2021 Black Canyon 100k Preview | Golden Tickets on the Line!

By Chase Parnell — February 8, 2021

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Alright folks, we’ve arrived at the second golden ticket race of 2021. The Black Canyon 100k is going off at 7am MST on Saturday, February 13, 2021. The top two finishers will earn an entry into the Western States Endurance Run. If you thought the first golden ticket race (Bandera 100k) was stacked, you’re not going to believe the field at Black Canyon! Long gone are the days when you could cherry pick a golden ticket race and sneak your way into Western. You have to bring your A-game to finish top-2.

This course, like Bandera and most early season ultras, is going to favor runners with great natural speed. If you’re more of a climber/descender, your best bet for a golden ticket is definitely Canyons 100k in April. Black Canyon is a point-to-point course, starting at Mayer High School in Mayer, AZ and finishing at the Emory Henderson trailhead 62 miles to the south. The course has just 5,190 feet of climbing and 7,050 feet of descent, so in some sense, this is a downhill race. That said, there are a few punchy climbs along the way, with the biggest (roughly 750 feet) coming in the final ten miles. 

Without further ado, let’s meet the cast of characters that have a real shot at the podium.

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2021 Black Canyon 100k Men’s Preview

Jim Walmsley – Update: Did not start! Saving for Canyons 100k? King Cowboy. I said above that everyone needs to bring their A-game. If there’s one guy that can mess around with that a little bit, it’s Jim. He’ll be just three weeks out from his Hoka Project Carbon X2 100k world record attempt where he put out a massive effort and definitely taxed the body hard. But if Jim is known for anything, it’s his ability to recover quickly and perform under pressure. Based on his Strava, Jim seems to be healthy, running every day again, and he even did two 20+ mile long runs on the Saturday and Sunday before the race. If the legs don’t come all the way back around, there will be a handful of guys nipping at his heels. No matter how things shake out though, I think we all want to see Jim on the line at Western States in June, gunning for his third win on the course that put him on the map. 

Tyler Green – Portlander; loves his dog. A quick perusal of his 2019 ultra signup highlights: he won the Bandera 100k, finished 14th at Western States, won Cascade Crest 100, and clocked a 14h 02m 100 miler at the Javelina Jundred for 2nd place. And then, during 2020 he transitioned to FKTs, securing all the three big Pacific Northwest circumnavigations: Mt. Saint Helens, Mt. Hood, and Mt. Rainier. Tyler has the speed required for a fast course like Black Canyon. I’m sure he’d love to return to Western, knock one out of the park there, and really secure his place as one of the top few American ultrarunners. It looks like Tyler had a few solid blocks in recent months and I like his elongated three-week taper leading into Black Canyon. I think Tyler will earn a golden ticket, but it’s going to be a battle. 

Seth Ruhling – North Facer from Chattawhere? I expect Seth to definitely be in the mix. The guy proved he can perform on a big stage, winning the 2019 JFK 50 miler in what is now the 8th fastest time in the race’s nearly 60 year history. Seth took an interesting strategy and raced a road half marathon just two weeks before Black Canyon, finishing in 1:09:32. As far as I can tell, this will be Seth’s first 100k so he obviously lacks some of the experience that these other guys have, but that logic only takes you so far; pretty sure his first 50 miler was JFK and we know how that one turned out. Definitely rooting for Seth, he seems like a chill, laid-back guy that just really loves to run. 

Justin Grunewald – Newborn dad life; dipes and wipes. Here’s another guy who is clearly very fast but is fairly new to ultras. Does that mean he can’t compete for a golden ticket on Saturday? No. With a time of 3:22 at Way Too Cool 50k in 2020, he certainly has the talent and turn-over to get it done. His training on Strava looks solid, he got as high as 100 miles in a week, and I like the look of this casual-seeming 27 miler at 6:55 pace on undulating terrain. If any of these guys runs that pace at Black Canyon, they’ll walk away with the win and a new course record (Matt Daniels has the current CR in 7:20:28 from 2019, which is roughly 7:06 pace per mile). If Justin has a good day out there, anything is possible.

Dakota Jones – **Update: Dakota will not be racing due to a calf strain. Bummer!** Not a Strava man. Don’t sleep on Dakota. I don’t know for sure what kind of shape he’s in at the moment but I can’t imagine he’d travel all the way to Arizona from Bozeman, Montana if he wasn’t ready to give it a good crack. After battling injuries for some years, it seems like academia has maybe distracted him enough to not overdo the running? He had a real solid dual with Jason Schlarb at IMTUF 100 last fall and while training in Bozeman in the winter can be tricky, we very well might see the best of Dakota’s stuff. He knows the Black Canyon course, finishing 7th in 2019 with a very competitive field. Dakota definitely adds a nice element to the field; even though he’s only 29, he’s sort of a throw-back to a foregone era that stokes some nostalgia for those of us that have been around awhile. 

