The Cayuga Trails 50 by Red Newt Racing took place on May 30th outside of Ithaca, New York at Buttermilk Falls and Robert H. Treman State Park. Known for its picturesque waterfalls and rocky gorges, the race has often been named one of the most scenic courses in the country. Like last year, this would be my final race before the Vermont 100, which would be taking place only seven weeks later in West Windsor, VT. I returned determined to improve on last year’s fourth-place finish, when I missed the podium after a performance that fell short of my standards. My goal going into the race was to contend for the win and see if I could run under eight hours, which had historically been good enough to do so. This would be my second Red Newt Racing event of the month after finishing first overall at The Breakneck Point Trail Runs Marathon, in Beacon, NY, on May 3rd!
Charlotte and I set off for Ithaca mid-morning on Friday
with our Great Pyrenees, Cooper. Unlike last year, when we stayed in a “tiny
house” in Van Etten, this year we were going to be a bit more centrally located
in Ithaca, only about seven minutes from the start. Additionally, we were
expecting much better weather after last year’s race was cold, windy, and muddy.
With a wind chill in the upper thirties to start and a peak temperature right
at sixty degrees, it was going to be perfect weather for racing. Charlotte and
I arrived in Ithaca at about 2:00 PM, settling into the hotel before walking
around Ithaca Festival and getting pizza for dinner at Thompson and Blecker. We
went to bed shortly after 9:00 PM, with an early morning wake-up at 4:25 AM on
the horizon.
The next morning, I woke up, quickly prepared my gear, and
got in the car as Charlotte dropped me off at about 5:15 AM. One of the things
I certainly remember most about this race is the two-hundred-foot climb I had
to hike up with all my gear to reach the start area! After arriving and setting
my gear up at the interloop area, I ran into two friends and competitors, Chris
Petroff and Jordan Buck. I had raced Chris at both the Sleeping Giant Trail
Runs 50K in March as well as the Breakneck Point Trail Runs Marathon a few
weeks ago, but this time, as a resident of Ithaca, he would have the home-course
advantage. I would also be battling against Jordan Buck, who I had last seen
wiping the floor with me at the SRC Presents: A Backyard Ultra in Long Island back
in December, where he put down over 120 Miles in 29 Hours, most of it in
blizzard. Needless to say, the race was shaping up to be a barnburner. I had
briefly discussed time goals with both Chris and Jordan, both of them targeting
sub eight hours as well, with Chris aiming for a very hot 3:30 split at the
halfway. I had come through at 4:00 last year and, at best, had figured I would
target 3:35-3:40 at halfway. Soon, the hour was at hand, and we lined up at the
start with a few pre-race announcements before we were off!
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| Waterfall Shot on Gorge Trail PC: Goat Factory Media |
Chris shot out of a cannon right at the start and quickly
pulled away as I settled in with Jordan for the first mile. Jordan would run away
shortly after as well, stalking down Chris, as I sat in third but had another
formidable contender, John Dragon, right behind me. John is another phenomenal
runner from Westchester, PA with multiple fast hundred-mile finishes and I knew
he, Chris, and Jordan were a trio that could relegate me to a second straight
fourth place finish if I wasn’t on my “A” game. We would be tackling the first
section of the two-loop course, a ten-mile counterclockwise circuit around
Treman State Park which would take us back to the start line, the Y-Camp Aid
Station, before we would embark on a fifteen mile lollipop loop through Buttermilk
Falls State Park, arriving back at Y-Camp Aid Station, before repeating it all
over again.
It didn’t take long into the race at all for the course to
bring out the first of its signature stairs, which helped to make portions of
the jagged gorges scalable. It was at these initial stairs during Mile 2
where Dragon went flying by me, though I would pass him back during the next
descent as we made our way to the first aid station. I tried to stay clear of
Dragon through Mile 3 as we passed by this incredible waterfall making our way
down the gorges. This was where Goat Factory Media, the photographer for the
race, was stationed and I selfishly wanted my solo shot! As I approached Mile
4, the trail widened out a bit as I made a short descent towards the Treman
Meadows Aid Station with Dragon right behind me.
