The eighth race of the 2024 Golden Path World Sequence, and the final earlier than the ultimate, the Mammoth Path Fest 26k kicked off in Mammoth Lakes, California, at 10 a.m. on Sunday, August 22. The 16.1-mile course, beginning and ending in Mammoth Village, has greater than 3,900 ft of climbing and tops out at 11,053 ft, making it a correct high-altitude race.
Racers had been greeted with cool, clear, and sunny circumstances on race morning. The ladies began 20 minutes forward of the boys, offering them with their very own race. Golden Path World Sequence chief Joyce Muthoni Njeru of Kenya took the early lead and by no means gave it up, ending practically three minutes forward of Romania’s Mădălina Florea. Within the males’s race, the highest 4 within the sequence standings ran collectively earlier on earlier than Elhousine Elazzaoui of Morocco and Patrick Kipngeno of Kenya pulled away over the summit of Mammoth Mountain and ran collectively for the remainder of the race to a dash end, the place Elazzaoui got here away with the win.
The occasion is the queen occasion of the three-day Mammoth Path Fest occasion. With a $21,000 prize purse up for grabs and prize cash going 10 deep — in addition to factors main into the Golden Path World Sequence closing up for grabs — the sphere was stuffed with among the finest shorter-distance path racers vying for the highest spot on the rostrum.
After leaving the village, the single-loop course climbs steeply to the highest of Mammoth Mountain within the first 7.5 miles, gaining practically all of its elevation within the span of three miles alongside the Dragon’s Again. From the summit, it drops steeply to the McCoy assist station, tackling the brand new Bullet downhill, earlier than beginning a extra gradual descent on mountain bike trails again into the village for a closing romp by way of the streets to the end line.
2024 Mammoth Path Fest 26k Girls’s Race
Joyce Muthoni Njeru of Kenya, the present chief of the Golden Path World Sequence, didn’t waste any time, taking off from the begin to set up an early lead within the ladies’s race. By the primary assist station at Twin Lakes, 3.6 miles and 25:21 in, however earlier than any of the steep climbing, she’d already opened up an 18-second hole on second-place Mădălina Florea of Romania and a 39-second hole on third-place Lauren Gregory.
Joyce Muthoni Njeru, the 2024 Mammoth Path Fest 26k ladies’s winner. Picture: Sarah Attar
Muthoni Njeru reached the summit of Mammoth Mountain, 7.5 miles into the race, at 1:14:29, main Florea by greater than two minutes. However coming excessive, Florea opened up her stride, not able to give up the race.
Behind them, on the steep, rocky, and switchbacking climb as much as the summit of Mammoth Mountain, Rachel Drake put in an enormous effort to maneuver into third over the summit, two and a half minutes behind Florea and with a 17-second lead on Anna Gibson in fourth place. Gregory was simply one other 30 seconds again in fifth, the spots for the rostrum nonetheless up for grabs on the lengthy downhill.
Florea held a quick tempo on the preliminary miles of the downhill, seeking to be working far more aggressively than Muthoni Njeru on the broader open sections on the ski resort, however was unable to shut the hole. Coming into the McCoy checkpoint at 11.1 miles in 1:37:24, Muthoni Njeru held a 2:09 lead on Florea, whereas Drake and Gibson ran collectively one other 4:38 again. Gregory was solely a minute again from the duo, nonetheless inside attain of third.
After McCoy, racers confronted the Bullet downhill, a newly added part of steep and technical downhill on the course. The steeper sections didn’t sluggish anybody down, and because the race reached the flatter mountain bike trails, Muthoni Njeru continued to carry a powerful tempo within the lead, reaching the Storage checkpoint at mile 14.8 in 1:56:45. Florea was 1:56 behind with a big six-minute hole over third-place Drake and fourth-place Gibson, who continued to run collectively.
Joyce Muthoni Njeru cruised into the end with none strain with a time of two:11:56, taking her third win within the sequence and additional padding her total sequence lead, and Mădălina Florea completed second in 2:14:51, after taking a fall and chopping her knee. Anna Gibson used her background within the observe to tug away from Drake on the gradual downhill to take third.
