 |
| Women's #1 YiOu Wang photo: Trail Runner Magazine |
With the first third of the year gone, and summer racing season just around the corner, it's time to check in with the Gunkrunner Ultra Rankings.
Regular readers (what are you people doing with your lives?) will remember that the GUR began last year as my attempt to provide an objective ranking of the top ultrarunners in the US. Using the World Golf Rankings as a model, I devised a formula that accounts for field size, field strength, race prestige/importance, and head-to-head competition. How successful it was is open to debate, but I was pleased with the results the first time around, and so I continued it with some minor tweaks for 2016.
It's a little early in the year for the results to be very meaningful as yet. Many of the top runners have barely opened their campaigns; neither of last year's UROY (David Laney and Magdalena Boulet) has raced an ultra yet this year, and most of the biggest races on the calendar are still to come. But with the Golden Ticket races completed, as well as the first major showdown of the year at Lake Sonoma, some early trends are taking shape.
 |
| Men's #1 Jim Walmsley photo: Ultrarunner Podcast |
You'll notice that the point totals are much higher this year than in 2015. The reason is twofold. First (and most importantly) the point values for level 4 and 5 races have been increased significantly from 2015, lending these races more weight. Secondly, I'm using last year's top 50 to calculate field strength (as opposed to only the top 10 last year), so the field strength multipliers are more frequent and more robust.
You may also notice there are no more international runners in the rankings. I've decided to limit this only to North American runners. I've been trying to be more inclusive of overseas races this year, as many of the top US runners are travelling abroad to compete, and the UTWT takes on more importance domestically. However that exposes me to many, many more international runners, and keeping track of them was becoming untenable. Plus, it wasn't like I was doing a good job of capturing their results last year, and the rankings that Killian, Francois, Gediminus, etc. were receiving was not at all reflective of any sort of reality. So, North Americans only right now, though I'm still using Gediminius' ranking (and Emma Roca on the women's side) from last year to calculate field strength when he shows up.
A side benefit of this fact is that the GUR are now a little more in sync with the Ultrarunning UROY criteria. I'm thrilled that this year I've been able to partner with Ultrarunning; the GUR now has a permanent home on their website, so you can view updated rankings in real time whenever you feel like I'm being too slow publishing them.
Top 50 (as of 5/5/16) below; check out the full list here.
Men
|
State
|
Points
|
Women
|
State
|
Points
| |
1
|
Jim Walmsley
|
AZ
|
159
|
YiOu Wang
|
CA
|
94
|
2
|
Ian Sharman
|
CA
|
72.5
|
Bethany Patterson
