Following an historic record-breaking year in 2024, The Speedgoat Mountain Races returned in 2025 with equally exciting action. Often considered one of the most challenging mountain races in the United States, the race routinely attracts the top mountain runners in the US for a celebration of technical, steep and aggressive “mountain goat” style terrain in Salt Lake City’s Wasatch Mountains. Featured photo courtesy Kristopher Braunberger.
Race weekend included three events. On Friday, July 25, two events were held including the 28-kilometer race (2,000 meters/6,500 feet of ascent) and the 10-kilometer race (500 meters/1,640 feet of ascent). The classic 50-kilometer race (3,450 meters/11,300 feet of ascent) was held the following day – Saturday, July 26. While there were many exciting aspects of this year’s races, the historic sub-six hour performance in the 50K by women’s champion Jennifer Lichter (which broke Anita Ortiz’ long-standing course record from 2008) stands out as the performance of not just the weekend, but perhaps the year in trail running so far. Read on to learn more about the action from this year’s race and about Lichter’s record-breaking performance.
Chasing stones
Since its inception in 2008, the Speedgoat Mountain Races has attracted the top trail runners in the world to challenge themselves and test their inner “goat.” Kilian Jornet, Anita Ortiz, Jim Walmsley, Anna Frost, Anton Krupicka, Emelie Forsberg and David Sinclair are just a few of many incredible athletes who have run this race. In 2022, the Speedgoat races gained even greater media exposure and competition through joining the internationally renowned UTMB (Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc) World Series. The race became one of only a handful of US-based races to earn this designation and award UTMB points and “running stones” to athletes (stones increase runners’ lottery chances of being selected into the highly competitive UTMB races held during the last week of August in Chamonix, France).
While traditionally only the Speedgoat 50K has awarded UTMB Running Stones, 2025 marked the first year where the 28K also awarded stones to finishers. This decision was made due to the extreme challenge of the course. As one of only six races in the United States to award UTMB Running Stones, this attracted more competition to the 28K than ever before.
Speedgoat 28K featured dominant displays of speed
Due to the chance to acquire Running Stones, the 2025 Speedgoat 28K drew a high level of competition and increased numbers (over 450 participants). US Mountain and Trail Team member Christian Allen led the men’s race at a blistering pace. He finished the race in 2 hours 50 minutes and 44 seconds, more than fifteen minutes in front of second place Sage Canaday (former record holder of the Speedgoat 50K).
Allen, a local Utahn, who still lives in the Salt Lake City area, had to say about his performance and what it meant to defend a race in his home city, “For me I really just love being able to race against world class talent in my own backyard. When I was younger I never would’ve imagined I’d have the chance to push my limits in the mountains; whether it’s chasing FKTs or competing against world class athletes.”
Allen, who had been dealing with some injuries in the past year, had to say about what this race meant to his comeback and overall health, “While all racing hasn’t always been perfect and I have my ups and downs I’m grateful for the talents God has given me and the opportunities he’s given me to race and compete against some of the best in the world overseas and at home!”
Men’s 28K podium
Christian Allen: 2:50:44
Sage Canaday: 3:07:04
Seth Wealing: 3:25:10
The women’s race also attracted stout competition. The 2024 third place Speedgoat 50K finisher, Kodi Kleven, won the race in a time of 3:44:02. She finished in twelfth place overall. Rounding out the women’s podium was Shalyn Gierginger in second and former US Long Distance Trail Running Team member Sandi Nypaver in third. The pair finished less than 30 seconds apart in times of 3:50:40 and 3:51:09 respectively.
Nypaver said about her race experience, “I really value shorter races like Speedgoat because they help keep me sharp and it’s fun to mix things up. From a personal standpoint, competing has been a challenge for a while now due to some abnormal gait issues that I struggled to resolve even with a lot of professional support. So it felt really good to finally have a race where I started to feel a bit stronger again.”
Nypaver admitted that an early mistake in the race caused her to work harder for her podium position, “I took a wrong turn early on (definitely my fault) and lost quite a few places, but I committed to giving my best effort and was able to work back up to third before we hit the top of Hidden Peak for the second time. The race was really well organized, the volunteers were incredible, and the wildflowers were popping. It’s such a beautiful and challenging course.”
In addition to UTMB Stones, all podium finishers of both the 28K and 50K earned automatic entry in the UTMB World Series final, which will be held in Chamonix, France from August 25 to 31, 2025.
50K firsts
“Here for the women’s race,” a growing initiative inspired by the Pro Trail Runner’s Association global call to action for more coverage of women’s trail running races was certainly the case for spectators of the highly competitive field at the 2025 Speedgoat 50K.