Treman Meadows – 1 – Mile 4.1, 3rd Place,
34:40 Total Time, 8:27 Average Pace
After a quick stop to refuel, we hit the wide-open field
where Chris and Jordan were already out of eyeshot. I was discouraged that they
had flown away this early, but I figured the pace had to be hot for them as
well, and fifty miles is a long way. I am a big believer in running your own
race, and that if you can’t beat someone running your race, you aren’t going to
beat them running theirs. Dragon and I doubled back after the field onto the aptly
named Gorge Trail, making our way back to the Y-Camp Aid Station, and passing
runners heading down to the aid station and field loop. Shortly after, Dragon
went flying by me again right before Mile 6 as we branched off from the Gorge
Trail to the Red Pine Trail and hit one of the steepest sustained climbs, as he
continued to power away. This was an early low point for me, knowing the
caliber of athletes ahead and that they just might not come back. I am not the
world’s biggest fan of the initial ten mile loop with its rhythm breaking
stairs and constant climbing and descending, but I was thankful the trail
becomes more runnable after branching off the Gorge Trail, with only a few
minor technical climbs and some nice flowy sections through pine forest and
field trails that generally descended back down to the Y-Camp Aid Station.
Coming off the last descent of the loop, I arrived back to the start area at
Mile 10, learning that Chris and Jordan were running together and already about
six minutes up on me with Dragon coming in about fifty seconds ahead and
leaving Y-Camp as I came in.
Y-Camp – 1 – Mile 10.2, 4th Place, 1:27:05 Total Time, 8:33 Average Pace
After quickly grabbing a fresh bottle concentrated with
Skratch, I set off on the far more runnable second portion of the loop around Buttermilk
Falls State Park. The beginning of this loop features a nice mile and a half
descent that travels from Robert H. Treman over to Buttermilk Falls. As I began
Mile 11, I was starting to feel good for the first time all day, after
initially struggling with some nausea and trouble taking down fueling the first
ten miles for whatever reason. Cayuga Trails features four crossings of the
same stream at Miles 12, 24, 37, and 49, and I was quickly coming up on the
first crossing, which would leave me with wet socks for the last thirty-eight
miles of the race! This year the stream was at about the same level as last
year, coming up to about my knees. After the stream crossing, there was another
half mile of grass field trail before I approached the nearly 650-foot,
two-mile-long switchback climb where I would work my way up to the next aid
station. Last year, this was where Justin Lewandowski had buried me, and while
I was now running much stronger due to the uphill climbing work I had been
doing, I was still watching Dragon pull away a bit as I had been tracking him
about thirty seconds down since we left the Y-Camp Aid Station.
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| Stream Crossing at Mile 12 |
As I reached the top of the climb I made an irritating, but
not fatal mistake as I crossed the road and went over a short foot path instead
of making a right-hand turn. This trail then led me up to where I bisected the
paved road that runners come down at about Mile 22, so I quickly turned around
and made the correct turn, losing about three and a half minutes in the
process. Doubling back on to the correct trail, I had now lost Dragon and was
feeling a bit down and wanted to reach the Mile 15.5 aid station, Buttermilk,
to regroup. I turned off the single track onto the grass field trails, which
were thankfully nowhere near as muddy as last year. The grass trail then
connects back to more single-track trail with a few steep punctuated stair
climbs before dropping back past another gorge into the Buttermilk Aid Station.
Buttermilk – 1 – Mile 15.6, 3rd Place, 2:14:32
Total Time, 8:37 Average Pace
Oddly enough, I hit the aid station and was told that I was
in third place, though running eleven minutes behind Jordan and Chris, who were
still running together. While I didn’t feel it was insurmountable, this was
more of a gap than I was expecting, and larger than any lead I had given Chris
in our prior two races. We would now be tackling a five-mile loop that would
take us back to the Buttermilk Aid Station before another five-mile section to
the start line. The last ten miles of each loop are perhaps the most runnable
of the course and features very predictable ascents and descents and more open
gravel and paved road, which I thought was a welcome relief from the constant
rolling terrain of the first fifteen miles. I left the aid station and started
off down a nearly two-mile flat road section that transitioned into a moderate
descent along a dirt fire road, allowing me to open up my stride and stretch
down to a 6:50 Mile 17. This section of the gravel road ends and then turns
into one of the biggest climbs on the course at Mile 18 with a prolonged
single-track trail climb that gained approximately 350 feet over a mile and
then featured some tight switchbacks descending along the backside of the hill.
I would later learn that Buck and Petroff had separated at Mile 18 as Petroff
had taken off on the climb to put a gap on Jordan. After this climb and
descent, the trail then connected with a short, flat road stretch along the
Buttermilk Falls Camp Access Road over to one of the signature climbs of the
race alongside Buttermilk Falls itself.
