It was a ground-breaking day at the Black Canyon Ultras 100k in Arizona as Seth Ruhling and Riley Brady shattered the course records to claim incredible wins.
Ruhling paced, timed and strategised his race to perfection as did Riley, though they won in very different styles.
Here’s how it all played out…
Men’s race – Ruhling overhauls Hemming
It was Eli Hemming, in his first 100k race after a brilliant 2024 where his UTMB OCC victory was the highlight, who set the pace early on.
At the second of nine checkpoints he led in 1:19:31, with nine others with him and the pace was fierce. At the next check at Bumblebee Ranch no fewer than 22 men were faster than Hayden Hawks’ course record split from last year.
The pattern continued at the halfway point at Deep Canyon Ranch and now three had gapped the rest – Hemming in 3:31:32, Will Murray and +7s, and Ruhling +8s.
The next checkpoint was fascinating. Hemming appeared to do no refilling and no ice but Ruhling, who was now a clear second, took time to gulp down fluids, pour in ice and much more.
Who knows what difference that made but what happened afterwards was that between Cottonwood Gulch and Table Mesa, Ruhling moved to the front of the race.
And he never looked threatened after that, though Murray stuck relatively close. Going clear from then on Ruhling knocked nearly six minutes off Hawks’ mark as he stopped the clock in 7:24:55.
Murray was second, just less than two minutes back, and McConaughy third.
Just to give some perspective, Hemming came home fourth in 7:32:41, which until this year would have been the second fastest ever time.
And 11 men ran under eight hours, something that in the history of Black Canyon only 17 men had previously achieved.
Women’s race – Brady leagues apart
In contrast to the chop and change of the men’s event, Riley Brady, racing in the female division as a nonbinary athlete, pretty much bossed it from start to finish.
Mary Denholm was first to the initial checkpoint at Antelope Mesa and then still had a couple of minutes on the rest at the next one at Hidden Treasure.
But from then on it was the Riley Brady show – and all in Vaporflys too!
Brady passed Denholm coming right out of the aid station at Gloriana and never looked back from that point.
They just went further and further clear and the time of 8:16:18 was a massive 28+ minutes under Keely Henninger’s previous record mark, and must already be a contender for performance of the season.
Tara Dower (8:25:08) and Emkay Sullivan (8:48:50) rounded out the podium while Lin Chen in fourth earned the final Golden Ticket spot for Western States as Riley had already qualified.
Before 2025 only seven women had run sub nine hours on the full course, no fewer than seven managed it this year.
Black Canyon Ultras by Hoka, Saturday 8 February, 100km.
MEN:
- Seth Ruhling – 7:24:55
- Will Murray – 7:26:53
- Joe McConaughy – 7:31:37
WOMEN:
- Riley Brady – 8:16:18
- Tara Dower – 8:25:08
- EmKay Sullivan – 8:48:50