Eric Senseman – Goodtimesman and elite commentator. Eric has been pretty vocal about his racing woes over the last couple of years, questioning whether or not he has it anymore. But here he is again, he’s still trying, he’s toeing the line, so at least he’s continuing to try to answer the question. He has a lot of experience on this course and has ran well there with a pair of 3rd place finishes in 2017 and 2019. His volume in miles over the last 13 weeks: 3.8, 6.5, 35.6, 21.1, 80.2, 80.1, 80.4, 80.2, 80.9, 80.8, 88.2, 90.4. He clearly committed to his training with eight really solid weeks over 80 miles. That’s not an easy thing to accomplish, both avoiding injury and not allowing even a single down week. Could there be a magical cowboy 1-2 finish?! Time will tell. 

Jeff Stern – Underrated & dangerous. If you didn’t catch my profile on Jeff Stern, you might check it out if you’re interested in a deeper dive. Jeff has only been running for a few years but has quickly become very competitive. He hasn’t yet popped a win at a marquee event, but I think his time is coming. He is very fit right now, coming off a pair of solid southern California FKTs (Backbone Trail and Los Padres Traverse), he has a new coach in Mario Fraioli and he seems primed to make a big leap up the competitive leaderboards. He’ll run smart from the gun but keep an eye out for a hard charging well timed push in the latter miles to pick up the carnage. 

—Also in the mix—

• Brandon Miller: 1st Canadian Death Race (2017); 1st Diez Vista 100k (2018).
• Nick Hilton – 1:03 half and 2:16 marathoner; unproven on trails. 
• Yassine Diboun: 2nd Sean O’Brien 50 miler (2020); veteran.
• Elliot Cardin: 3rd Black Canyon 100k (2020); already in for 2021 Western States.
• Kallin Khan: 3rd Pioneer Spirit 50 miler (2020); 2:22 marathoner.
• Ruairi Moynihan: 1st McDowell Mountain Frenzy 50 miler (2020). 
• Ben Atkins: 8th Black Canyon 100k (2020). 
• Phil Young: 1st The Runner’s Flat 50k, 3h10m (2017). 
• Neal Collick: 1st Superior 100 (2017); 1st Minnesota Voyageur 50 (2017).
• Andrew Belus: 1st McDowell Mtn 50k (2020); 6th Black Canyon 100k (2019). 
• Ben Koss: 18th out of 1,165 on the Mt. Tam Hill Climb segment.
• Eli White: 1st Georgia Death Race (2020); 8th Black Canyon 100k (2019). 
• Craig Hunt: 6th Hoka Project Carbon X2 (100k in 6:55:22); 2:15 marathoner.
• Alex Gold: 4th Bear 100 (2020); 1st Mohican 50 miler (2019). 
• Daniel Domres: 1st The Wild Hare 50 miler (2020), never runs over 7min pace. 
• Jesse Haynes: 5th Black Canyon 100k (2020); veteran. 
• Drew Frehs: 1st Coldwater Rumble 100 miler (2020). 
• Tyler Fox: 1st Bear 100 (2018). 
• Tyler Wolfe: 3rd Canyons 100k (2019); 10 wks at 100+ miles per week buildup.
• Anthony Lee: 2nd High Lonesome 100 (2018).
• Nick Coury: 2nd Javelina Jundred 100 miler (2020).
• *Update – Michael Eaton: 2:18 marathoner & 3x Olympic Trials Qualifier.
• *Update – Brian Whitfield: Bendite! No idea how I missed this guy; 1st Moab Red Hot 55k (2020), 4th fastest time on the course ever.
• *Update – David Kilgore: Wave three. 4th FOURmidable 50k (2019)

There you have it! That’s the men’s race. Let me know in the comments below if I missed anyone or if any of the above mentioned guys aren’t going to make it to the starting line. As you can now see, this race is SUPER STACKED. Any one of these incredible runners could have a breakout performance and surprise us all. There’s so much talent here, it’s just a matter of who’s going to execute on race day.