Featuring over five hundred feet of soul-sucking climbing,
much of it composed of stone steps, Buttermilk Falls is easily the toughest
climb on the course. Lucky for me, I only had to do it twice, now, at Mile 20,
and then again at Mile 45. I had trained specifically for this climb, working
the stair stepper at my gym with a twelve-pound weighted vest for fifteen
minutes a few times a week to try and mimic the quad fatigue that I would be
feeling. Every time I was on the machine, I pictured this climb. Like last
year, I tried not to burn myself out on this climb as I finally crested the top
and hit a road crossing back to a single-track trail which goes on about
another half mile before returning to the Buttermilk Aid Station.
Buttermilk – 2 – Mile 20.9, 3rd Place, 3:00:34
Total Time, 8:39 Average Pace
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| Never Ending Stone Stairs |
Leaving the aid station for the second of four times, I was told I had closed down some on Jordan, who was in second place about seven minutes ahead, and Chris, who was about ten minutes ahead. The last five miles of the course is my favorite, as there is a tiny bit more trail after the aid station before runners hit about a mile and a quarter of paved road. The first half of the road is a slight uphill, and as I expected, I couldn’t see anyone ahead of me, but I also could not see anyone behind me, which was a relief.
I was moving much faster on this section than last year,
which I credit to the gear upgrades I have made the last several months
relative to last year. Gone were the weighty Salomon Active Skin 4 vest and the
Speedgoat 5’s and in their place, I had switched to the much lighter and less
constricting Naked Running Belt, with the HOKA Tecton X 3’s, with embedded
carbon plate, on my feet. I was carrying two 13.5-ounce bottles, one filled
with 50g concentration of Skratch and the other filled with water. Given the
relative lack of distance between the aid stations, this was a solid set-up
that I had used in shorter ultras but was still holding firm past twenty miles
of this race. Additionally, I was also primarily fueling using Gu Gummies
(fruit punch flavor, for those curious) with the target of approximately 85-90g
an hour of carbs.
Back to the race, as I continued on to the road after making
a right and then a quick left as I passed by South Hill Cider and continued
down to hit the trail (and where I had made the wrong turn back at Mile 13).
This trail then takes you on some more very steep switchbacks, dropping over
five hundred feet and forcing you to jam on the brakes. The trail then connects
back to the grass trails as I prepared for my second stream crossing at Mile
23. The last mile and a half of the race are sneaky uphill as I was just
beginning to run into the 50K runners who had started later in the morning at
7:30 AM. I made my way back to the Y-Camp Aid Station, hitting the half-way in
3:39:03, exactly where I wanted to be and at the fast end of my range if not
for the wrong turn.
Y-Camp – 2 – Mile 25.5, 3rd Place, 3:39:09
Total Time, 8:36 Average Pace
Making quick work of the aid station, I grabbed a fresh
bottle of my concentrated Skratch and set off down the trail for the beginning
of the second loop around Treman State Park. I was feeling strong at the
half-way, but the gaps ahead loomed large as Chris had come through half way
ten minutes ahead in 3:29:05 and Jordan had come through about six minutes
ahead in 3:32:39. I later learned that John Dragon had come through the
half-way in 3:49:19, and while I’m not sure how much time he added it seemed it
was fairly significant and close to ten minutes.
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| Gorge Trail |
While the last five miles of each loop are my favorite, the first five miles are perhaps my least favorite. The terrain is certainly runnable to be sure, but there is more elevation gain per mile, a ton of wooden steps, and constant ups and downs. As I passed Mile 28, I was reminded of my undoing from last year’s race, when I slipped on those same wooden steps and went down hard on my hip, ultimately being passed and put into fourth last year by Cole Johnson, who put a gap on me I was never able to recover from. As I worked my way along the gorges at one point I was told I was sixty seconds back of second, and I spent the next mile or so expecting to see Jordan just ahead, but this never materialized. I knew, however, that the upcoming miles would be the best chance I would have the rest of the race to understand what kind of gap I would need to close, as I would have a clear view of most of the grass fields on my way down to the Treman Meadows Aid Station. In fact, I had just begun to glance at my watch shortly past Mile 29 to make a mental note of the absolute time when I saw Jordan coming from the field, who I initially thought had retaken the lead from Chris, but as I set off down the grass trail I bisected the trail at the same time as Jordan, who, to my surprise, turned left and started running with me down to the aid station instead of back up the hill. He told me that he had begun going around the field the wrong way but turned around when he saw Chris coming towards him. Sure enough, I could see Chris about a minute from the trail running along the last parts of the grass field as I hollered at Chris before Jordan and I disappeared down the trail down to the aid station.