|
VA
|
56.8
|
3
|
Mario Mendoza
|
OR
|
59.9
|
Kaci Lickteig
|
NE
|
47.9
|
4
|
Paul Terranova
|
TX
|
58
|
Cassie Scallon
|
CO
|
45.1
|
5
|
Christopher Dennucci
|
CA
|
55.675
|
Anna Mae Flynn
|
CA
|
44.3
|
6
|
Tim Freriks
|
AZ
|
55
|
Ellie Greenwood
|
Can
|
40
|
7
|
Dylan Bowman
|
CA
|
47.6
|
Keely Henninger
|
OR
|
38
|
8
|
David Roche
|
CA
|
47.5
|
Jodee Adams-Moore
|
WA
|
37.5
|
9
|
Jesse Haynes
|
CA
|
46.7
|
Caroline Boller
|
CA
|
35
|
10
|
Andrew Miller
|
OR
|
45
|
Sabrina Little
|
TX
|
35
|
11
|
Matt Flaherty
|
IN
|
42.6
|
Amy Rusiecki
|
MA
|
31.1
|
12
|
Chris Mocko
|
CA
|
41.625
|
Emily Peterson
|
CA
|
31
|
13
|
Brian Rusiecki
|
MA
|
41.55
|
Devon Yanko
|
CA
|
30
|
14
|
Michael Daigeaun
|
PA
|
40
|
Megan Roche
|
CA
|
30
|
15
|
Masazuma Fujioka
|
WA
|
39
|
Denise Bourassa
|
OR
|
28.8
|
16
|
Ed Ettinghausen
| CA | 38.4 |
Sarah Schubert
|
VA
|
28.6
|
17
|
Ryan Bak
| OR | 37.5 |
Julie Koepke
|
TX
|
28.175
|
18
| Zach Miller | CO | 35 |
Nicole Kalogeropoulos
|
TX
|
28
|
19
|
Daniel Metzger
|
CA
|
34.5
|
Rachel Ragona
|
CA
|
27
|
20
|
Jorge Pacheco
|
CA
|
32.8
|
Bev Anderson-Abbs
|
CA
|
26
|
21
|
Stephen Wassather
|
CA
|
31.5
|
Amy Sproston
|
OR
|
25.5
|
22
|
Jared Burdick
|
NY
|
28.5
|
Camille Herron
|
OK
|
24.7
|
23
|
Charlie Ware
|
AZ
|
28.5
|
Janessa Taylor
|
OR
|
24.5
|
24
|
Jorge Maravilla
|
CA
|
28.5
|
Kathleen Cusick
|
FL
|
24.5
|
25
|
Caleb Denton
|
TN
|
27
|
Amy Clark
|
TX
|
24.25
|
26
|
Karl Meltzer
|
UT
|
24.3
|
Anne-Marie Maddon
|
Can
|
24
|
27
|
Jeremy Wolf
|
WA
|
23.675
|
Kelly Wolf
|
AZ
|
23.2
|
28
|
Nicholas DiPirro
|
VA
|
22.5
|
Laura Kline
|
NY
|
23
|
29
|
Sage Canaday
|
CO
|
22.5
|
Amanda Basham
|
OR
|
22.5
|
30
|
Jeff Browning
|
OR
|
21.5
|
Brittany Goicoechea
|
ID
|
22.5
|
31
|
Dominick Layfield
|
UT
|
21.4
|
Natalie Larson
|
CA
|
21.5
|
32
|
Chikara Omine
|
CA
|
21
|
Corinne Malcolm
|
WA
|
21.25
|
33
|
Brett Hornig
|
OR
|
20.65
|
Maggie Guterl
|
PA
|
21
|
34
|
Troy Shellhamer
|
KY
|
20
|
Traci Falbo
|
IN
|
21
|
35
|
Zach Bitter
|
CA
|
19.7
|
Alicia Hudelson
|
GA
|
20.475
|
36
|
Chris Roberts
|
DC
|
19.2
|
Katrin Silva
|
NM
|
20
|
37
|
Yassine Diboun
|
OR
|
19.2
|
Jennifer Pfeifer
|
CA
|
19.2
|
38
|
Darren Thomas
|
VA
|
19
|
Heather Hoecsht
|
PA
|
19
|
39
|
Mark Hammond
|
UT
|
19
|
Kaytlyn Gerbin
|
WA
|
18.875
|
40
|
Ryan Neely
|
CA
|
19
|
Kait Sheridan
|
NY
|
18.5
|
41
|
Benjamin Koss
|
CA
|
18.9
|
Kathryn Drew
|
Can
|
18.2
|
42
|
Ryan Ghelfi
|
OR
|
18.5
|
Jameelah Mujaahid
|
GA
|
18
|
43
|
Jason Friedman
|
NY
|
18.05
|
Rebecca Watters
|
GA
|
17.3
|
44
|
C Fred Joslyn
|
NY
|
18
|
Deysi Osegueda
|
CA
|
17.1
|
45
|
Brian Miller
|
CA
|
17.75
|
Alissa St. Laurent
|
Can
|
16.5
|
46
|
Coree Woltering
|
CO
|
17.5
|
Megan Stegemiller
|
VA
|
16.5
|
47
|
Michael Owen
|
OH
|
17.25
|
Christina Clark
|
Can
|
16.3
|
48
|
Kevin Moore
|
CA
|
17.2
|
Alician Rich
|
IN
|
16
|
49
|
Aaron Saft
|
NC
|
17
|
Cait Morgan
|
CT
|
16
|
50
|
Jeremy Humphrey
|
ID
|
17
|
Sarah Bard
|
WA
|
16
|
Will Swenson
|
MA
|
17
| ||||
Ryan Atkins
|
Can
|
17
|