UTMB® World Series debuts in the USA as Peterman and Lowther take the laurels at the Canyons Endurance Runs™ by UTMB®
The American runner Adam Peterman, alongside the Canadian athlete Jazmine Lowther, were among the big winners at the Canyons Endurance Runs by UTMB® at the weekend in Auburn, California, where over 850 runners took part on three courses.
Conditions were perfect as the first ever UTMB® World Series event in the USA got underway on a classic trail route through the northern foothills of the Sierra Nevada range. More than 700 runners took on the demanding 100km course, among them a strong contingent of elite competitors as determined by the UTMB® Index.
Peterman, 26, from Missoula, Montana had come to the event as the rising star in the US ultra and trail scene and he more than lived up to his billing with a crushing display, setting a new record time for the 100km course of eight hours and 32 minutes. This was almost 40 minutes quicker than Anthony Costales’s record set in 2021.
_“I’m really happy with the race,_” said Peterman at the finish of a stunning scenic route through Volcano and El Dorado canyons, with up to 16,000ft of ascent. “_I don’t feel so great right now, but I’m really happy with the race – it went as good as it could have gone and I think I learned a bit too because it wasn’t easy._”
Peterman reached the finish just over 11 minutes ahead of second-placed David Sinclair, a 30-year-old athlete from Truckee, California who had worked hard in training on the course, making several trips to check it out ahead of the start. Sinclair led for much of the race with Peterman battling to stay with him.
“_I was second for quite a while when David Sinclair was leading,” said the HOKA-sponsored Peterman who was tackling a 100km course for the first time. “_I really wanted to win and it kind of felt like for a while I was out of the picture – it was really hard. I didn’t have a rough patch, I just thought it was hard.”
Peterman’s record-breaking performance was matched in the women’s division by the Canadian star Jazmine Lowther who ran out a convincing winner, nearly 23 minutes ahead of second-placed Leah Yingling from Pennsylvania. What’s more, she beat the course record for the 100km by two seconds.
“_For a while I thought I was in 12th place until the race director told me I was leading the race,_” said a delighted Lowther who hails from Nelson, British Columbia. “_I came in aiming for the top-10 and somehow I made it work,_” she added.
In the 50km race, the male winner was Dakota Jones, a noted runner from Bozeman, Montana who broke the finish line after five hours, four minutes and four seconds. “_It was great,_” he said as he recovered. “_Today it was like the most perfect conditions you could hope for – cool weather, warm in the sun and no wind. It was beautiful and the trails were super-smooth and well-maintained and the aid stations were great. I had an awesome time. This event was really professionally done and it feels really good to be out here._”
Canadian runner Katherine Short from Halfmoon Bay in British Columbia was the female winner in the 50km. All podium finishers in the 100km and 50km races gain automatic entry to UTMB® Mont-Blanc 2022.
In the 25km event, the male winner was Garrett Heath from Seattle, Washington while Emkay Sullivan took the honors in the women’s division, finishing in one hour, 56 minutes and 47 seconds.
Canyons Endurance Runs by UTMB® brought runners back to where it all started in the US as competitors took to trails with echoes of the gold rush, featuring Sierra views, oak and pine canopies, deep canyon gullies and river crossings on old wooden bridges.
While the UTMB® World Series attracts the world’s best Elite runners, thousands of passionate and talented runners also take on the challenges posed by the best races in the world. Amongst them this weekend were Canadian runners Nicholas Brash and Tara Zauner, who got engaged after running the Grand Canyon together last year. Brash took on the 100km course to collect Running Stones for use in the UTMB® Mont-Blanc entry lottery and described a memorable experience on iconic trails with hundreds of like-minded people. Asked about his favorite part of the course, he spoke about an unforgettable setting.
“I didn’t stop once to take a photo all day because I didn’t have time and I felt that I would seize up if I stopped,” he explained. “But there was this one vista that overlooked the canyon and the mountains in the distance with snow-caps – it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen on a trial.”
Zauner, who upgraded from the 25km to 50km race at check in, said, “It was awesome. One of the best moments was the beginning when you descended into the canyon with the mist over the water. It was perfect. I’m throwing my Running Stones in for OCC® and I’ll see what happens!”
In addition to being a qualifier for the UTMB® World Series Finals, Canyons Endurance Runs by UTMB® was also a Western States 100 Golden Ticket Race. The 2023 edition of the race is confirmed to take place on April 28th-29th, and will include a new 100-mile race. Registrations are already open here, with early bird prices available until May 1st.
