The 2023 Black Canyon 100k kicked off in a cold 39 levels Fahrenheit, and whereas the competitors in each the lads’s and ladies’s race was sizzling and heavy, the temperatures remained just a little decrease than earlier years. This absolutely contributed to the quickest ever Black Canyon 100k, which noticed new course information set by each Anthony Costales and Keely Henninger.
Three males completed underneath Sage Canaday’s revered 2016 course file, and the primary two girls each got here in underneath Brittany Peterson’s 2021 file, which was indicative of the depth of the sphere battling it out for Western States 100 Golden Tickets.
The Black Canyon 100k begins in Mayer, Arizona, and takes in 5,100 ft of climb and seven,000 ft of downhill on typically dry, desert trails to complete on the Emery Henderson Trailhead exterior of Phoenix.
The beginning of the 2023 Black Canyon 100k. All photographs: Jesse Ellis/@letswanderphotography
2023 Black Canyon 100k Males’s Race
Anthony Costales set a 19-minute course file, ending in 7:33. Costales positioned fifth on the Black Canyon 100k final 12 months after a troublesome day, and stated in his end line interview: “Final 12 months after ending I didn’t assume I used to be coming again. I used to be like, ‘I don’t wish to try this once more!’” He stated he was drawn again by the usual of competitors he noticed seem on the entrants record, significantly when he noticed Tom Evans (U.Ok.) had signed up and stated: “I used to be actually excited to go and race towards one of many world’s finest.”
Cole Watson was the early race chief, with Evans the primary to make a counterattack. Social media signifies that Evans led the race into the Black Canyon Metropolis assist station at mile 37.5, however Costales emerged from the help station in first place, having patiently moved up by the sphere.
Costales was greater than 5 minutes away from Evans by Doe Springs, mile 58.6, having prolonged the hole by a minute from the earlier assist station. Janosch Kowalczyk (Germany) was now simply two minutes again from Evans, and making use of strain, having gained 4 minutes on Evans within the earlier seven miles.
Anthony Costales (proper) on his technique to profitable the 2023 Black Canyon 100k.
Costales appeared to achieve momentum as he powered the house stretch to complete in a record-breaking 7:33. Evans got here in second in 7:37, nonetheless quarter-hour underneath Canaday’s course file, with Kowalczyk third in 7:40. Cole Watson made it 4 males underneath eight hours, ending in 7:59.
Noah Dusseau was the fifth man dwelling, only a few minutes later, in 8:02.
Costales tentatively accepted his Golden Ticket, and with Evans already having secured a spot at this 12 months’s version of the Western States 100, the second males’s Golden Ticket fell to Kowalczyk.
2023 Black Canyon 100k Males’s Outcomes
- Anthony Costales – 7:33
- Tom Evans (U.Ok.)- 7:37
- Janosch Kowalczyk (Germany) – 7:40
- Cole Watson – 7:59
- Noah Dusseau — 8:02
2023 Black Canyon 100k Girls’s Race
Triathlete and monitor bicycle owner Heather Jackson may be very new to the path operating world, however an absence of expertise didn’t present as she was the early pacesetter in a really quick and shut girls’s race. She narrowly led Ida Nilsson (Sweden, lives in Norway) in second and Keely Henninger in third at mile 31.
The highest three girls got here into the Desk Mesa assist station at mile 51 inside seconds of each other — this time Henninger main, adopted instantly by Jackson, with Nilsson simply seconds behind. Henninger cooled off with some ice and was out first, adopted by Nilsson then Jackson. All three have been forward of course-record tempo.
At Doe Springs, mile 58.6, Henninger and Jackson have been simply 14 seconds aside on the entrance, however Henninger managed to drag away within the closing miles and cruised dwelling in 8:45, taking three minutes off Brittany Peterson’s 2021 course file and claiming the primary girls’s Golden Ticket. Henninger stated on the end, “That race was superior, and I knew the course tremendous effectively and I knew what I might maintain.”
Keely Henninger (in purple), the 2023 Black Canyon 100k girls’s winner.
Heather Jackson, in her second path race ever, got here in second in 8:47, additionally underneath Peterson’s course file. Meghan Morgan closed out the rostrum in 8:53.
Anna Kacius took the ladies’s fourth place and Nilsson finally arrived to the end in fifth place.
As Jackson already has a spot for the 2023 Western States 100, the second Golden Ticket fell to Morgan, who accepted it decisively.
There is only one extra Western States 100 Golden Ticket Race, the Canyons by UTMB 100k in Auburn, California, on April 28.
2023 Black Canyon 100k Girls’s Outcomes
- Keely Henninger — 8:45
- Heather Jackson — 8:47
- Meghan Morgan — 8:53
- Anna Kacius — 9:05
- Ida Nilsson (Sweden, lives in Norway) — 9:07
