Hans Troyer and Jennifer Lichter received large on the 2026 Black Canyon 100k in Arizona, and each scored new course data. Troyer completed in 7:20:00, and Lichter clocked 7:57 for the point-to-point run.
For Troyer, it was a full-circle second. He was hospitalized after the 2024 race after which missed final yr’s contest with sickness. Lichter stepped up in distance and, with a brand new coach and new sponsor, hit a house run.
Troyer thinned the lead group till solely Eli Hemming was left, after which ran the final 16 miles alone on the entrance. Troyer in the end completed simply over 4 minutes in entrance of second-place Anthony Costales, who moved up all through the race’s second half. Lichter jumped forward of Molly Seidel for the ladies’s lead late within the race’s first half, after which stayed simply forward of Anne Flower all the best way to the 62-mile end. Lichter beat Flower by 70 seconds.
The 2026 Black Canyon 100k had an enormous area of simply over 900 runners on the Mayer Excessive Faculty monitor begin line at 7:00 a.m. native time on Saturday, February 14. They’d run 62 desert miles — 55 on the historic Black Canyon Nationwide Leisure Path — to a end on the Emery Henderson Trailhead exterior of Phoenix. The race’s first half is web downhill, and many of the course’s 7,000 toes of elevation achieve is within the tougher second half.
The race dates again to 2014, and yearly it attracts a deeper area. It’s now develop into one of the vital aggressive races in North America, too. A part of that’s that it’s an excellent Golden Ticket race, which means that three women and men every obtain automated entry to this yr’s Western States 100. The race can be the second within the 2026 World Path Majors collection. There was a crowd-sourced prize purse, matched by race organizer Aravaipa Working, totaling over $16,000.
Learn on to see how each races unfolded.
2026 Black Canyon 100k Males’s Race
Race native Jordan Bramblett didn’t look ahead to the favorites to heat up. Bramblett, the Forty sixth-place finisher final yr, gapped the sphere within the early miles and was about 20 seconds forward of an enormous chase group on the mile 7 Antelope Mesa timing level.
Bramblett’s moonshot was an early shock, and so too was Francesco Puppi’s early drop. Already a minimum of reasonably injured earlier than the race, Puppi was bloodied after an early fall and dropped on the second help station.
Bramblett continued to steer by way of mile 13 in 1:17, and eventual champion Hans Troyer was second right here at 13 seconds again. The 2 had been about two minutes sooner than final yr’s leaders. Zach Perrin, Canyon Woodward, and Eli Hemming had been a part of a chase group that had eight runners all inside a minute of second-place Troyer.
The lads flew by way of the Bumble Bee help station at mile 19, and the course-record watch was totally on. Bramblett was nonetheless there, with Troyer, Perrin, and Hemming all inside seconds of one another and all splitting 1:57. They had been 4 minutes sooner than 2025’s course file tempo. Woodward and 2023 race winner Anthony Costales got here subsequent at 1:58 and 1:59 elapsed time.
Hans Troyer stoked with successful the 2026 Black Canyon 100k, after three years of making an attempt. Photograph: Howie Stern
Deep Canyon Ranch at mile 32 is the race’s unofficial midway level, and Perrin was gone from the lead group. There have been three — Troyer, Bramblett, and Hemming — collectively on the entrance in 3:28 elapsed time. Perrin was now solo in fourth two minutes again, and Woodward was nonetheless fifth.
After which it went from three to 2 vying for the lead. Troyer and Hemming had been operating one-two by way of Black Canyon Metropolis at mile 38 in 4:05, each trying to full their very own turnaround tales. Troyer was hospitalized with rhabdomyolysis after ending tenth right here in 2024, and Hemming led the 2025 race late earlier than slowing to a fourth-place end.
Shock frontrunner Bramblett dropped from the lead group between miles 32 and mile 38, and by mile 38, was in third and 6 minutes behind leaders Troyer and Hemming. Woodward had moved as much as fourth and was shortly closing in on the rostrum. Tracen Knopp, Perrin, and Costales had been fifth, sixth, and seventh, and nonetheless eyeing a possible Golden Ticket too.
Between Black Canyon Metropolis at mile 38 and Cottonwood Gulch at mile 46, Troyer gassed it with a successful transfer. He was over three minutes forward of second-place Hemming at mile 46, and additional again, Costales was turning right into a late-race killer.
Costales had jumped from sixth to 3rd in simply eight miles from mile 38 to 46, after which was into second by mile 51, the Desk Mesa help station. Knopp adopted Costales up the ranks, too, and was in third and firmly into Golden Ticket place at mile 51. The rostrum was locked in. Hemming would, sadly, fall exterior of the highest 10.
