It used to be a a success day for a number of Canadian ultrarunners on the 61st operating of the JFK 50-mile race (The united states’s oldest extremely) in Washington County, Md. Former Canadian 50K document holder Calum Neff, and Robyn Mildren of Dundas, Ont., completed as runners-up within the males’s and girls’s races, and Quebec’s Valérie Arsenault used to be 3rd within the ladies’s race.
Canadians end second in each Males’s & Girls’s department at @jfk50mile . Plus Valérie Arsenault third. @CalNeff and Robyn Mildren each ran the quickest instances ever by means of Canadians at the route by means of about 20 mins every.
Cal used to be 10 mins again of winner and Robyn simplest 4 mins again! https://t.co/LAkBuJXro5
— Reid Coolsaet (@ReidCoolsaet) November 18, 2023
Neff’s time used to be 5:38–10 mins at the back of Seth Ruhling, who ran 5:28:38 (Ruhling additionally received in 2019). Neff used to be simply forward of 3rd position, Ryan Sullivan, who completed in 5:40. Ruhling’s time used to be the 5th quickest within the race’s historical past.
Neff described the race on social media as probably the most toughest races he’s ever performed. “It used to be lonely and chilly in the market, certainly didn’t love the gap, however it used to be an exquisite fall day and my time ended up being the sixteenth quickest ever at The united states’s oldest extremely and the quickest by means of a Canadian at the route by means of 20 mins!”
It’s been a a success fall season for Houston-based Neff, who broke the 50K route document on the Marine Corps Marathon in Arlington, Va., simply weeks in the past—a race he stated used to be a coaching run for the JFK 50.
Two times is good
Mildren additionally ran to a second-place end, improving the quickest time ever recorded by means of a Canadian at the route. Mildren crossed the road in six hours and 27 mins, simplest 4 mins at the back of race winner Jennifer Lichter, who ran the 5th quickest time in race historical past, in 6:23. Arsenault rounded out the rostrum in 6:35.
“Can hardly ever even imagine I did this,” Mildren shared. “2d position in my 50-mile debut at The united states’s oldest and one of the vital iconic ultras, that pulls one of the crucial largest athletes on the earth.”
Lichter had a large lead on Mildren at one level within the race. “I used to be in a position to position up a struggle and claw it again to ~3mins finally regardless of struggling so arduous,” Mildren stated. “Wasn’t slightly sufficient however I’m so happy with my thoughts and frame, I gave it the entirety I may just. 50 miles is not any shaggy dog story.”
The JFK 50 used to be first held within the spring of 1963 after President John F. Kennedy driven for a national spice up in bodily health. Kennedy used to be assassinated in November of the similar 12 months, and in keeping with the tournament web site, many equivalent races the past due president had impressed folded right away. The JFK 50, regardless that, stored operating, and it is still an annual custom, 60 years later.
This 12 months, over 1,000 runners took to a route that follows the Appalachian Path, the C&O Canal Towpath, and paved roads.
For complete result of the JFK 50, head right here.
