by Amy Renkert Stabins

I’ve been hearing about the Ultra-Trail Australia (UTA) race series for several years. The UTA is associated with UTMB (Ultra-Trail Mont Blanc), one of the most prestigious trail running races in the world. The UTA is held in Australia's Blue Mountains National Park, in the town of Katoomba where my sister and her family live. Her kids and various other family members and friends have run in these races in the past. We were planning a visit for this spring, and my sister encouraged my husband (Henning) and I to join her for the UTA22, a half marathon running along the fire trails and single track through the park. It sounded like a great event to arrange a visit around.

Training for this canyon trail race was challenging in the Maine winter. The UTA22 has an elevation gain of 1,177 meters (3,861 feet). Ironically, we ran the On the Run Half Marathon in Old Orchard Beach—The World’s Flattest Half Marathon—as part of our training (my time 2:19, Henning’s time 2:12). We traveled to Australia a few weeks before the race to do some backpacking and worried that the time away from running would tank our readiness, but six days hiking with heavy packs through the mountains of Tasmania turned out to be just what we needed.

Pre-Race
Pineland Farms is a stunning venue located in the scenic hills of New Gloucester, Maine, where rolling fields meet dense woods and well-maintained trails. The farm produces many fine products including cheeses which you can find at Hannaford. The Trail Festival at Pineland Farms is held every Memorial Day weekend and features a variety of events. Saturday offered 25K, 50K, and 100K races, which were one, two, or four loops of the (slightly short) 14-mile course, and Sunday offered shorter races and dog-human canicross competitions. Spanning both days was the 30-hour ultra where runners completed as many miles as possible along a 10K loop (the solo winner, Jason Bigonia, hit 22 laps and 150 miles!).

Arriving on race day, the scene was heartening. The farm crew and the volunteers worked all weekend in the rain and chilly conditions to make sure things were ready for the runners. The start/finish area, where race organizers set up tents, is located right next to the parking lot. Check-in was quick and I headed to my car to change and stay warm before the start. 


The Course
The course is fairly runnable (1,700 feet of climbing over 14 miles per loop) with wide sweeping trails and some flat sections in the grasslands. The climbs can be steep, but short, and the trails aren’t technical. The main factor, especially as the day progressed, was dealing with mud and soggy conditions. I went with my trusty Saucony Peregrines (you could go with something like Hokas, but I appreciated the extra traction) as well as a running vest. I got this Aonijie vest for $40 and thought it did very well. If I trail ran more, I would spring for something premium, but this was a nice snug fit for people looking to carry hydration on longer runs. 

The loop featured four aid stops that were decently well spread over the loop. They were stocked with giant water jugs and my course favorite, Untapped maple syrup energy gels. You could definitely get away with just a handheld bottle and gels in your pockets. The first loop I did with the vest, light jacket, and gloves and then as I warmed up, I ditched all those and just ran with one of the vest’s soft bottles. 

Race Highlights
At the start, Andrew Combs, the eventual winner (who also set the course record in 3:24:29) took off like a bullet. I was relieved as if there were any bears on the course, I would likely not be eaten. My plan was to take the first loop steady and get a feeling for the work that would need to be done on loop 2. I wanted to stay hydrated and charged as the majority of work would be done in the last 8 miles. 

Loop 1 went smoothly and I credit the Striders’ Saturday runs for making me feel dialed-in to the 14-mile distance. The scenery was fantastic; sweeping meadows encapsulating forests, never too exposed to the elements. I understand trail runners saying they like to "play" in the mountains. You have a different connection to the course versus road running. The pacing with this type of distance and incline is also very different. Your muscles get strained and pushed, but your heart rate isn’t spiking to threshold. What you gain by going slower is depleted by the elevation changes and this course pushed me into some of the strongest mental autopilot I’ve experienced. 

After getting through the first loop, I took a quick break at my drop bag to refuel and shed some gear. I felt like an F1 car getting new tires and set out on loop 2 feeling strong. Then, the rain started. My core was warm enough but my hands started to numb to where I struggled to get the gels out of my pockets. The course was also getting muddier and more worn which required more attention and discipline on the footfall. The conditions forced me to stay in the moment and focus on pushing forward.