Treman Meadows – 2 – Mile 29.8, 3rd Place,
4:18:40 Total Time, 8:41 Average Pace
I chatted with Jordan for a few minutes about our races as
we came into the aid station together, though I stopped to refill my bottle and
he didn’t and so he was already powering away from me around the field by the
time I left Treman Meadows. It seemed Jordan was moving very well on the flats
and downhills and the gap stayed steady around the field, however, as we got to
the end of the loop Jordan was waiting for me as this was one of the more
confusing parts of trail as four different sections of the trail all converge. I
checked my watch as we were coming off the grass field just passing Mile 30 at
about 4:20, making very good time and putting us about seven minutes behind Chris.
About a minute after leaving the field, we spotted Dragon coming down the trail
toward us, putting him ten minutes back.
Jordan and I played leapfrog for the next mile or so, me
passing him on some of the wooden step climbs and he blasting by me on the
descents. I felt like I was still climbing well and finally went by Jordan on
the last climb before the trail forks off around Mile 32 to wrap back around to
Y-Camp Aid Station. Right off that turn again was the steepest sustained climb
of the course, requiring hands-on-knees power hiking as I tried to really work
the climb and put some time on Jordan to snap the connection. I heard from a
volunteer shortly after this climb at Mile 33 that I was now down six minutes
of Chris as the course transitioned back to single-track and grass trails. I
was still feeling strong, though definitely stiff on the last mile long descent
back into Y-Camp as I made a mental note of this being an area to work on for
Vermont 100. I was happy to get off this loop as I rolled into Y-Camp Aid
Station for the penultimate time.
Y-Camp – 3 – Mile 35.9, 2nd Place, 5:13:43
Total Time, 8:44 Average Pace
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| More Stone Stairs |
I tried to move out of Y-Camp as quickly as possible knowing that I had Jordan and Dragon, both of whom still looked very strong, right behind me. However, to my frustration, someone had moved my drop bag as I spent an additional thirty seconds or so looking for it before I finally found it. Finally, I left the aid station a little under five minutes behind Chris (though I was told it was only two or three minutes), and with Jordan about four minutes back.
I felt like given that I had slowly been closing all day
that a 2–3-minute gap was in my wheelhouse, but I knew we had a lot of pretty
runnable terrain left in the race. I made my way back down to the stream
crossing, beginning to pass more and more 50K and 50 Mile runners in both
directions. It was starting to get a bit hot for the first time all day, so I
dunked my HOKA hat in the stream before crawling my way out of the slick little
mud slide that we had turned the creek exit into. I took another huge handful
of gummies as I set off on the big switchback climb at Mile 37, running up this
climb well as opposed to last year when I really struggled. Over the next two
miles or so I was constantly asking any volunteer I passed about the gap, but I
couldn’t get a good read to save my life, hearing “2-3 minutes”, “5 minutes”, “about
10 minutes” etc. I didn’t blame the volunteers, but I could not tell if I was
closing anymore as I crested the climb and began taking the grass fields back
over to Buttermilk Aid Station. I was certainly feeling it by now, though
thankful not to be dealing with deep ankle mud on this section of the course
like last year. Moving into the aid station at Mile 41, I regrouped and
refilled both bottles and set off being told I was still about three minutes
down from Chris.
Buttermilk – 3 – Mile 41.0, 2nd Place, 6:03:13
Total Time, 8:51 Average Pace
I was moving well on the flat roads but was very stiff as
the course transitioned to gravel road and the descent steepened and I couldn’t
quite capitalize as much as I wanted to here. I hit the second to last big
climb on the course and was actually running up this one as opposed to being
reduced to a walk last year, a testament to the climbing work I have been doing
and working to improve quad strength. After ascending, I hit the sharp
switchbacks again that brought me down to Buttermilk Falls Camp Access Road as
I made my way to Buttermilk Falls for the last time. I made the mistake of
asking a volunteer right before the climb for an update on the gap, and, to my
dismay, she said it was about five minutes. As expected, the climb at Buttermilk
Falls at Mile 45 was the hardest of the day and by now the quads were feeling
the burn, despite the stair stepper training. The climb features an initial
onslaught of stairs for the first half and then transitions to some flat
sections interspersed with stairs as you keep climbing up the gorge alongside
the waterfall. Coming through the second time, this section was way busier than
last year as I navigated runners and hikers alike, nearly plowing right through
a child who cut across the trail.
