Mountain West Tops Grindstone Trail Running Festival by UTMB

This article originally appeared on Trail Runner

Around noon on September 23, Caleb Olson crested the hill leading to the mile 53-aid station at the Grindstone 100K to cheers of "Go Calebl!" and "Great job, Caleb!"

Olson kept his head down. He hoped the cheers weren't for him.

As Olson had rounded the corner a few seconds earlier, he spied someone entering the sea of volunteers, crew, and fans. Thirty seconds later Olson was in the aid station himself and his suspicions were confirmed. That someone was the race leader, Bowen. Caleb Bowen.

Bowen, on the other hand, did assume the cheers were for him and spent about two minutes in aid with his crew. Olson meanwhile flew in and out in under 10 seconds. Olson left the aid station in first, 90 seconds ahead of Bowen, before torching the final 13 relatively flat, fast miles for the win in eight hours, 54 minutes, and 43 seconds.

Bowan hung on for second, finishing just five minutes later and 13 minutes ahead of third place Justin Grunewald to ensure the Calebs could share in their success. By going one-two, both Calebs auto-qualified for the 2024 CCC and accomplished their ultimate goal for the day: earning Hoka Golden Ticket qualifiers into the 2024 Western States Endurance Run.

Beast Coast without the Bite?

Just west of Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, the 2023 Grindstone Trail Running Festival by UTMB served as the first eastern seaboard addition to the global and ever-expanding UTMB World Series. Finally, it was the East Coast's time to shine.

And so in keeping with East Coast hospitality, Virginia went on hurricane watch days before the event. Some athletes, including 100K entrant Lotti Brinks, were afraid they might not even make it to the start line.

"I was a little worried about the weather," Brinks said. "The day before the race I got all these notifications from Delta that my flight was going to be canceled because there's a storm rolling in."

But her flight from Boise, Idaho successfully touched down and Brinks made it to Virginia's Natural Chimneys Park with plenty of time for a 15-minute shake-out on Friday.

Rain, wind, and fog descended upon 100-mile racers after they departed on Friday evening. But Brinks's fears blew over with the weather, which faded to a comfortable drizzle for the 100K start at 6 AM on Saturday morning.

"The weather really wasn't so bad," Brinks says. "It was kind of fun."

Brinks, who runs for Salomon, went on to win the 100K on the women's side in 10 hours, 37 minutes, and 25 seconds, earning both a Golden Ticket into the 2024 Western States and an entry into the 2024 CCC. She was joined on the podium by Devon Yanko, who recovered from a DNF at the Leadville 100 in August to earn the second Golden Ticket with second place, and Anna Fisher, who earned the final CCC auto-entry with third.

Like the weather, fears over the technicality of the course also proved to be overblown. "I was so stressed going into it," Fisher says. "I've heard that east coast trails are super technical."

Fisher, like many runners, was pleasantly surprised. Small sections of the course showed glimmers of beast coast technicality, but much of the 100K took runners over country dirt roads and pavement.

"It was never too technical," Fisher says. "I was like 'Wow this is not as technical as everyone says it was."

The 100K took the 300 starters over 61.9 miles and over 10,000 feet of climbing along the trails and country roads of western Virginia and through remnants of rock hallowed by an ancient sea. The 100-mile course boasted double the amount of climbing and a higher proportion of singletrack.

Grunewald says it was the first 100K during which he ran every step. While the course seems to have served as a worthy test piece for the more buffed out trails of Western States, it took Olson by surprise, who tailored his summer training in Utah around the promise of beast coast brutality.

"I was expecting it to just be rocks and roots the whole time," Olson says. "And don't get me wrong, there were sections that were rocky and rooty. But there was probably 25 miles of either paved or dirt forest road and then all this single-track trail that was not too technical and just gradual ups and downs that were all really runnable."

While Olson claims he was not prepared for the fast runnable sections of the race, that didn't stop him from methodically working his way through the field for the win.

Mountain West Tour de Force

Men's 100K second place Bowan out of West Virginia held it down for the east coast--but he was the only 100K podium finisher from either gender not from the Mountain West.

Mountain West athletes also won both the women's and men's 100-mile races. Salt Lake's Olson and Fisher were joined on Grindstone podiums by their neighbor and friend Mike McMonagle, who won the 100-miler in a stunning redemption from his DNF at this race in 2021.

"I think the weather probably really helped people who aren't from the east coast," McMonagle says. "If it was a hot, humid day, I think those podiums could have looked very different."

When McMonagle toed the line here two years ago, temperatures started at 70 degrees and 100 percent humidity and only rose from there. It sounds a lot less suffocating and soul-sucking than it is. Trust him.