I grabbed three Untapped gels at the next station and refilled my bottle. Having lost the dexterity to go into my pockets, I held them like my sword and shield, leading me into battle for the next 10 miles. For someone who's loyal to salted watermelon Gu, the Untapped is really good. It’s more liquid than Gu and the familiar maple syrup taste makes it easy to go down. My one critique is the packaging is a longer tube so you have to reach a bit to push from the bottom to get all the fuel.

The last 8 miles, I was around more of the tail pack of the 25K racers and some 100K runners. We shared encouragement as the rain eased and I crested into the rarely traveled above 20 miles of a run. I’ve seen both sides of this zone: the energized surging version and the desperate struggle bus. I was grateful to be in the former and spaced out my remaining fuel to keep myself from bonking. I kept the pace steady, using the building adrenaline to combat the growing fatigue to get through the finish in third place in 3:53:38. Not considering myself much of a trail runner, I was elated to finish my longest run to date in both time and distance.

by Sapan Bhatt

Since childhood, the Boston Marathon has been on my radar. Growing up in Massachusetts, I loved turning on the TV to catch parts of the race as I enjoyed the day off. In high school, I volunteered as part of the spotters network. Groups of four or five of us would stand at an assigned mile marker and let the TV crews know when the lead men and women would pass as well as the Hoyts. Dick and Rick Hoyt were the father/son duo who completed the marathon each year with Dick pushing his son Rick, who had cerebral palsy, in a wheelchair. Their Team Hoyt foundation is a strong presence in the marathon today.
 
This year, I was fortunate enough to qualify for Boston, making it my first major marathon and the largest race I’ve ever done. The infrastructure, amazing crowds, and endless volunteers speak to the prestige and magnitude of the Boston Marathon.
 
The festivities started on Saturday before the Monday race, with a trip to the marathon expo and visits to the running pop-up stores along Newbury Street. There was tons of energy from the jump with a large crowd buying everything in sight at the Adidas store in the expo to a live DJ playing in the Nike store. 
 
On Sunday, the night before the race, we were able to spend some time around Hopkinton, seeing the Start Line and the massive signs of support from all the businesses in the town center.
 
The corral setup is very efficient. Bus drop off to corral line up was about a block (I would skip athletes village which is about half a mile away; there’s plenty of water and bathrooms at the start).

From the gun, I wasn’t too boxed in, no more than at Beach to Beacon. Each mile has water/gatorade with each side of the road having a station a couple hundred meters apart. Each station must have had 15 volunteers, so getting fluids is no problem.
 
There’s a crowd presence almost the entire way. The good weather yielded a large turnout this year that swelled in each town center along the course. One of the cooler things I witnessed was a runner in front of me pumping his arms for cheers and the crowd roaring in front of him. The Wellesley Scream Tunnel was another highlight, pretty much a wall of sound pushing you forward as college students five to six deep pressed against the barricades.
 
My race strategy was fairly basic—my goal was to run 6:15s to the Newton Hills, taking a gel every 4 miles. I would get to the hills feeling solid, fight through them, then recover and regain pace over the last 5 miles.
 
The first 13 miles went pretty smoothly (helps that it’s almost all downhill to this point). I was 90sec faster than goal, but I felt very smooth and well fueled, taking Gatorade every mile or so. I must have heard :Yeah Maine!" and "Go Central Maine" at least 30 times from the crowd. 
 
From miles 13 to 16, I noticed the fatigue building. I adjusted the plan to go through the Newton Hills at 6:20-6:30 pace and conserve energy for the final 5. There are four hills in total culminating in Heartbreak Hill at 20.5. I didn’t really notice the first hill. Hills 2 and 3 were a bit of a grind, and Heartbreak felt like an impressive climb. There was a big banner hanging over Heartbreak celebrating you getting to this point and ushering you to the finish.
 
The hills were where I started cramping in the feet and hamstrings. I stopped at the top of Heartbreak after feeling a lightning bolt shoot down my legs. Temperatures were increasing and honestly I thought the race was lost at that point. All the training leading up to this was probably the difference in my legs being able to fight the cramps and continue at a sub-7 pace for the final 5 miles (that and the seven gels and half gallon of Gatorade I drank on course).
 