I crested out at the top of the gorge a bit discouraged,
thinking surely if I was going to have caught Chris that it would have been on
that climb. I had just crossed the road, suffering from the heat a bit, and
mentally transitioning to playing defense to hold on to second place when I
passed a hiker who suddenly said, “He’s just up ahead, you’re going to catch
him” and sure enough I took my eyes up from the ground and Chris was about
fifteen seconds ahead up the trail! I closed the gap to Chris over the next quarter
of a mile or so and gave a brief word of encouragement as I had no choice but
to move by him hard. We were about a quarter mile from the aid station at this
point and I really wanted to stop to top off my water, which was about half
full, but decided I had no choice but to blow through it given we were only
five miles from the finish, with about three and a half being downhill or on
the road.
Buttermilk – 4 – Mile 46.3, 1st Place, 6:54:09
Total Time, 8:57 Average Pace
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| Finish! |
I powered past the Buttermilk Aid Station for the final time, moving along the single track for about a half mile before hitting the road again. The Tecton X’3 felt so snappy on the road, even this late in the race, and I was pushing down to 7:20 Pace into the wind on the slight uphill and then into the 6:40’s on the road downhill past the South Hill Cider Mill as I hit Mile 48 in 7:26. However, my quads were pretty toast as I began the final brutal descent down the switchbacks over the next mile, navigating a host of 50K runners, in what was my slowest grade-adjusted mile of the day at Mile 49. I came off the descent, working my way back to and over the stream crossing for the final time, successfully navigating the slick, muddy hill without going headfirst into the stream, and began charging for home. I knew I had that sneaky final mile with two hundred feet of climbing but also figured I likely had the race secured at this point. About a quarter mile before the finish, I allowed myself to check my watch and was shocked to see I was heading for a time in the mid-7:30s! Finally, I crossed the finish line for the win in a hair under 7:34 on my watch, though for whatever reason the race timing ended up giving me a time of 7:35:53. While I felt like I was in significantly better shape than last year, I was not expecting the second-fastest time in modern course history as I was just ahead of Parker Weeks’ time of 7:36:47 from 2024 and a bit off of Ryan Clifford’s modern course record of 7:18:33 from 2022.
Finish – Y-Camp – 4 – Mile 51.0, 1st Place,
7:35:53 Total Time, 8:56 Average Pace
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| Podium Photo with Chris (2nd) and John (3rd) |
I didn’t have to wait too long for Chris as he came through
about eight minutes later to finish second overall in 7:43:06 after a gutsy
first half. To my surprise, John Dragon followed him very shortly after flying
across the finish line for third overall in 7:45:53. Looking at the splits from
the back-half of the race, I had run about 3:56:40 for the back-half and Dragon
had run 3:56:34, so I had put no time on him at all over essentially the last
thirty miles of the race. I shudder to think how close this might have ended up
if he hadn’t make that wrong turn. A few minutes later Jordan Buck also came
across the line just over eight hours in 8:02:03. In an incredibly fast year,
Jordan’s time would have won last year’s race outright, with our race being the
deepest year since the race was last a USATF championship.
After the race, I hung around talking with Buck, Petroff,
and Dragon about our respective upcoming races, which were obviously all
hundred-mile races, as these guys are all beasts. Jordan would be running the
Grindstone 100 by UTMB in September, targeting a Top 3 for UTMB auto-entry
while Dragon would be running the Bighorn 100 only three weeks later out in
Wyoming. I didn’t have to ask Chris what he was doing as I knew he and I would
be having another showdown in seven weeks’ time at the Vermont 100, squaring
off for the fifth time in as many months! Post-race, the top three of us received
wonderful awards, including a bottle of South Hill Cider, which we had passed
on the course, as well as homemade pottery!
In summary, I couldn’t be happier with the results of the
race and feel like it is a great indicator of fitness. I stayed patient even
when it was hard and ran a time that I thought was outside of my reach. It is
time for a well-earned down week before a final five-week build for the Vermont
100, where I am excited to see what I can do, and hopefully contend for the
win. As always, thank you to Red Newt Racing and Race Director Ian Golden for
the fantastic event, thank you to all the volunteers manning the aid stations
and serving as course marshals, and thank you to the photographer Goat Factory
Media, who takes some of the best race photos I have ever seen.
On to the Vermont 100!
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