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2021 Black Canyon 100k Women’s Preview

Addie Bracy has a list of ultra accolades a mile long and yet I still feel like she flies a bit under the radar. I think it’s because she hasn’t pulled off a win at one of the bigger events but she’s just always right there! She won the Quad Rock 50 miler the last three years in a row and in 2020 she won it outright. She was top-ten at Western States and 3rd at Lake Sonoma in 2019, 2nd at Leadville 100 and won the Never Summer 100k in 2018. She also has her Master’s in Sport and Performance Psychology and teaches mental skills training for athletes; that has to come in handy in her own racing! Based on her Strava, she had a really solid block so I’m anticipating nothing but amazing things to come on Saturday. 

Brittany Peterson already has her Western States entry after her incredible 2nd place finish there in 2019. That battle with Clare Gallagher was probably one of the most exciting finishes in the race’s history. Her build up to Black Canyon looked good except for the week of January 25-31 where she logged a total of just 2.1 miles. So maybe she had an injury flare-up? Maybe she’s concealing her super secret workouts? Who knows. A few days after that gap, however, she ran a 19 minute 5k on a whim. Sooo, not totally sure where she’s at but there’s no question that if she starts the race, she’ll be a significant factor. She certainly has the pedigree to win the whole thing on any given day. 

Emily Hawgood: If you look at Emily’s ultra signup it’s pretty clear she really wants to get into Western. She finished a heart-breaking 3rd at Bandera 100k, the first of the golden ticket series races, and now she’s registered for both Black Canyon and Canyons 100k so she’s given herself three tries to get it done! Emily won the 2020 IMTUF 100 miler and the Ultra Trail Harricana of Canada 125k in 2019. She seems to do a little better on courses with lots of climbing so I’m not sure that Black Canyon really suits her skillset all that well, but I imagine she’s been developing her speed from her Bandera 100k training blocks until now. 

Michelle Hummel is another mountain-centric athlete with real potential do to well at Black Canyon. She won the 2020 Speedgoat 50k with the 8th fastest time in the race’s 13 year history. Michelle has a slew of other wins at lower key shorter events but hasn’t progressed into longer ultras so this appears to be her first real test beyond 50k. Michelle has a very limited online presence so she’ll definitely be a bit of a wildcard. 

Sandi Nypaver too has been focusing on shorter ultras and trail races in recent years but has pivoted her focus to Black Canyon and the 100k distance. She had a really solid 2019 with a 2nd place finish at Nine Trails in Santa Barbara, CA and won the always-competitive Moab Red Hot 55k. I like how she’s trying something different and making another run at longer ultras. If she makes it into Western, it will be a decade since the last time she ran it when she finished in the top-20 and earned herself a sub-24 hour silver buckle.

Sarah Keyes came onto my radar during her battle with Alyssa Godesky to set the FKT on the Adirondacks’ 46 High Peaks in 2020. She did all 46 in under five days, a feat that takes some people a lifetime to achieve. It looks like she also has some wheels, cranking 10 mile runs in the low 7 minutes per mile pace in training. She also splits her time between multiple disciplines (running, biking, skiing) throughout the winter so she’ll be coming into the race well-balanced from a strength perspective. On January 24th, she ran a 20 mile long run with 2,500 feet of vert at a cool 7:23 pace, which she noted as a “downhill focused” workout. She clearly trained with specificity for Black Canyon’s net downhill course and I’m sure it’ll pay off on race day!

—Also in the mix—

• Ruth Senior: 1st Monument Valley 50 miler (2019).
• Lisa Roberts: 1st Javelina Jundred 100k (2020), just 8 minutes off Courtney Dauwalter’s course record. 
• Kalie Demerjian: 2nd Pioneer Spirit 50 miler (2020); 3rd Javelina Jundred 100 miler (2020). 
• Darce Claus: 3rd IMTUF 100 miler (2020); 2nd Javelina Jundred 100 miler (2020). 
• Teresa Kaiser: 1st Wasatch 100 (2019); 1st Georgia Death Race (2020).
• Lindsey Ulrich:  1st Siuslaw Dunes 50k (2020); 4th Waldo 100k (2018). 
• Rebecca Windell: 1st Run the Rock 50k (2020); 5th Speedgoat 50k (2020). 

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So many fun storylines to follow! Can’t wait to see how things shake out. As an Aravaipa Running event I have to believe that the tracking and coverage will be solid. I’ll be tweeting updates that I discover as the race unfolds so make sure to give us a follow on Twitter.

And again, my apologies if I missed any other contenders. Let me know in the comments!

Lastly, anyone want to make any predictions? Who will earn golden tickets?! Will there be as much blood as there was at Bandera? Anyone looking super fit that you wouldn’t necessarily know about based on prior results? Alright, hope you all tune in. This is a big race for the sport of ultrarunning. Thankful for it.

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