2021 Black Canyon 100k Recap
by Chase Parnell — February 15, 2021
Good Lord, where to begin? Somehow I’m going to try to condense ten hours of racing action into a couple thousand words. I’ll do my best to provide the highlights but if you want to relive ALL the glorious moments that made up the Black Canyon 100k, head over to Aravaipa Running’s YouTube channel and watch it all as I did. The coverage was spectacular and it hopefully foreshadows a future in which we can follow these types of events from all over the world as we would major marathons or UTMB. I don’t say this often, but technology is a beautiful thing.
2021 Black Canyon 100k Women’s Race Recap
From the gun, the women weren’t messing around. Immediately, a group of 5-8 women locked into a roughly 7:15 minute per mile pace and started clicking off miles. At Antelope Mesa, the first aid station (7.7 miles), they were still tightly bunched; all the players were there: Sarah Keyes, Brittany Peterson, Addie Bracy, Sandi Nypaver, Lisa Roberts, Emily Hawgood, and a few others.
The overwhelming consensus about this course is that it’s sneaky hard. The reason being that it starts out so fast and easy, it sucks you into exerting more than you wanted to in those early miles. In an instagram post, Jim Walmsley commented, “that course doesn’t run like it looks on paper.” Many of the elites would pay for the hot pace early on. I understand that it’s a difficult balance of wanting to feel connected to the race and in the mix while also not cooking the legs. You really have to know your body and fitness level.
At some point before the Gloriana Mine aid station at mile 24, the women’s field started to string out with Lisa Roberts, a complete unknown to me at the time, leading the charge, hitting the aid station in 3h 1m 47s. Brittany Peterson and Addie Bracy were together about a minute back, with Sarah Keyes and Mireya Vargas coming through shorty thereafter. The cream was rising.
It must be noted here that Lisa Roberts, a retired 42 year-old professional triathlete, ran the entire race with a baby Yoda stuffed animal mounted to the top of her pack so that Yoda’s eyes were looking behind her towards the competition. The force was strong with Lisa (instagram handle @run_jedi_run) all day, she blew through the aid stations, metronomic, all the while receiving intel from the sentinel on her shoulders. Candice Burt commented that, “Lots of ultra runners carry small stuffed animals. It’s kind of an odd but somewhat common phenomenon I’ve noticed, especially in my 200s.”
Lisa’s time out front lasted only so long though as the ultrarunning veterans, Brittany Peterson and Addie Bracy, reeled her in and took the lead shortly before the 50k mark. The race was now playing out like I think everyone thought it would: Peterson and Bracy head-to-head. They had the strongest running resumes coming into the race, it was just going to be a matter of who was feeling good on this particular day.
With the two biggest climbs and the most rugged technical terrain in the final 20 miles, carnage was inevitable. Brittany and Addie ran together for a time, but eventually Peterson, the 2019 2nd place finisher at Western States, would separate and never look back.
Brittany came into the Table Mesa aid station (mile 51.1) looking solid. She chugged a bunch of coke and picked up her partner, Cody Lind, to pace the final 11 miles. After she left, minutes ticked by with no other arrivals; there really wasn’t any question that this was Brittany’s day. The only unknown was whether or not she could better Ailsa MacDonald’s course record of 8:53:33 from 2018, who by the way, will be also be running Western States this year.
In the end, Brittany Peterson crossed the tape in 1st (10th overall) in 8:48:32, shaving an impressive five minutes off the record. She is on another level right now!
To wrap up the women’s race, Lisa and baby Yoda hung tough, passing Addie Bracy in the final miles to finish second, earning a golden ticket to the big dance. Sarah Keyes, who calls the beautiful Adirondacks and the High Peaks Wilderness of upstate New York home, finished third, also earning her way into Western States. With this finish, let me tell you, Sarah’s stock is rising! Buy buy buy!
Rounding out the top five were Mireya Vargas in 4th, who clearly had a breakthrough performance based on her past results, and Addie Bracy, who already has a ticket to Western States, held on to 5th after struggling through those final miles.