2024 Mammoth Path Fest 26k Girls’s Outcomes
Joyce Muthoni Njeru (Kenya) – 2:11:56
Mădălina Florea (Romania) – 2:14:51
Anna Gibson – 2:20:03
Rachel Drake – 2:20:40
Tabor Hemming – 2:21:47
Lauren Gregory – 2:21:57
Oria Liaci (Switzerland) – 2:22:31
Allie Ostrander – 2:23:15
Emkay Sullivan – 2:23:39
Miao Yao (China) – 2:24:39
(In 2023, Ostrander was suspended for 4 months after testing constructive for canrenone, a metabolite of spironolactone, after it was decided that she mistakenly took the drug with out first acquiring a World Anti-Doping Company Therapeutic Use Exemption.)
Full outcomes.
2024 Mammoth Path Fest 26k Males’s Race
It didn’t take lengthy for the highest 4 males within the Golden Path World Sequence standings to separate themselves from the remainder of the sphere. Philemon Ombogo Kiriago of Kenya and Rémi Bonnet of Switzerland pushed the tempo on the comparatively flat early miles, with Elhousine Elazzaoui of Morocco and Patrick Kipngeno of Kenya chasing. The group got here by way of the primary assist station at Twin Lakes round 22 minutes into the race inside 10 seconds of one another, and 15 seconds away from the remainder of the sphere.
Final yr’s winner and course-record holder, Bonnet, was simply 48 hours away from profitable the vertical kilometer (VK) race and had said in a pre-race interview that he deliberate to stick with the leaders early on earlier than launching an assault on the climb, hoping to create a spot large enough to carry off the remainder of the sphere earlier than the downhill. However when the climbing began, Elazzaoui, Kipngeno, and Ombogo Kiriago pushed the tempo and opened up a spot on the defending champion.
Kipngeno was the primary to the summit in 1:01:50, simply three seconds up on Elazzaoui, who is thought for his descending prowess. The duo had opened up a big 1:40 hole over Bonnet, who struggling, doubtlessly coping with fatigue from his VK effort two days prior, and Ombogo Kiriago, who additionally dropped off the tempo, one other 40 seconds again.
Within the early miles of the downhill, Elazzaoui let Kipngeno set the tempo on the twisting singletrack, and the 2 got here into the McCoy checkpoint at 11.1 miles collectively in 1:21:38. Elazzaoui continued to remain behind Kipngeno, letting small gaps open earlier than chopping the apex of the corners, taking barely shorter routes to repeatedly shut the hole. When the 2 got here to the brand new, and steep, Bullet Downhill part, Elazzaoui, who had been clearly biding his time, made his transfer and shortly opened a big hole with just a few miles to go.
On the Storage checkpoint, Elazzaoui, who is just not identified for liking to guide alone, was again with Kipngeno with 2.3 miles to go, setting the pair up for a dash end. Behind them, Bonnet was three minutes again.
Within the closing streets, Elazzaoui opened up the dash first, and when Kipngeno tried to get by on the within of a nook, he discovered himself blocked by the Moroccan and needed to hit the brakes. Elazzaoui took the win in 1:49:35 and in addition took the general lead for the Golden Path World Sequence going into the ultimate. Ombogo Kiriago got here in third forward of final yr’s winner Bonnet.
Elhousine Elazzaoui wins the dash end with Patrick Kipngeno, to take victory on the 2024 Mammoth Path Fest 26k. Picture: Sarah Attar
2024 Mammoth Path Fest 26k Males’s Outcomes
Elhousine Elazzaoui (Morocco) – 1:49:35
Patrick Kipngeno (Kenya) – 1:49:36
Philemon Ombogo Kiriago (Kenya)- 1:52:30
Rémi Bonnet (Switzerland) – 1:52:59
Daniel Pattis (Italy) – 1:59:31
Marco Filosi (Italy) – 2:00:00
Garrett Corcoran – 2:00:27
Cesare Maestri (Italy) – 2:00:47
Jonas Soldini (Switzerland)- 2:01:57
Rémi Leroux (Canada) – 2:02:46
Full outcomes.