Those final 5 miles, I was toeing the line between pushing while avoiding a full lockup of the legs. This section brought the famed Citgo sign and the crowds of Boston College at Coolidge Corner. I took down two gels in this section alone plus two to three Gatorade cups. Making those final turns on Hereford and Boylston makes you feel on hallowed ground. They erect a huge viewing booth across the finish line for race VIPs/media and you can almost see the people starring down at you as you push to the finish.
 
The post race is challenging. You have so many people coming in and there’s a lot of hustle and bustle. I was lucky to find Shannon quickly to get to the car so I could get home to recover. I was ecstatic to finish in 2:46:45, a 7 minute PR for me. The atmosphere makes me understand why people work so hard to come back to Boston year after year. I’ll be aiming to return in 2026 and bask in that energy for another ride. I hope to see you there.

by Ian Hepburn

TUCARD: The Terrifically (And Unnecessarily) Complicated Adventure Race Duathlon. I am prefacing my race report with this expansion of the acronym so that I can emphasize the “Unnecessarily Complicated” aspect of this event. I will try my best to describe the rules that TUCARD participants had to follow in this year’s race, with the understanding that I probably can’t make them that clear in the space I have allotted. 

On September 21, 2024 I participated in my first TUCARD, which is an annual event facilitated by the Marsh Island Trail Runners. I am not the first Strider to take part in this event (see previous TUCARD 2021 and 2022 race reports from Amy Stabins).

The TUCARD has elements of an orienteering challenge, i.e. navigating to points on a map, combined with running and biking (or other modes of conveyance, which I will get to in a moment). Complexity is added by the terrain itself, as it takes place in/on/around the trail networks north of Bangor like the Bangor City Forest, the Orono Bogwalk, the Caribou Bog Conservation Area, and other trails in that vicinity. The Veazie Railroad Bed runs through these trail systems as well, connecting them all. Some of these trails, like the railroad bed, are wide and flat, but they are connected by smaller, capillary like trails that are rougher, steeper, and difficult to move quickly on. 

On top of the physical challenges posed by landscape are the rules of the TUCARD. The boundaries of the race environment are defined by the “Shadow of the Pony” (you will notice a distinct equestrian theme to the TUCARD, especially if you go to their website and check out past TUCARDs). In this year’s TUCARD, there were four waypoints, whose coordinates were given to registered participants before race day. The race organizers did not provide any context or guidance about these points until the day before the race, when the “Sparkle Pony Rule” (more equestrian stuff) was revealed. This dearth of information until 24 hours before race day is a hallmark of the TUCARD. In the case of this year’s event, it was revealed that racers had to collect three of the four points, but there were some stipulations. 

WARNING: ATTEMPTED EXPLANATION OF COMPLICATED RULES FOLLOWS! 
In the map below, you see the Shadow of the Pony, which outlines the edges of the course. Within the Shadow, you can navigate to any of the points in any way you choose to, as long as it does not involve anything powered by a motor. So, if you decide to swim or paddle across a pond instead of running or biking around it, that is allowed. However, modifications to a racer’s time may be applied based on the surface they are racing on, as well as their form of locomotion. No modifications are applied if you are walking or running on a trail. However, if you are walking or running on a paved surface, a 2x modification is applied so that every minute of time spent on foot on a paved surface counts as two minutes of race time. If you are biking on a trail, a x1.5 modification is applied. If you ride your bike on a paved surface the timing modifications are compounded so that for every minute spent riding your bike on a paved road counts as three minutes of race time. However, time spent boating applies a x1/2 modification to your time, and time spent swimming applies a x1/4 modification. Part of this year’s Sparkle Pony Rule added a new form of locomotion; time spent dribbling a soccer ball applied a x3/4 modification to your time. So, if you spent 60 minutes navigating through swamps, thickets, brambles, and other environmental hazards while kicking a soccer ball, it only counted as 45 minutes. Racers are required to record their progress using Strava or other digital exercise logging system, and this is how the race staff can apply the appropriate time modifications to each racer’s raw time.

