The following article features results from the USATF 24 Hour National Championships and was written by USATF liaison Lin Gentling.
Under clear skies and cool to warm temperatures the 2024 24H USATF Championships were run as a part of the Aravaipa Fat Ox festival on November 23-24 in Goodyear, Arizona. The event also included a 48 hour, open 24 hour run, 12 hour, 6 hour, 100 mile, 100K, 50 mile, and 50K. An added perk for the championship race was that the winning male and female would auto qualify for the 2025 USATF 24 Hour Team. These auto spots would be contingent on meeting the minimum mileage required for selection.
24 Hour men’s race
The men’s race was not decided until nearly hour 16. There were several men struggling to get the miles in to take over the lead. For 43 miles, it looked like one of two men would run away with the win. Sage Canaday, 39, Poncha Springs, CO, and Michael DeGeorge, 26, Albany, NY, took the pace out fast. DeGeorge looked relaxed, focused and in control, as did Canaday. It was a two-man race until it was not.
Whether Canaday and DeGeorge suffered their fate from going out too fast was hard to know. At national championships you put it all on the line and hope you can hang on. That’s a tall order for a twenty-four hour race.
Canaday overtook DeGeorge around 43.5 miles. At 58.3 miles and almost 9 hours, DeGeorge was suffering from a prior injury and stopped for the day. Canaday continued and was leading by several miles, but at 86 miles and 13:16 into the race he also decided the effort was too much on this day. That blew the men’s race wide open.
Throughout the race, Adam Dalton, 30, Nogales, AZ, (101 miles at 15:45), Philip Sebastiani, 31, Canyon, TX, (101 at 16:43), Thierry Joffrain, 48, Austin, TX, (101 in 16:47), and Isaiah Janzen, 38, Broomfield, CO (101 in 16:52) played with the lead. However, Sebastiani’s incredible consistency throughout the race, averaging 10:03 pace, took the lead and stuck with it to the finish.
A relative newcomer to the 24-hour event, Sebastiani, a special education and violin teacher by trade, is now a national champion. This was only his second 24 hour. His goal was to get the win. An additional goal was to run over 140 miles, with a dream goal to log anything over 147 miles. He knew he had to run a minimum of 145 miles to qualify for the 2025 national team, but that would be determined later.
Sebastiani’s execution was nearly flawless. Coached by 100 mile world champion Zack Bitter, Sebastiani’s strategy was to run consistently for 24 hours. Starting out very conservatively in 22nd overall, he moved up to the top 12 after 12 hours, then to the top 5 after 14 hours, and then just started chipping off runners until he took the lead at hour16. “I felt strong, running most of the way with very little walking. My approach was to be the ‘bad thief in the night’ and go after and catch people. The lessons learned in prior competitions were applied with success. I waited to fully execute my plan and think I did really well with that execution.” Sebastiani’s final distance was 142.71 miles, missing the qualifying mark and auto select by just 2.3 miles.
24 Hour women’s race
The women’s race was somewhat more predictable. Although there were 5 women that went out in close proximity, Janelle Stark, 37, Enumclaw, WA, took the lead early and never looked back. Behind her were four women who ran in close order throughout the race. All 5 top women ran the full 24 hours.
In second throughout most of the event was Kaylee Frederick, 20, Johnstown, PA. Frederick was the youngest entrant and finisher at Badwater this past summer. Rounding out the top 3 women was Lana Haugberg, 37, San Francisco, CA. Stark was an auto-select for the 2025 USATF 24 Hour Team that will compete in Albi, France at the 24H Hour World Championships in October. Frederick and Haugberg made the selection list for consideration for the 2025 team running more than the 130 miles necessary for selection consideration.
Stark, like Sebastiani, is also a relative new comer to the distance. She ran in the lead pack of women through 7 laps, and then broke free to take the women’s race lead for good. She was even leading the entire race after 85 laps until 130 laps. “I feel anxious when I am not in the lead, I want that control. It is always nice to get some mileage in the bank as you never know what the later hours will bring. I felt good about the competition with some quality women entered. My dream goal was to make the 24hr national team and to represent my country at the world championships. When I got to that 130 mile mark (the distance a woman must run to be considered for the US team), I was in the lead by a fair amount, and felt confident I would make the team. I did do a bit of walking and still kept my lead. I’m really excited, honored, humbled, thrilled, overjoyed , and grateful for the opportunity to be a member of the next US 24H team.”
24 Hour veteran
Ed Rousseau, 85, Park Rapids, MN, has long been a fixture at ultra national championships. He has consistently run the USATF 100 Mile Championships at Jackpot with a group of other octogenarians. He arrived at The Fat Ox with the intent of breaking national and world age group records. Under ordinary circumstances this is a lofty goal, but Rousseau is no ordinary person. Coupled this passion with a serious stroke suffered just one year ago, Rousseau portends the epitome of the character embedded in ultra marathoners.
At the end of the day, Rousseau was upright for the full 24 hours, smashing the 85-89 US age group records in the 100K, 12 hour, and 24 hour (all pending records) and missing the world age group 24 hour record by a mere 325 meters. He still deals with swelling, left sided weakness, and speech issues, but continues to be an inspiration to all illustrating that growing old is a privilege and not limiting.
24 Hour realities
The beauty of a 24 hour race is that there are no accurate predicted outcomes. The runners with great reputations are just as vulnerable as the first-time entrant. And that proved true at Fat Ox. Many of the entrants were running to make the 2025 USATF 24 Hour Team. For some, the day proved insightful, for others, it provided an opportunity to dig deep, go beyond self-perceived limitations. Disappointments, celebrations, new friends, camaraderie, satisfaction, lessons learned, hopes, fears….a microcosm of life.
A special thank you to race director, Jon Bullock, and the entire Araivaipa team. The execution of this event was flawless, the runners every need was met, and all details were attended to with expertise and teamwork. The Fat Ox 24 Hour will again host the USATF 24 Hour Championships on November 22-23, 2025.