PROTIP: Curious to learn more about the Pro Trail Runner’s Association? Read our article “What is the Pro Trail Runner’s Association” here.
The women’s 50K startlist included Grayson Murphy (two-time World Mountain Running Champion and Salt Lake City local), Emma Cook Clarke (multiple Skyrunning World Series podium finisher and multiple time skimo National champion), Robyn Lesh (2024 Speedgoat 28K champion and third place finisher at the 2025 Black Canyon Ultras 50K), Jasmine Lowther (defending Speedgoat 50K champion), and the star of this year’s race—Jennifer Lichter (US Mountain and Trail team member and champion of the 2022 and 2025 Broken Arrow 46K, 2022 Rut 50K, 2023 JFK 50 Mile).
Similar to many of the winners in this year’s Speedgoat Mountain Races, Lichter arrived at the first checkpoint (7 kilometers) in first place, and continued to extend her lead for the entire race. Lichter had competed at the race once before in 2022 (where she placed second in a time of 6 hours 52 minutes and 6 seconds), but she knew she had more to prove. Lichter finished in a time of 5 hours 54 minutes and 45 seconds, becoming the first woman to run under six hours on this incredibly challenging course.
“What a cool thing to be a ‘first’ at something,” wrote Lichter after the race. Her pace also pulled second place finisher Emma Cook-Clarke, under the previous course record, finishing in 6:01:05. The podium was rounded out by Grayson Murphy in a time of 6:02:36 (this was Murphy’s first major podium since her diagnosis of Crohn’s disease earlier this year).
PROTIP: Read about Murphy’s unique road/trail running contract in our article Road and Trail Running Intersect here.
Lichter said about the Speedgoat 50K, “Speedgoat is definitely a race where you have to love long, runnable climbs and long rocky downhills. Perfect for a mountain/vert lover!”
She continued, comparing the race to both the Broken Arrow 46K and The Rut, both of which have similarly been claimed as some of the toughest trail 50K races in the US, “As far as 50Ks in the US, this one (Speedgoat) compares similarly to The Rut as far as vertical profile and technicality. It’s definitely a little more runnable than The Rut but also not as fast as Broken Arrow, so I guess it’s a perfect in-between!”
While the women’s 50K certainly stole the show of this year’s race, the men’s 50K was as competitive as ever. Ryan Becker (2024 The Rut 50K runner-up, 2025 Broken Arrow 46K third place finisher and seventh place finisher in the 2024 Speedgoat 50K), Jeshurun Small (2025 Black Canyon Ultra 50K champion, 2023 Canyons 50K runner-up , and 2023 Speedgoat 50K fourth place finisher), Devin Pancake (The Trail Team athlete and four-minute miler), Grant Barnette (2024 Speedgoat 50K fifth place finisher and 2023 Grindstone Trail Running Festival by UTMB 100K runner-up), Anthony Williams (2024 Ultra Race of Champions winner), and Eric Sorensen (2022 Speedgoat 50K runner-up) were among this year’s top contenders.
Becker led the men’s field for the majority of the race, and held on for the win in a time of 5 hours 17 minutes and 26 seconds. Becker had this to say about the challenge and returning to the race a second year in a row, “It was still brutal, but much less so when you know what to expect.”
Becker, who has dealt with on and off Achilles injuries for the past decade, expresses his optimism about his health and looks forward to achieving his best racing yet, “My achilles is feeling really amazing, which I think shows since I’ve been climbing well all year. Honestly, I didn’t feel that rested or tapered for Speedgoat, I just wanted to keep the ball rolling through my next big races at OCC and the World Championships. Though I will say Speedgoat made me realize I need to do even more climbing in training. It felt like a lot of running and then I was a bit too weak for the steep hiking parts. I think it’s just a good indicator of things continuing to move in the right direction and that I should continue trusting the process.”
Less than 10 seconds behind Becker was Erik Sorenson, finishing in 5:17:32. The podium was completed by Anthony Williams in 5:20:08. While no participant finished in under five hours (a feat no male had achieved since David Sinclair broke the course record and became the first man to finish in under five hours in 2024), there were eighteen finishers in the men’s race who finished in under six hours.
PROTIP: 2025 Speedgoat Mountain Race podium finishers Becker, Lichter, Allen and Murphy will represent Team USA at the 2025 World Mountain and Trail Running Championships slated for September 24 to 28, 2025 in Canfranc, Spain. View the team announcement here to see all members of Team USA.
If you want to run at The Speedgoat Mountain Races next year, plan ahead and register early. The event will be held July 24 and 25, 2026. For complete results from 2025 click here.