Top Ten
- Brittany Peterson: 8:48:32
- Lisa Roberts: 9:13:12
- Sarah Keyes: 9:18:06
- Mireya Vargas: 9:36:20
- Addie Bracy: 9:56:57
- Kalie Demerjian: 10:01:32
- Emily Hawgood: 10:17:51
- Vivian Carrasco: 10:21:42
- Lindsey Ulrich: 10:41:01
- Teresa Kaiser: 10:42:38
Full results here: Aravaipa Live
2021 Black Canyon 100k Men’s Race Recap
The men also went out fast, a pack of five reached Antelope Mesa aid station (7.7 miles) in roughly 49:30, cruising at just under 6:30 pace. The course does lose elevation during that stretch but that’s still a pretty hot pace on windy singletrack at the beginning of a 62 mile day. The leaders included Eric Senseman, who was definitely dictating the pace early on, Seth Ruhling, Brian Whitfield of Bend, Craig Hunt, and Nick Hilton just a couple seconds back. For the record, Tyler Green came through in 50:36 in 14th place.
By aid station #3, Bumblebee Ranch (mile 19.4), the pack had broken open. Surprisingly, it was Whitfield and Ruhling that came in 1-2. But while Whitfield blasted in and out of the aid station, it looked like Ruhling had some trouble finding his drop bag. He lost a lot of time on Whitfield and guys were streaming in behind him. Senseman had fallen off the pace a bit, coming into the aid station in 5th.
My theory is that when Whitfield left Bumblebee Ranch in the lead, that was actually the worst thing that could’ve happened to him. He was now the hunted and likely started having ideations of victory. It’s possible that he got caught up in the excitement and ran the engine a little hot through that next stretch. It was fun to watch him run though! The 24 year old’s tall lean frame and long airy stride made it look effortless as his gap on the field continued to grow.
I have to mention too that for much of the race there was a lingering threat from David Kilgore who started in wave three, 30 minutes behind the first wave of men. David ran the first 7.7 miles two minutes faster than the lead pack from wave one! But by Gloriana Mine, aid station #4 at mile 24, he came through at almost the exact same elapsed time as the leaders. Kilgore ultimately dropped but provided some intrigue as a potential spoiler of the leaderboard from wave one.
What happened next is something that everyone really needs to remember about ultras. Hunt and Senseman were cruising into the Black Canyon City aid station at mile 37.4, probably feeling a little rattled or deflated at the very least. There were two guys off the front, two golden tickets were on the line, and they had to be wondering if this was really going to be their day. Even Tyler Green, who was passing people left and right through this stretch, said after the race that he had to really work through his doubts, thinking that surely someone ahead of him was going to nail it on the day.
But all of a sudden, the Aravaipa team received word that both Whitfield, who’d been looking so freaking strong, and Seth Ruhling, had dropped at Black Canyon City. Whitfield said after the race on instagram that he, “Tried to push through the Black Canyon City aid station and left with a fresh bottle and some gels. Tried putting calories in and the body just wasn’t gonna be revived the way I wanted. Pulling from this race gutted me and walking back to that aid station was the hardest thing I’ve done in awhile.” While I understand his disappointment, I think Brian will learn a lot of this experience. He certainly earned a lot of people’s respect by how he chose to run that race. He saw an opening, he took the lead, and rode the wave as long as he could. He’ll be back.
With Ruhling and Whitfield out of the race, we had a new leader: Craig Hunt. Craig finished sixth at the Hoka Project Carbon X2 100k race just three weeks earlier. Jim Walmsley decided not to run Black Canyon because his legs hadn’t quite come back around from his own effort there, so you have to believe that Hunt was still feeling it too. Senseman came in next; the news of the DNFs must have given him a new lease on life, some added wind to his sails, or whatever metaphor you want to use. He was squarely back in the hunt for a golden ticket.
From Black Canyon City, the runners head out onto the most remote reaches of the course and we wouldn’t know for certain what was going down out there until Table Mesa aid station at mile 51.1. We did see some drone footage of a very haggard-looking Craig Hunt though, crossing the banks of a dried out river bottom, you could tell he was really laboring to get the leg drive needed to cross the sand.
Despite his slowing pace, Hunt did pop out of the desert in first place at Table Mesa. The big shocker though was that there was none other than Tyler Green, cruising into the aid station less than a minute back, looking spry. He calmly made his way over to the fueling table, like an apex predator on the scent of a kill. His partner Rachel Drake was there as well, ready to accompany him for the final 11 mile push.
Next up was Senseman, just a couple minutes back from Tyler, but he was limping and immediately received treatment on his lower leg. He ran that stretch from Black Canyon City to Table Mesa super solid but it was hard to tell the extent of his injury. Honestly, I thought he was done. But he got up! Joined by pacer Stephen Kersh, they cruised out of the aid station looking surprisingly strong.
Then it was Nick Coury, who was 10 minutes behind the leaders at mile 7.7 and 20 minutes behind them at mile 24! In the end, Nick would finish less than 10 minutes back from eventual winner, Tyler Green. Who knows what would’ve happened if Nick would’ve ran the first half slightly less conservative or perhaps if this had been a 100 miler, he might’ve had the real estate to win the whole thing!