Hans Troyer received the 2026 Black Canyon 100k in 7:20:00. That bettered Seth Ruhling’s year-old 7:24:55 file.
Anthony Costales was second in 7:24:32. That was sooner than his 7:32:50 successful time from the 2023 race, and slightly below the prior course file.
Tracen Knopp took the third podium spot in 7:26:45. Canyon Woodward was fourth in 7:37:27 whereas early pacesetter Jordan Bramblett held on for fifth in 7:42:32.
Troyer and Woodward are already entered on this yr’s Western States 100, and so the three Golden Tickets went to Costales, Knopp, and Bramblett.
2026 Black Canyon 100k Males’s Outcomes
- Hans Troyer – 7:20:00
- Anthony Costales – 7:24:32
- Tracen Knopp – 7:26:45
- Canyon Woodward – 7:37:27
- Jordan Bramblett – 7:42:32
- Ferdinand Airault – 7:47:25
- Sage Canaday – 7:52:42
- Coleman Cragun – 7:54:16
- Zach Perrin – 8:09:47
- Andrew Quaal – 8:11:51
2026 Black Canyon 100k Ladies’s Race
This was actually a who’s who of path ultrarunning. Course file holder Riley Brady was again, after which there was 2020 Olympic Marathon bronze medalist Molly Seidel, 50-mile world file holder Anne Flower, and Javelina 100 Mile course file holder Tara Dower. They had been all, amongst others, vying for the crown and three Western States 100 Golden Tickets. Though on the entrant’s checklist, 100-mile world file holder Caitriona Jennings (Eire) didn’t begin the race.
By mile 13, Hidden Treasure help station, Abby Corridor, final yr’s Western States 100 winner, was main the ladies in 1:24 elapsed time. Seidel, Flower, and eventual winner Jennifer Lichter had been all solely seconds behind. Lichter was coming off some high-mileage coaching weeks and constructing on a 2025 that noticed her set a brand new course file on the Speedgoat 50k. Defending champ Brady was two minutes behind the leaders and in seventh place.
The 2026 Black Canyon 100k girls’s champion Jennifer Lichter within the race’s early miles. Photograph: Howie Stern
Seidel moved into the lead by way of the mile 19 Bumble Bee help station in 2:09, and was roughly 5 minutes higher than course-record tempo. Flower, Lichter, Dower, and Corridor had been second by way of fifth and all inside a minute of Seidel. The highest-five girls had a niche on everybody else as Shea Aquilano was over three minutes again of Corridor because the sixth-place girl.
Strikes saved being made by way of the dynamic lead group. Lichter, racing longer than ever earlier than, blasted the subsequent stretch and was out of Deep Canyon Ranch at mile 32 in 3:52. She’d gained a minute-plus lead on second-place Flower, and Dower was now as much as third. Seidel was in hostile territory and fell again to fourth, 4 minutes behind race chief Lichter. Corridor was one other three minutes behind Seidel in fifth at 3:59 elapsed.
At Black Canyon Metropolis, mile 38, Lichter nonetheless led, however Flower had closed to inside 38 seconds. And Dower was nonetheless third, over three minutes again. Seidel and Corridor saved their fourth- and fifth-place spots, too, however had been 10 and 13 minutes off the lead.
Lichter would maintain simply over a minute lead on Flower the remainder of the best way, and the 2 would draw back from Dower and everybody else.
Jennifer Lichter received the 2026 Black Canyon 100k in 7:57:05. It was an unbelievable sub-8-hour run and an unbelievable new course file, too. Lichter’s end bettered Riley Brady’s 8:16:18 course file from 2025. She was ninth general. Lichter is subsequent registered for April’s Gorge Waterfalls 50k in Oregon.
Anne Flower constructed on final yr’s breakout success with a second-place 7:58:15 end. She was tenth general and in addition method below the previous course file.
Tara Dower completed third in 8:11:46, making it a full podium below the prior course file. She was second in 8:25:08 final yr.
Molly Seidel was fourth in 8:25:13, and Abby Corridor completed in fifth place in 8:27:50.
Lichter, Flower, and Seidel earned Western States 100 Golden Tickets. Dower was already in for this yr’s race.
2026 Black Canyon 100k Ladies’s Outcomes
- Jennifer Lichter – 7:57:05
- Anne Flower – 7:58:15
- Tara Dower – 8:11:46
- Molly Seidel – 8:25:13
- Abby Corridor – 8:27:50
- Shea Aquilano – 8:34:03
- Ellaney Matarese – 8:56:27
- Riley Brady – 9:14:08
- Carla Molinaro (U.Ok.) – 9:21:18
- Nicole Hanson – 9:24:16
Riley Brady identifies as non-binary however competes within the girls’s division.