"It's really hard to explain that type of weather until you experience it," McMonagle says. He abandoned the race due to dehydration.

This year McMonagle returned armed with the learnings from his failures (electrolytes!), as well as a newfound appreciation for the grueling nature of ultras thanks to the overwhelming success of his wife Leah Yingling, who earned top 10 finishes at both Western States and UTMB this year.

"I’ve just seen Leah be so, so good at running ultras," McMonagle says. "She obviously helped me a ton in making a fueling and nutrition plan and things like that. I just stuck to it and I think every time I saw her at an aid station, I told her, 'I’m doing everything you taught me to do and I feel perfect so far.' And like, just kept going. I’m pretty lucky to share a roof with somebody who’s so smart and good at this stuff. It finally seems like it paid off."

RELATED: LEAH YINGLING IS BACK FOR MORE AT WESTERN STATES

In characteristic Yingling fashion, McMonagle started off conservatively, stuck to his nutrition plan, ate extra gels when he got hungry, kept his head down, and worked his way through the field.

Mountain West dominance extended beyond Salt Lake City. Yanko and Grunewald hail from Colorado and Brinks lives in Boise. Women's 100-mile race winner Alissa St. Laurent, from Edmonton, Canada, agreed that the inclement weather was a saving grace.

"I think I did really well in the cold and handled the elements because I was way more mentally prepared for that than I would have been for humidity," St Laurent says. "I have no real experience with humidity and I wasn't heat trained at all."

An East Coast Classic (Elevated) By UTMB

Established in 2008, Grindstone has served as an iconic East Coast 100-miler for well over a decade. This year UTMB welcomed the event into its ever-expanding UTMB World Series portfolio, and in keeping with UTMB custom added a 21K and a 100K to the race line-up. They also altered the 100-mile course from an out-and-back to a series of loops and lollipops to support an expanded race field--300 runners started the 100-miler this year, with 184 finishing--meaning that even Grindstone veterans like McMonagle weren't sure what to expect.

McMonagle welcomed the unknown--along with the smorgasbord of non-monetary prizes dangling infront of both 100K and 100-mile entrants.

In addition to the Golden Tickets and CCC auto-entries given out in the 100K, the 100 miler doubled up as an opportunity to qualify for the lottery for both the Ultra Trail de Mont Blanc and the Hardrock 100, as well as for the top three finishers in each gender to earn auto-entries into UTMB. These carrots attracted runners to both the 100K and 100-mile distance. The glint of gold expanded the depth of the 100K, but runners like Fisher were simply enchanted by the chance to earn an entry into CCC.

Motivations for the 100 milers were also split. While McMonagle was inspired to join Yingling at UTMB next year, St Laurent wanted the Hardrock qualifier. But now, she says, the entry into UTMB will be hard to turn down.

RELATED: DIDN'T GET INTO WESTERN STATES OR HARDROCK? HERE ARE 10 ALTERNATIVES

Despite Grindstone's new race distances, new race courses, and a new website, runners emphasized that the heart and soul of this east coast classic remains intact.

"I enjoyed the race a lot," Fisher says. "It was well marked, and the aid stations were awesome. The volunteers were great and I had a really great time with the women I got to run with."

The success of Brinks and St Laurent underscore the collective community spirit of the event. Both traveled to Virginia alone and started the races without crews. While runners may have felt alone at times out on the trails--Grunewald said he actually slowed down when passing people for the chance to chat and feel less lonely--even Brinks and St Laurent never felt alone in aid stations.

"It was so nice how everyone just immediately came to help me," Brinks says. "My competitors' crews were coming out to fill my bottles, and it was really lovely to get all this support out there. I was prepared to just go to my drop bag and do everything myself, so it was really nice that people were so willing to help out and were interested to see me succeed. There was a lot of heart in that race."

St. Laurent didn't book her flight to Virginia until Tuesday-three days before the gun went off. She, too, figured she would manage her own logistics and resupplies. And she, too, was overwhelmed by the community's kindness.

"I was ready to be low key and maybe not get my best performance," St. Laurent says. "The volunteers knew my name before I got to the aid stations, and when I got there they were so kind and it made me feel really good. It was such a great experience. It's the people out there that make these races special."

For full Grindstone race results, click here.

The UTMB World Series continues on September 30, where over 5,000 runners are expected to compete in Nice Cote d’Azur by UTMB. Headlining the 100K will be American and defending UTMB champion Jim Walmsley, who is gunning for a Hoka Golden Ticket into next year’s Western States.

RELATED: JIM WALMSLEY IS RACING ROUBION-NICE 115K

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