At some point shortly after the 51.1 mile aid station, Craig Hunt decided he was so thoroughly shellacked that he’d call it a day. So similar to Whitfield at the Black Canyon City aid station, Hunt turned around and walked back to the aid. When Senseman saw this, again, wind in the sails, second lease on life, whatever. He was in second. If he could hold that position he would earn a golden ticket to Western States and finish one place higher than he’d ever placed before (3rd in 2017, 3rd in 2019).
Tyler Green brought it home for the win in 8:06:33. He seemingly ran the perfect race. He did his own thing, didn’t get caught up in the testosterone up front, stayed within himself and hung tough, picking off his competitors one by one until there was nobody left. After the race, Ryan Ghelfi, co-owner of Trails and Tarmac where Green coaches, said, “Tyler Green with textbook race day execution. Hardly a better guy, or more deserving.” After this performance, and really, after everything Green has accomplished in the last 18-24 months, he has to be one of the favorites to podium at Western. And by the way, I know people love to still camp Tyler in the up-and-coming category or say he flies under the radar or whatever, but that no longer applies. He’s been performing at the top of the ultra game for a long time now. It’s official folks, Tyler Green has ARRIVED!
Senseman would hold on to second and definitely won the award for the finish line celebration of the day. He was fired up! There was a lot of redemption in that finish; he does indeed still have “it” and you could tell it meant a lot to him and his fans who were going bananas. His finish line photo was the one that broke the internet.
Lastly, Justin Grunewald. I don’t know, you can’t help but love this guy. He’s been to hell and back, he’s a newly minted dad, and he just seems like an all around good dude that you want to really root for. When he came into the 51.1 mile aid station in 12th place, I thought he was wavering on the edge. He had that sort of hesitant defeated look in his eye as he approached Billy Yang, who was out there crewing/filming Justin throughout the day. I don’t know exactly how long they spoke, but for me, it felt like an eternity. Eventually, Billy sort of ushered Justin over to the food table and he was quickly back out on the course and making a run for the finish. The next thing we know, we’re watching Ben Koss from the drone approach the finish line but there were whisperings that someone was charging from behind. The drone pans out and there we see a dude in red absolutely flying! It was Grunewald, hopping rocks and closing the gap like he was going all out in the final 200 meters of a steeplechase. Koss was kicking but Justin kicked harder, passing him in the final 10 meters to secure 6th place (later we found out that Mark Batres from wave three pushed him back one spot to 7th). Jamil was loosing his mind in the booth and I couldn’t help but think that Justin must have been drawing on a pretty deep well of motivation there. Whether it be his Brave Like Gabe mission or his newborn baby back home, the guy was running possessed.
Looking back, the moments of the day on the men’s side were when we saw Tyler close the gap on Hunt at mile 51.1, Senseman’s finish line redemption moment, and Grunewald’s out of his mind sprint for the finish. Well played guys. A sincere thanks for your heart and effort. More than a few of us laced em’ up and went for an afternoon run after that all unfolded. Really inspiring stuff.
Top Ten
- Tyler Green: 8:06:33
- Eric Senseman: 8:10:54
- Nick Coury: 8:16:23
- Tyler Fox: 8:34:49
- Daniel Domres: 8:36:28
- Mark Batres: 8:36:37
- Justin Grunewald: 8:43:03
- Ben Koss: 8:43:04
- Andew Belus: 8:48:10
- Clark Messman: 8:49:23
Full results here: Aravaipa Live. Incredible job to all the finishers of both the 100k on Saturday and 60k on Sunday. There were many more storylines and great performances that didn’t make this recap but hopefully I’ll get to spotlight them in future articles! Massive shout-out to Aravaipa Running for bringing all us fans to the ground-level and allowing us to follow the action so closely.
I’m not certain, but I think I’ll target Canyons 100k as our next race to cover, unless there’s something that materializes in March that you all think deserves attention! Thank you all for reading our work!
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Great play by play!
You need to read Ben Atkins Instagram about his Black Canyon race
Read it. Can’t believe he finished that thing. And moved up a ton! I remember the live commentary about his fall. Somebody used the word contusion. Thanks
Great coverage. Congrats to Tyler Fox for running a smart and fast race! (He’s my coach so I hope he reads this and goes easy on me for my next workout!) J/K Coach!!! Stoked for your great finish!
Nice! Yeah, he had a great race especially since it seems like he’s more of a mountain guy!