The other major twist in the race was that only two of the four points were available to be collected at a given time. In the :00 to :29 part of an hour, points ‘u’ and ‘n’ could be collected while points ‘b’ and ‘p’ were not available. In the :30 to :59 part of an hour, ‘b’ and ‘p’ were available and the other points weren’t. So, racers had to determine a strategy where they could get the points at the times they were available while navigating through the trails and waterways, and making decisions about things like if the speed afforded by a bike would be worth the time penalty. Complicating this even further were two points near the extreme north and south ends of the course, where you could get a token to invert the time rule for the availability of the points…. 

I think that if you have read this far you get the point that the TUCARD is more complicated than most other races. Fortunately, the post-race potluck lunch was refreshingly straightforward, with almost every 
participant bringing food and beverages to share and discussing their race strategies. The race organizers encourage pot-luck participation by offering to subtract five minutes off of your race time if you brought a food item to share. 

What I observed during the race was that many participants used bikes as their primary means to get around, but there were a lot of others who went on foot. As the ‘D’ in TUCARD stands for Duathlon, every racer had to employ at least two forms of locomotion, so racers without bikes had to swim/boat at least part of the course. In my case, I used a sturdy mountain bike to cover ground quickly. I felt pretty smart on the morning of the race as I had visited these trails a few weeks earlier to get an idea of the terrain and how easily navigable the trails were, and using this knowledge I was able to move quickly from the start to my first point (point ‘p’ on the map).

My attitude changed pretty quickly once I tried to move east towards point ‘n’, and I discovered how steep, rooty, rocky, and swampy the terrain between the points was. My strategy fell apart and I was forced to make some decisions on the move. I had to choose between pushing hard over narrow steep trails to move directly to the next point with the distinct possibility of not making it in time and being forced to wait 30 minutes for it be available again, or moving south to the waypoint that would allow me to collect a token to reverse the time rule for point ‘n’. I opted to add distance to my route and collect the token, then proceeded to point ‘n’. I then headed for the northern half of the course to collect my last point, where I was again forced to make a decision between a direct route to the point, or to collect another time inversion token before getting to the last point. I won’t go into further detail, but I will state that when I crossed the finish line, I had travelled 16.7 miles in 2 hours, 29 minutes. 

I am writing this on October 30th, 2024, 39 days after the TUCARD, and the official standings haven’t been published yet. This is typical, as the scoring for the race is as complicated as the race itself. The race staff has to scrutinize the digital records of each participant’s route and apply the appropriate time modifiers to determine the final official times and standings, which has typically taken about a month. So I may have actually won the 2024 TUCARD (highly unlikely), or maybe I came in last (more plausible), but either way it was a blast.

I enjoy orienteering races, and the creative challenges posed by the terrain and the race rules ensured that no part of the race was boring. If you are looking for a physical and mental challenge and aren’t easily frustrated by ambiguities and contradictions, then the TUCARD is the race for you. However, it will help to keep these things in mind: 

1. Preparation is helpful. If possible, acquaint yourself with the trails before the race.
2. You will not get all of the information you want about the race when you want it.
3. Mike Tyson said “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”. That applies here, as the Sparkle Pony Rule serves as the metaphorical punch that will disrupt the strategy you might have formulated prior to the race, so keep your mind open and be flexible. 
   
   

I apologize for the long report, but there is a lot to this race and I highly recommend it, so hopefully I’ll see you at TUCARD 2025. 

To quote the classic film The Outsiders: Stay golden Pony Boy!

by Sapan Bhatt

Race Date: May 12, 2024
Location: Eustis, ME to Kingfield, ME
Distance: 26.2 miles

​Pre-Race:
The Sugarloaf Marathon is one of the few Spring Maine marathons and hugely popular Boston Qualifying race due to its elevation drop of ~1000ft from miles 10-26. I chose to drive up from Waterville the morning of the race, leaving at 4:45am to make the 7am start time. Cathedral Pines, the starting location, is quintessential Maine forestry; picturesque pines growing tall standing guard over the two-lane road. The campground buzzed with excitement; runners warming up, bib check-in (which was very quick, only 5min of waiting), and a nice bag drop. 

Bathroom situation was a bit squirrely, there were plenty of them but a parked bus prevented people from lining up properly in front of them. That led to Billy and I lining up about a minute before start. 

