony Costales – 7:24:32
3. Tracen Knopp – 7:26:45
4. Canyon Woodward – 7:37:27
5. Jordan Bramblett – 7:42:32
6. Ferdinand Airault – 7:47:25
7. Sage Canaday – 7:52:42
8. Coleman Cragun – 7:54:16
9. Zach Perrin – 8:09:47
10. Andrew Quaal – 8:11:51

Full outcomes.

Black Canyon 50k – Mayer, Arizona

The following day’s 50k occasion ran the primary half of the 100k course, and it was a World Path Majors Brief Collection race. Prize cash totaled nearly $7,000.

Ladies

Between the ladies’s and males’s 100k and 50k races, this one had the largest profitable margin. Jane Maus was over 5 minutes higher than everybody else. She completed in 3:47, and it was a near-miss of Allison Baca’s 3:45 course report from 2025.

Liz O’Connor and Lindsay Allison had been subsequent on the rostrum in 3:52 and three:55.

The highest 10 ladies had been:

1. Jane Maus – 3:47:04
2. Liz O’Connor – 3:52:30
3. Lindsay Allison – 3:55:44
4. Bit Klecker – 4:06:44
5. Erin Moyer – 4:10:42
6. Takako Takamura (Japan) – 4:13:39
7. Sydney Park – 4:17:09
8. Melodie Gilbert – 4:17:27
9. Chrissy Lofgren – 4:20:11
10. Elena Ormon – 4:25:30

Des Linden, the 50k world report holder, was thirteenth in 4:30:21.

Males

It was a give-and-take weekend for Seth Ruhling. He misplaced his 100k course report and gained the 50k course report. Ruhling pulled away from the chase group within the race’s second half to win in 3:16.

Adam Peterman and Cade Michael had been second and third, each in 3:18 and separated by simply 25 seconds. The highest three males all bettered Jeshurun Small’s former 3:22 course report from a 12 months in the past.

The highest 10 males had been:

1. Seth Ruhling – 3:16:29
2. Adam Peterman – 3:18:18
3. Cade Michael – 3:18:43
4. Johen Deleon – 3:23:47
5. Ryan Sullivan – 3:24:34
6. Jupiter Carera Casas (Mexico) – 3:25:11
7. Cole Campbell – 3:28:01
8. Jeshurun Small – 3:29:54
9. Dylan Pust – 3:34:02
10. Eric Hamel – 3:34:31

Full outcomes.

Tarawera Ultras by UTMB – Rotorua, New Zealand

The UTMB World Collection race on New Zealand’s North Island had three extremely distances. The T102 — a 102k race — was a Golden Ticket contest with two ladies’s and two males’s automated entries to this 12 months’s Western States 100 on the road.

TMiler

The lengthy course went for 101 miles (163 kilometers) with over 12,400 toes (3,800 meters) of climbing.

Devon Yanko (U.S.) led for primarily all the ladies’s race and completed first in 19:58. Hannah McRae (Australia) and Sarah Parkins (Australia) had been second and third in 20:25 and 21:34, respectively.

Males’s winner Simon Cochrane (New Zealand) scored victory for the host nation in 16:26, and Japan’s Yutaro Yokouchi and Takumi Sawayanagi podiumed with 17:28 and 17:59 finishes.

T102

The Western States 100 Golden Tickets made the 63-mile race (102k) the weekend’s premier distance.

Each Ruth Croft (New Zealand) and Daniel Jones (New Zealand) gained for the fourth time. It was Croft’s third win in a row and Jones’ fourth consecutive win. Moist and muddy course situations stored each from breaking their very own course information, however Croft gained in 8:41 and Jones in 7:31.

Caitlin Fielder (New Zealand) was a repeat second-place finisher in 8:45, and third- and fourth-place Honoka Akiyama (Japan) and Holly Ranson (Australia) scored the 2 ladies’s Golden Tickets.

Since champ Jones already has a Western States 100 entry, the boys’s Golden Tickets went to second- and third-place Jacob Banta (U.S.) and Max Yanzick (New Zealand). They completed in 7:57 and eight:01, respectively.

The ladies’s prime 10 was:

1. Ruth Croft (New Zealand) – 8:41:11
2. Caitlin Fielder (New Zealand) – 8:45:35
3. Honoka Akiyama (Japan) – 9:00:24
4. Holly Ranson (Australia) – 9:17:50
5. Katie Asmuth (U.S.) – 9:37:47
6. Zoe Manning (Australia) – 9:43:24
7. Annie Myrvang (U.S.) – 10:08:25
8. Juliette Soule (New Zealand) – 10:19:11
9. Stephanie Auston (Australia) – 10:19:45
10. Lucy Bartholomew (Australia) – 10:40:11

The lads’s prime 10 was:

1. Daniel Jones (New Zealand) – 7:31:27
2. Jacob Banta (U.S.) – 7:57:39
3. Max Yanzick (New Zealand) – 8:01:56
4. Nick Handel (U.S.) – 8:07:43
5. Janosch Kowalczyk (Germany) – 8:08:02
6. Jia-Sheng Shen (China) – 8:28:35
7. Michael Voss (New Zealand) – 8:30:12
8. Gary Carleton (New Zealand) – 8:31:12
9. Cole Watson (U.S.) – 8:34:35
10. Leonard Terry (U.Ok.) – 8:48:37

T50

The 32-mile (52k) race noticed Robyn Lesh (U.S.) and Samuel Macaulay (New Zealand) as its winners in 4:05 and three:36.

