This year's edition of the Black Canyons 100K saw record-breaking times, dramatic lead changes, and new Golden Ticket winners. In this article, we highlight the gravity of this event for the ultra world alongside the perspectives of two HPT athletes.
The Golden Ticket Race for 2025 continued at the Black Canyons 100k last week in Arizona. This ultra, which winds through the desert from the town of Mayer to Phoenix, is the only US event in the World Trail Major Series.
This year’s edition served up the most interesting and intense racing expected from a season-opener. Three “Golden Tickets” are awarded to the top finishers, giving them automatic entry into the coveted and very exclusive Western States 100 later this year.
This is arguably the most competitive and largest 100k on US soil in 2025. Living up to that hype, course records came tumbling down as athletes dared to earn their Ticket.
The Fastest Race Yet
For some perspective, before 2025, 17 men had run it under eight hours; this year, 11 men did. Only seven women had run it under nine hours before this year’s edition… no less than seven managed it this year.
High Performance Team (HPT) athlete Tara Dower just ran the 2nd fastest time in race history and was 20 minutes under the previous course record from last year. This is coming off setting a Fastest Known Time (FKT) on the Appalachian Trail just last fall (that’s 2,190mi in 40 days). She secured a second-place and a Golden Ticket to WS100.
"I trained a lot in being comfortable with [the] high speeds and I was also hungry to go fast." - Tara
Tara fueled her day with a goal of 75g of carbs per hour, utilizing SiS Beta Fuel to consume only liquid calories for the first 50k. She coupled that with PH500 Salt Tabs along with Carbs Fuel Gels and First Endurance Liquid Shots through the remainder of the event. Tara has also been experimenting with using Maurten Bicarb in the lead up to this event, a significant and interesting addition to many ultra runners’ routine. Notably, this is also the first race Tara has reported not vomiting in…that’s a good day.
Although our HPT athlete Mary Denholm was forced to drop out of the race after succumbing to the brutal February heat, she deserves some respect for setting the tone that day. Mary was off the front in the women’s field through the first two checkpoints (20mi +) by a couple of minutes, forcing the field into record-breaking pace.
"I love the energy of big race weekends, celebrating big wins others have, and lifting each other up when we don't have our day (yet)." -Mary
Mary utilized Skratch Everyday Hydration (800mg sodium each bottle) and Precision F&H Gel 90s + Gel 30s to reach her goal of 90-120g carbs per hour. Sweat tests revealed Mary actually needs a lot more sodium than she realized, so she removed carbs from her bottles to focus on hydration and fluid. She aimed for a high fluid and sodium goal in order to combat the fluid loss expected. Hungry to figure out the heat and fueling puzzle pieces, Mary is ready for another Golden Ticket run at Canyons 100k in April – the final US Golden Ticket race.
Photo Credits: Bare Photography