Miles 1-5:
The race began with a surge of adrenaline as we crossed the starting line. It’s a flat shot out of the pine trees on route 27. Conditions were pretty ideal, about 40F at the start warming to 50F as the day progressed. The pace seemed speedy from the start; with 60+ runners all going out at 6:40 pace or faster. Many thanks to course feedback from Julie, Ryan, Drew and others who all said to go conservatively until you crest to hill at mile 10.  The scenery reminded me of the Downeast Sunrise Trail with the added beauty of mountains in the background. For anyone from a city, I can see why this would be a destination race.

Miles 6-10:
The rhythm set in nicely by mile 5. This was true for me in much of my training too; you don’t loosen up until about mile 4. There were plenty of fluid stops which were well stocked (many thanks to all the volunteers). I planned on using 4 GU gels (miles 8,13,18, 23). For the next one, I would probably add another 1 or 2. The major climb goes from mile 8 to about mile 10.5 and I took down my first gel before the ascent. I tucked in with a couple of guys who were also planning for 2:56 finishes and slowed down about 20 sec/mile. This worked very well, keeping the strain off the legs. There are 2 steeper sections during the climb, 1 at the beginning and 1 at the end, the rest is more gradual. I stuck with my running buddies until we crested the hill and was grateful to be feeling fresh. 

Miles 11-20:
The downhill after the climb is also no joke. It’s fairly steep and can do a number on your quads. My goal was to keep in control and try to stay loose. That mile was about 20 sec quicker than goal pace so you can definitely make up some time lost on the climb. The course is very forgiving after the hill, flat to slight decline. It was relatively easy to get back into a rhythm and stack some more miles at the 6:40 goal pace. After the halfway mark, a larger pack started to form (we went from 3 of us to about 8) and it was fun rolling along until mile 17/18 as a nice group. 

Legs were still feeling very good at this point and I was debating to push the pace with about an hour left of racing. I remembered my first marathon, Maine Coast 2018, where I bonked after mile 16. The loss of speed, the burning in my legs, were fresh in my mind and I decided to stick to the 6:40 pace plan until mile 19/20 and then see what was possible. 
I felt the Saucony Pro 4 was a great choice for a super shoe. It helped keep my legs fresh and kept my momentum going forward.

Miles 21-26.2:
From 19 on, I was starting to feel it and see the effects of the marathon around me. A few competitors slowed to a walk and the time between miles seemed to stretch. Although I was putting in more intention and energy into picking up the pace, fatigue was dampening my efforts. It’s during the last 8 miles where that extra gel might have left me fresher. After each mile, I envision the distance remaining (just a 10k left, just a 5 miler, just an out and back on Ridge Road, etc.) Another thing which helped was I set my watch to lap time. While it was a little more effort to press the button at each mile, it kept me focused on just the mile I was running and helped me stay in the moment. Once I entered Kingfield, the crowd swelled and I let that adrenaline push me over the finish. 2:53:49, a Boston qualifying time and 17 min off my previous best.

Still feeling strong. One complaint I heard was about the camber of the road on this course. I felt the cars were very respectful giving runners the full lane so it was easy to run in the middle where it was level vs. on the shoulder

Post-Race:
I was able to sync up with Julie and Ron who graciously stuck around the finish for over an hour. Billy and Stephanie came in soon after and it was great to recap with them. Shannon drove from the start to the finish so it was great to see her on course and at the end. The food was on point, basic but well executed. Delicious soups and pastry, chocolate milk (my favorite). If you’re looking for a great entry into the marathon, Sugarloaf is hard to beat. Weather has been ideal for the past couple years, it’s much less hilly than MDI or Maine Marathon in the Fall. Thanks again to everyone who shared advice about training, gear, the course, etc. 
​
This was almost a year in the making for me. I was 5+ years removed from the marathon, always saying next year I would train for one. Last June, both my achilles and thought my best running days were behind me. Starting with the Quarry Road summer series, I’ve been building fitness and results which culminated in this race. I did much of my speed work on the treadmill, so if that’s something that fits your schedule/lifestyle better than roads, feel encouraged. Here’s to an exciting summer and more adventures ahead.