Full outcomes.

Barkley Marathons – Wartburg, Tennessee

The secretive race, 5 laps and roughly 100 miles, inside Frozen Head State Park, began on Saturday, February 14. It was a month sooner than its standard calendar and noticed chilly temperatures, rain, and fog. Of the 40 starters, this 12 months’s occasion noticed no finishers, however Sébastien Raichon (France) completed a three-lap Enjoyable Run in 38:05:46. Raichon, who gained this 12 months’s 268-mile Winter Backbone Race within the U.Ok. solely a month in the past, missed the cutoff to exit for a fourth loop by simply over two hours. A complete of 4 racers made it out onto the third lap. Becoming a member of Raichon had been Mathieu Blanchard (France), Max King, and Damian Corridor (U.Ok.), however all of them failed to finish the third loop.

Blanchard earned his entry to the race after profitable final 12 months’s Barkley Fall Traditional 50k. King was again after an early knee damage ended his 2025 Barkley try mid-race. Corridor had made it to lap 5 throughout the 2024 race.

Whereas it’s recognized that one of many 10 ladies starters made it out onto the second lap, the identities of racers aren’t made public till they begin a 3rd lap. We imagine, nonetheless, it was Séverine Vandermeulen of Belgium.

Extra Races and Runs

Seville Marathon – Seville, Spain

Spanish highway races are quick, and there are a number of path runners and ultrarunners within the prime outcomes. Tereza Hrochová (Czech Republic) was ninth within the ladies’s race in 2:25:58 and 2025 Comrades Marathon Tenth-placer Melissah Gibson (U.Ok.) was 18th in 2:36:38. For the boys, 2025 Comrades Marathon sixth-placer Alex Milne (U.Ok.) ran 2:11:44 for thirtieth, and Alex García (Spain) was thirty fourth in 2:12:10. 2024 Comrades Marathon winner Piet Wiersma (The Netherlands) was 54th in 2:18:02. Full outcomes.

Barcelona Half Marathon – Barcelona, Spain

Some path names popped up right here, too. Oria Liaci (Switzerland) was the thirteenth lady in 1:10:31, and Xavier Chevrier (Italy) ran 1:01:47 to complete twenty third within the males’s race. Full outcomes.

Hagg Lake Mud Runs – Forest Grove, Oregon

Race winners Debby Tanimoto and David Barram completed in 5:15 and 4:12. Barram gained by simply 16 seconds over Joe Carroll. Full outcomes.

Skunk Ape’s Revenge – Dade Metropolis, Florida

Aden St Charles gained the ladies’s 60k occasion in 5:55, her second consecutive win on the occasion, and Markus Fuerst gained it for the boys in 5:08. Within the 30k race, Melissa Reyes gained the ladies’s race with a time of two:41, and Andrew Wylie gained the boys’s in 2:40. Full outcomes when out there.

The Ranch 50k – Escondido, California

New course information had been set by Maija Hitchings and Brian Marshburn in 4:47 and 4:15. Full outcomes.

Mesa Half Marathon – Mesa, Arizona

Golden Path World Collection star Lauren Gregory gained the downhill half marathon in 1:10:39. She gained final 12 months’s race in 1:09:12. Allison Baca raced too, ending ninth in 1:15:47. The 50-mile world record-holder Charlie Lawrence was seventh in 1:04:44. Full outcomes.

Run Forest Run 50k – Montesano, Washington

Operating via Lake Sylvia State Park, Forest Astill gained it for the ladies in 6:50:23, Zach Hogue was first again for the boys in 4:52:50. Full outcomes when out there.

Rocky 50 – Huntsville, Texas

It was the second weekend in a row on the Huntsville State Park. Laura Mantilla and Terry Palmer gained the 50 miler in 8:41 and seven:05. Stephanie Knowlton and Beth Scallan tied within the 50k in 5:09, and Cameron Theriot gained for the boys in 4:04. Full outcomes.

Austin Marathon – Austin, Texas

Max Joliffe, a 200-mile ace, was eighth within the marathon in 2:35:02. Full outcomes.

Vacation Lake 50k – Appomattox, Virginia

It was Amanda Presgraves and Nathan Moore on prime in 4:34 and three:53. Moore gained by solely 45 seconds over Linford Fritz. Full outcomes.

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It was an enormous weekend! What else are you able to share?