The first weekend of September brings 42 ultramarathons to the North American calendar, and the most distinctive of them starts today in Manchester, Tennessee. A Race for the Ages, created in 2015 by Barkley Marathons founder Gary Cantrell, better known as Laz, inverts the usual logic of an age-group prize. Runners aged 41 and over receive one hour of racing for every year of their age, while anyone 40 or younger competes only over the final 40 hours, so an 80-year-old has twice the time on course as a 40-year-old and a realistic shot at the overall win.
The race is held on a certified one-mile loop through Fred Deadman Park, with the oldest entrants setting off first on Thursday 3 September and the field gradually filling in over the weekend until everyone finishes together on Monday 7 September. Bob Becker's 2019 victory with 230 miles remains the reference performance and a reminder that the format rewards steady lap accumulation over several days rather than a fast start. Updates are published through the event's Facebook group rather than a live-tracking platform.
In the Pacific Northwest, the Dark Divide Trail Races return for a sixth edition at the Cispus Learning Center near Randle, Washington, now offering 100-mile, 100km and 50km distances through the Dark Divide Roadless Area of Gifford Pinchot National Forest. The 100-miler leaves at 5am on Friday with 26,565 feet of climbing, more than three-quarters of it on single-track, a 48-hour cut-off and newly acquired status as a Hardrock 100 qualifier. A portion of the entry fees goes to local search and rescue and community programmes.
Minnesota hosts the inaugural SISU Backyard Ultra at Lake Rebecca Park Reserve on Saturday, following the standard last-one-standing format of a 4.167-mile loop every hour until a single runner remains. The course is gentle, with just 164 feet of gain per lap over gravel roads, bike paths and grass, and finishers who complete 24 yards earn a 100-mile buckle. In keeping with the Finnish concept the race is named after, a sauna and lake swim await runners once they are done.
The weekend's other featured events include the 14th TARC Fall Classic in Carlisle, Massachusetts, a low-cost 50-mile and 50km on runnable New England trails with profits donated to land conservancies, and the 11th La Chute du Diable in Quebec's Mauricie region, a point-to-point 75km with around 2,600 metres of climbing. A week after Chamonix, the depth of the domestic calendar is a useful reminder that most ultrarunning happens a long way from the UTMB finish arch.